(Iowa Capital Dispatch/Des Moines, IA) – The Iowa Senate, Friday, dropped private universities from legislation barring diversity, equity and inclusion activities and offices in state entities.

Senators amended House File 856 and sent it back to the House. The bill would, as amended, prohibit state agencies and community colleges from spending public or private dollars on opening or sustaining DEI offices and official positions. Previous versions of the bill stated private universities would risk Iowa Tuition Grant funding if they continue to maintain DEI divisions, but an amendment introduced by Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, and passed by the chamber removed this section.

Another amendment, also passed, clarified definitions listed in the bill. Senate Democrats opposed the legislation, saying it limits academic freedom and freedom of speech. Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said during debate those restrictions are “completely contradictory to our constitutional mandate and our democratic principles of the United States.”

Echoing previous comments on other DEI-focused legislation, Quirmbach said eliminating the ability for agencies like law enforcement and school districts to use a DEI practice like recruiting from certain communities will have negative consequences, as staff won’t be as well-equipped to understand other cultures. Sens. Molly Donahue and Sarah Trone Garriott said the legislation would harm higher education institutions working to graduate well-rounded students who are prepared for the workforce and world.

Iowa is a state without enough people to work in it, Trone Garriott said, and DEI programs and practices help keep young people in the state and attract new residents to it. “Policies like this are already hurting Iowa, and we can see it as employers are struggling to attract workers, and our young people move away and don’t come back, and our colleges and universities are having a very hard time attracting students, and our economic growth is lagging behind other states,” Trone Garriott said. “This is moving in the wrong direction.”

Rozenboom said in closing comments he heard “a lot of fearmongering, a lot of exaggeration, hyperbole and that sort of thing” from those opposing the bill, when in reality what it serves to do is show that state entities “do not exist to promote politically divisive ideologies.”

“I think House File 856 is required because of the directions some have gone, in the extreme, to push DEI initiatives in our state institutions,” Rozenboom said.