(Radio Iowa) – A update from the staff of the Board of Regents shows they are ahead of schedule in complying with a new law that requires cutting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D-E-I) programs. Regent Christine Hensley says she is pleased with the work done on the issue and was pleased after a meeting with students on the issue.  “Because they are excited about this, and they feel that now it’s open to all the students on the campus. And I thought that was extremely positive,” Hensley says. Regent David Barker says the report presented Thursday shows things are off to a good start. “The law is designed to keep university administration out of politics. Professors can conduct research and take controversial ideas wherever they go, but the university itself should be neutral on politics and controversial issues,” Barker says.

Barker says the report only deals with university administrative offices. “So the next question is, are there still dei offices on our campuses? This report suggests not. It tells us that the remaining offices that were reviewed were not engaged in D-E-I activities,” he says. “This is where I believe we have more work to do. Just this semester, there were several examples of university administrative offices that are not being eliminated or restructured that promoted D-E-I.” He says D-E-I has been ingrained in the system.

“Promotion of these ideas has been so widespread in university administration that achieving compliance will take a great deal of effort. Strategic Plans still need to be changed, and our presidents need to strongly communicate that they expect our universities to follow the spirit of the law, not find ways around it,” he says. Regent Robert Crammer says the students might want to participate in developing a process to address issues that pop up. “What’s their process of, you know, saying, ‘Hey, turn this in, this isn’t quite complying with the deal,’ and just have an orderly process. And even as we get texts or whatever, I would assume we would probably phone to Mark and he would follow up with it to see that it gets addressed,” he says.

Regent Jim Lindemayer says inclusion is something that we all want, but he thinks some of the mistakes is when it is institutionalized. “That’s where the tussle has come in, is that we’ve institutionalized these things and maybe taking them too far in some instances, maybe not far enough in others. That’s my opinion,” Lindemayer says. The new law will not take effect until July 1st of 2025, and the Board of Regents staff say they will continue working on the compliance issues.

State Representative Taylor Collins led Republican efforts on the D-E-I bill. He released a statement following the Board of Regents meeting Thursday that says: “Iowa’s higher education system will no longer waste millions or be distracted by ideological agendas. These changes are a positive step forward, but the legislature shouldn’t have to continue to do the Board of Regents or our University President’s job for them – Iowans expect more.”