Regents seeking firm to manage University of Iowa’s legislative relations this session

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s Board of Regents for the first time is seeking a firm, rather than a single person, to serve as its legislative liaison and state relations representative for the University of Iowa’s dealings with the Legislature and executive branch.

This new strategy deviates from the traditional “state relations officer” approach the board has taken on behalf of the university for decades and comes amid heightened legislative oversight of the nearly 179-year-old Iowa City campus.

In the last legislative session, for example, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law House File 437, requiring creation of a new UI Center for Intellectual Freedom that will, among other things, provide scholarship on the “principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order” and “expand the intellectual diversity of the university’s academic community.”

The center’s inaugural advisory council — for which Gov. Reynolds suggested appointees — includes 26 members, only half of whom live in Iowa. The vast majority — all but two — are men; 11 are Republicans, three are Democrats, and 12 are independents — although most in that independent group have expressed conservative ideology on social media or otherwise.

The university also is being investigated by Attorney General Brenna Bird after an undercover video aired on Fox News July 29 showing a UI employee admitting to skirting laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion-related spending, staffing, and training.

Although the board is trying a new state relations-firm approach for UI, it’s sticking with its traditional state relations officers for Iowa State University, University of Northern Iowa, and UI Health Care, according to board spokesman Josh Lehman.

A request for proposals from interested firms, issued last week, aims to award a contract Nov. 17 — in time for the upcoming 2026 session of the 91st Iowa General Assembly, scheduled to start Jan. 12.

The firm’s work will wrap June 30, 2026, according to the RFP, which spells out the board’s hope to find a “qualified firm with Iowa state relations experience to represent the Board of Regents and the University of Iowa in a timely, accurate, and professional manner.”

“We haven't contracted with a firm before,” board spokesman Lehman told The Gazette, referencing the regents’ long-held tradition of employing individual state relations officers to represent each of its public universities.

“The RFQ allows the Board of Regents to look at an alternative method of offering state relations services,” he said. “The same services will be provided, just with a different approach via a firm.”

New role

Keith Saunders had served as the board’s UI-specific state relations officer for 17 years — since 2008 — and before that was the board’s state relations officer representing the University of Northern Iowa since 2004.

Prior to joining the board office that year, Saunders spent eight years at UNI in a state governmental relations position — meaning he’s been serving as a legislative liaison for the regents or one of its institutions for nearly three decades.

When asked what the regents’ RFP for a state relations firm means for Saunders, Lehman said he’s transitioned to a new role with the board office. His title, as of Oct. 20, is associate general counsel and facilities coordinator. And his registration as a lobbyist on behalf of the board was canceled Oct. 7, according to state records.

The board for the upcoming session has assigned Jillian Carlson as its state relations officer for Iowa State University; Jason Chapman as its state relations officer for the University of Northern Iowa; and Jennifer Harbison as its SRO for UI Health Care.

Carolann Jensen, who last year served as the board’s ISU state relations officer, also has transitioned to a new role with the board as its chief operating officer.

In the last budget year, Saunders earned a base pay of $183,906; Jensen made $178,231; Carlson made $118,450; and Harbison made $222,789.

The board’s new RFP for a state relations firm doesn’t discuss payment other than asking submissions to include a proposed “service fee structure for these services including, but not limited to, reimbursable and non-reimbursable items.”

‘Enhance the board’

The scope of services for interested firms charges them to do the following:

Given firms have many clients, the board in its RFP asked applicants to discuss how they would manage clients with conflicting positions and prioritize the Board of Regents.

The RFP also expressly prohibits any firm it hires from using “artificial intelligence technologies, platforms, or tools to develop, generate, disseminate, or support any advocacy materials, communications, or strategies related to positions of the Board of Regents.”

“This includes, but is not limited to, AI-generated content used to influence public opinion, educate stakeholders, or engage with opposition groups.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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