On May 9, 2024, Iowa’s governor signed into law a new education funding bill that includes provisions limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within public education, including the state’s public colleges and universities.
The new funding bill, Senate File 2435, makes nearly $1 billion USD for K-12 and higher education institutions contingent on anti-DEI stipulations, including prohibiting universities from operating and maintaining a DEI program or office. It further empowers Iowa’s state legislature to withhold funds from public colleges and universities teach disfavored topics, including “unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, nee-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.”
The new funding bill will go into effect starting July 1, 2024 and fits into a broader pattern of legislatures undermining university autonomy to targeting DEI programs. At least 85 anti-DEI bills have been introduced across 28 states since 2023, with at least 14 passing.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about ideologically driven, government encroachments on universities’ authority to set policies concerning personnel, admissions, curricula, and the establishment of particular programs. Such actions undermine university autonomy and inhibit institutions’ ability to function freely, undermining academic freedom and democratic society generally. Moreover, actions targeting diversity and social justice efforts may also erode core university values including social responsibility and equitable access.
Sources:
https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/iowa-adopts-most-extreme-anti-dei-law-for-colleges/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/05/15/iowa-governor-signs-bill-banning-dei
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=90&ba=SF2435
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/diversity/2024/04/26/iowa-gop-oks-11th-hour-ban-dei-institutional-statements