Bylaws proposed for new University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom

IOWA CITY — Proposed bylaws for the University of Iowa’s new Legislature-mandated Center for Intellectual Freedom require its 26-member advisory council to meet at least once a semester — plus any special meetings the chair or executive committee call.

Those meetings — at a date, time and location to be determined — must be open to the public, per Iowa open meetings laws, according to new bylaws drafted by the center’s interim director Luciano I. de Castro, a UI economics professor who during the last legislative session urged lawmakers to create a UI Center for Intellectual Freedom.

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“The imbalance is very, very strong … this is a fact you cannot dispute,” de Castro told lawmakers during a February hearing on political bias in academia. “Most, but not all, professors are left-leaning. And this has implications.”

After Gov. Kim Reynolds signed House File 437 into law over the summer, creating the UI center, she recommended names for the inaugural advisory council.

Although the bill requires at least nine council members and Iowa law requires political balance, the board appointed an initial 26 members — half whom live in Iowa and 11 of whom are Republican, although most have publicly expressed conservative ideology or made meaningful donations on the political right.

Take University of Texas finance professor Richard Lowery, listed among the “independent” appointees. In 2023, he sued his own campus — accusing it of funding and supporting “left-wing” causes like affirmative action, critical-race theory indoctrination, and diversity, equity and inclusion, among other things.

“He has in particular complained about the UT administration’s use of (DEI) requirements to filter out competent academics who dissent from the DEI ideology prevailing on campus,” according to the lawsuit, described by Bloomberg Law as filed by a “right-leaning professor.”

The UI Center for Intellectual Freedom advisory council is mostly men — with only two women — and has just three Democrats, including Liz Mathis, executive director of the Hiawatha Economic Development Corporation and former Democratic state senator from Linn County.

Although Board of Regents counsel in September said the bylaws could address questions of voting rights, non-voting members, and travel demands — including whether out-of-state members would be compensated for center and meeting-related travel — they didn’t delve into those specifics.

“I'm just going to lay this out very honestly,” regent Nancy Dunkel, the board’s sole Democrat, said in September when voting against the list of proposed council members. “Several of us in the past and now travel south sometimes during the winter, but we always fly back on our own dime for these meetings — that's how important is.

“So I would expect that we don't have an advisory board that is going to be paid or reimbursed for their travel to come to Iowa for a meeting when we, as Iowans, don't have that luxury.”

Conflicts of interest

The new bylaws, which de Castro in their opening says were “prepared by me, with the collaboration of many individuals,” require the council have a chair and both a “scholar committee” and an “executive committee” of at least five members each.

A majority of the executive committee must be current or former tenured professors from research 1 institutions — with those academic members elected to the executive group by a majority of the council, per the bylaws.

The scholar committee must all be current or former tenured professors.

Although half the 26 initial advisory council members fit that academic mandate of being a current or emeritus professor, none are from the state of Iowa and a majority are either Republicans or have publicly expressed conservative ideology.

Everyone on the council must disclose potential conflicts of interest — including financial or other interests that “impair or might reasonably appear to impair such member’s independent, unbiased judgment in the discharge of his or her responsibilities to the center.”

A conflict also exists if a member’s family or organization has “existing or potential financial or other interests.”

Mission and duties

The center’s mission, according to the bylaws, will be to:

Duties of the advisory council include:

Duties of the executive committee include:

The scholar committee must advise the director on his or her decision to hire all tenure-eligible faculty; on whether to offer tenure and promotion to faculty; on appointing new academic members to the council; and on any other scholarly matters.

Per the bylaws, any director chosen via national search must have academic standing at the rank of professor to be eligible for tenure at the University of Iowa.

Once a permanent director is in place, he or she will have the “sole and exclusive authority” to invite or hire tenured and tenure-track professors, staff, speakers, visitors, temporary and visiting professors, part-time faculty and instructors.

The director also will determine job duties and compensation for all center personnel and propose an annual budget — to be approved by the advisory council.

“The director may require additional funding to operate the center, which shall be provided by the regents institutions, subject to approval of the (Board of Regents),” according to the bylaws.

The center can offer courses and develop certificate, minor, and major programs — as well as graduate programs — and offer UI degrees.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com