Iowa Republican Party lawmaker wants to research university officials about their affiliations with political parties amid accusations that conservative speech has been suppressed on campuses
- Iowa State Sen. Jim Carlin introduced a bill this week to research university officials
- The anonymous survey would be conducted by the State Council of Regents
- Includes University of Iowa, Iowa State U and University of Northern Iowa
- It happens after the three schools have apologized for ‘flagrant’ violations of free speech
- Republicans have accused schools of cracking down on conservative students
A Republican state senator introduced a bill that would require the state’s Board of Regents to survey all employees at major public universities to determine their party affiliation.
Senator Jim Carlin did not offer an explanation for his project, but he comes after accusations that Iowa public universities have suppressed free speech for conservative students.
The request would cover all employees at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
The project, presented this week, would require the survey to conceal the personal identity of respondents, but would separate the results by job classification.
Senator Jim Carlin (above) did not offer an explanation for his project, but he comes after accusations that Iowa public universities have suppressed free speech for conservative students
Carlin’s bill requires the results of the anonymous survey to be handed over to the Iowa legislature by December 30.
Earlier this month, all three public Iowa universities apologized for “flagrant” incidents that suppressed freedom of speech on their campuses, largely affecting conservative students.
In one case, Michael Brase, a conservative dental student at UI, was called to a disciplinary hearing for debating a dean who condemned then President Donald Trump’s executive order banning some types of diversity training.
“I would like to start by apologizing,” IU School of Dentistry Dean David Dean Johnsen told the legislature earlier this month, according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
‘Michael’s comments in front of the committee on Wednesday revealed his concerns and fears he felt about his educational future at our college, and for that I am sorry.
The request would cover all employees at the University of Iowa (above), Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa
In a related lawsuit, the Iowa City education committee voted on Wednesday to pass a bill that would make Iowa the first state in the nation to eliminate stability at public universities.
Stability is a lifelong academic appointment designed to allow academics to pursue free lines of investigation, but Republicans in the Legislature argue that it only protects “bad” teachers.
“As we have seen clearly at our leading universities, there is no more diversity of thought,” Republican Representative Skyler Wheeler said, according to the Sioux City Journal.
‘Why are we giving teachers a lifetime position in taxpayer money?’ Wheeler asked. “It simply removes a mechanism that protects bad teachers.”
Congresswoman Mary Mascher, a Democrat, said she plans to fight the bill.
“I don’t believe this is creating a good impression on our state and our educational system,” she said. ‘It will suffer a lot if we abandon or eliminate possession.’