For years now, Iowa Republicans have set their attention on education and academia by obstructing funding, restricting course material, and loosening civil protections for students and faculty, all under the guise of combating what they’ve labeled as wasteful DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs and the larger “woke mind virus” infecting schools. Now, with federal support, Gov. Kim Reynolds and the GOP are dismantling education and moving to silence individuals and organizations who most loudly oppose them.
In April 2024, the Iowa Legislature proposed Senate file 2435, which became effective in July of that year. The legislation prohibits the state’s public universities from directing any funds toward DEI-related offices or programs. House Study Bill 57 deals with similar DEI-related subjects, but targets the college accreditation system, while House Study Bill 53 removes defined DEI and critical race theory course material from mandatory course work. HSB 55 and 59 are designed to enforce those laws by requiring publication of all course syllabi and establishing that all finances, vendor contracts, and relevant professor information must now be made publicly available.
On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, his cabinet directed all federal agencies to terminate any “equity-related” grants and require federal contractors to certify that they do not promote “wokeness” or DEI. Less than two weeks later, Reynolds issued a similar letter to Iowa’s state universities, calling on them to cut all DEI positions and related contracts.
Among other effects, the federal directives and governor’s order resulted in the closure of the University of Iowa’s famous International Writing Program. The Department of State declared that IWP’s grants “no longer effectuate agency priorities” nor align with “agency priorities and national interest.” The UI noted that “More than 90% of funds associated with the IWP’s federal grants are spent domestically, which would have resulted in slightly less than $1 million going back into the U.S. economy over the next year.”
These cuts and paranoid cleansing of “woke” education reached a peak in March, when the UI stated that they plan to close the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity, along with many of the University’s living-learning centers and veteran/minority councils, following direction from the Iowa Board of Regents.
Also in March, the Iowa House of Representatives passed House Bill 401, which bans state universities’ general education courses from discussing “identity politics” or suggesting that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are present in the United States or Iowa.
The bill also mandated that general education curricula at the state’s universities include a “Western Heritage” program requirement, in which students must complete a certain amount of semester credits in course work related to the western canon to graduate. Many worry that curriculum requirements being set by the Legislature, rather than by the Board of Regents, will lead to distorted learning, particularly in history and the humanities. Citing the Legislature’s directives, the Board of Regents already has cut two UI degree programs.
Rep. Steven Holt (R-Denison), said the bill was vital to “further enforce the principles of Western civilization and American exceptionalism.” He went on to say, “I think we left it up to the so-called experts for many years, and in my opinion, they mucked it up.”
On the same day that House File 401 passed, lawmakers also moved to approve House File 437, which establishes a “Center for Intellectual Freedom” at the UI, and voted along party lines to end caps on in-state tuition and mandatory fees. In addition, they approved a bill that would deny Iowa Tuition Grants to students who attend Iowa private colleges that have DEI programs.
The Center for Intellectual Freedom is set up to provide courses on American history and programming on civil discourse, and is estimated to cost around $1.5 million per year. The University’s total cost from cutting its 12 employees operating its Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity and other DEI offices totaled just $868,219 in savings.
The day after those bills passed, Trump signed an order directing that “the Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.” Reynolds was in attendance for the order’s signing.
Republicans and right-wing think tanks like the Manhattan Institute have suggested transferring the Department of Education’s responsibilities of civil rights enforcement in public schools to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
However, considering the gutting of Education Department and DOJ staff earlier this year and the recent memo from the General Services Administration effectively stating that segregation is no longer an illegal practice for government contractors, it’s unlikely that any federal entity will properly enforce law and protect students. Givng civil rights-enforcement responsibilities to the DOJ is another tool for the Trump Administration to remove the Education Department’s long-held independence and centralize Trump’s authority. As of May 1, more than 250 DOJ attorneys have chosen to walk off the job instead of comply with the executive branch’s directives.
Research is also under attack. A court injunction has temporarily halted the National Institutes of Health’s cuts to Iowa research funding, which would amount to over $33 million and potentially terminate over 20,000 positions. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley posted on X in support of the research cuts.
With civil protections removed, institutions kneecapped, further control over education returning to the state, and Reynolds’s capture of the judicial appointment system, little stands in the way of the Iowa GOP as they expand their regulatory sights on public libraries and the private sector, threatening penalties and budget cuts for promoting critical race theory or having associations with advocacy organizations.
Along with cuts to staff and budgets, the state has become more involved in policing language and tightening restrictions on faculty and staff speech. In February the Regents made revisions to Iowa’s freedom of expression policy with more clearly defined and punitive measures for digital content it finds objectionable, and moved to scrub all UI websites of references to diversity, equity, and other “divisive” ideologies.
In February Trump ordered federal employees to report hidden DEI coworkers or face “adverse consequences.” House Study Bill 50 will implement annual reviews by the Board of Regents of state universities’ academic programs, which critics fear are designed to enforce compliance with these new anti-DEI policies.
The chilling effect of these moves has been successful, as associating your job or personal opinions with DEI-related topics could lead to the termination of your position, office, or research grants. Many faculty have chosen to quietly avoid being targeted rather than loudly speaking up and risking the attention of Trump or the Iowa Legislature.
Asking to remain anonymous, a history teacher who works in special education in Iowa public schools observed that these cuts will predominantly be felt by children with special needs and in poor communities with already under-equipped staff and services. “Maybe they can divide people on DEI and stuff, but I hope nobody, if they knew what they were doing, would want those with disabilities to have less.”
The Trump Administration said the arrest of students and financial cuts at Columbia University and deportation of Professor Badar Khan Suri for speech critical of the Administration will be first “of many to come” as the Administration cracks down on demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The federal District Court of the Southern District of Iowa has placed a restraining order against Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s department for its revoking of five UI international students’ visas.
Republicans have successfully captured key state judicial and legislative procedures and used them to strangle the institutions and legal precedents that stand to curtail their agenda and limit their power. All public and private schools in the state have signed letters of compliance with the erasure of DEI practices to protect federal and state funding. With Democrats confused and their current share of Congress too small to fight these bills, it’s unlikely anyone can stand up to Reynolds’s and Trump’s attack on education.
