Iowa House Republicans advanced bills Tuesday establishing uniform educational requirements at the state’s public universities and protecting universities from being penalized by accreditors for following state law. Proposals for capping in-state tuition and establishing tuition guarantee were also removed from a bill known as the "College Affordability Act."
According to a House news release after the debate, bills requiring universities to post course syllabi online and directing the Board of Regents to review undergraduate and graduate programs were tabled due to the board agreeing to adopt them.
Uniform general education requirements
The bill establishes uniform general education requirements at the state’s public universities in areas like math, science and English, like Western and American heritage.
It would also bar general education courses from content that “teaches identity politics” or suggests systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are inherent in the United States of America or the state of Iowa.
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, said the general education requirements should be left to the discretion of the Board of Regents instead of the Legislature. He criticized a section of that bill stating the board has to ensure general education classes “do not distort significant historical events” for being vague and for being another attempt at trying to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I think we left it up to the so-called experts for many years, and in my opinion, they mucked it up."Republican Rep. Steven Holt
“Does it come back to the Legislature, that someone has distorted historical information or not?” he asked. “Will the institutions be allowed to determine that or not? “
Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said the bill is necessary to establish consistency across the state’s institutions, to build up English skills and to “further enforce the principles of Western civilization and American exceptionalism.”
“I think we left it up to the so-called experts for many years, and in my opinion, they mucked it up,” he said.
The bill passed 61-36 with three Republicans joining House Democrats in voting against the proposal.
Accreditation Autonomy Act
The proposal would block accreditors from punishing public universities or community colleges for following state law. If an accrediting agency takes adverse action against an institution for complying with state law, the institution could sue with the support of the attorney general.
Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, said the proposal will add an extra level of security for the state’s universities.
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, spoke against the proposal.
“If we are concerned about making sure that graduates of our programs have the opportunity to demonstrate that they are, and I believe they are, of the brightest and most talented, not only in the state and the country, then we need to ensure that their programs have that full accreditation,” he said.
The bill also removes references in the Iowa Code to the “Higher Learning Commission,” an independent agency that accredits higher education institutions in the U.S., and replaces it with “a” or “any” “federally recognized accreditor of postsecondary educational institutions.”
The bill passed 65-32 along party lines.
Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa
The proposal would establish a Center of Intellectual Freedom dedicated to teaching and research in the historical ideas, traditions and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society.”
The bill was previously known as the “School of Intellectual Freedom Act.”
The center could employ up to five tenure-eligible faculty, depending on “market research and student demand.”
The University of Iowa's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences estimates that establishing and maintaining the center will cost the university $1.5 million per year, including salaries and benefits for five faculty members, two administrative staff and the school’s tenure-eligible director with salary and benefits amounting to $400,000.
Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, says the bill is focused not only on intellectual diversity but also civics education.
The center would also coordinate with Iowa State University’s Center for Cyclone Civics and University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Civic Education to open courses to students at any of the universities either in-person or online.
“With Iowa State and UNI’s Center for Civic Education working together with the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa, we can offer even more academic opportunities for students to engage in civic education and teach our students about how our constitutional public was formed and why Western civilization has led to the greatest advancements of man since the beginning of time," Collins said.
Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, D-Hiawatha, questioned House Republicans on whether the center would align with its proposed goal.
“To me, it seems that if there was such a thing as a 'center of intellectual freedom,' that it would be open to introducing concepts, ideas and political theory from across the political spectrum, and those ideas would be held, debated and defended, including concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said.
The bill passed 60-37 with four Republicans joining Democrats in voting against the proposal.
In-state tuition caps and undergraduate tuition-guarantee scrapped
An amendment to the bill removed the 3% cap on in-state tuition and mandatory fee increases. It also removed the tuition guarantee that would have locked in an in-state student’s first-year tuition rate for the remainder of their four year degree.
Collins, the sponsor of the bill, said the cap was struck due to the Board of Regents agreeing to adopt an official board policy stating that annual tuition increases to in-state undergraduate students will not exceed a three-year rolling average of the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI).
“All that’s left is injecting partisan politics in the universities.”Democrat Rep. Adam Zabner
Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, criticized what he called the gutting of the bill.
“All that’s left is injecting partisan politics in the universities,” he said.
The bill would also direct regents institutions to “begin efforts” to develop at least one bachelor’s degree that can be completed in three years and requires tuition rates be set by April 30 of the previous fiscal year.
It also requires the institutions to “begin implementation” of at least one program where a student could work part-time for a company and have their tuition and mandatory fees paid for by the company. Previously, the bill directed institutions to establish a program by the academic year beginning in 2027.
The proposal also directs the Board of Regents to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a tuition guarantee for in-state students.
The proposal passed 64-33 along party lines.
House forgoes bills adopted by Board of Regents
According to a news release from House Republicans, the Board of Regents has also agreed to adopt “additional transparency measures” for course syllabi and university finances.
Previously, the House Higher Education Committee reviewed and advanced a bill that would have required regents institutions to post syllabi online for undergraduate courses.
The Board of Regents also agreed to “conduct a full review of all academic programs at each regent university to determine their alignment with the state’s workforce needs,” as stated in the GOP news release.
An earlier proposal would have directed the Board of Regents to conduct a review of undergraduate and graduate programs. The report would have to recommend programs stay the same, be changed or eliminated.
