(Radio Iowa) – Economics professor Luciano de Castro will take over as the temporary director of the University of Iowa’s new Center for Intellectual Freedom. The Board of Regents approved de Castro for the job, and David Barker was one of the Regents to support him. “He’s a very accomplished economist and I’m really excited to see what he can do with the Center,” Barker says. De Castro advocated for the center when the plan was working through the legislature, and says it is necessary to counter other university courses he claims only show capitalism in a bad light.

“The only perspective that the university has on this economic pillar is negative. So I think that something right there is missing in our offerings, and this center creates the opportunity to offer such kind of course,” he says. Democrats criticized the proposal for the school as redundant and ideologically-motivated. De Castro says the Center will look into the characteristics that he says have made the U-S “so special.”

“I think it’s just a fact that the United States is a very special country, and is the richest country on earth,” de Castro says. “And I think it’s a legitimate question that anyone should be interested in understanding.” De Castro says classes will most likely not be offered this year while faculty are hired. But, he still hopes to hold public events and lectures. He says developing an American history course is a priority as the new law requires the Center to offer the class.