(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents met in closed session for around three hours this (Wednesday) morning, before voting to give the three state universities two weeks to investigate employees who allegedly violated state policy in online posts cheering the death of conservative leader Charlie Kirk. Board of Regents president Sherry Bates read the motion that says employees under investigation can be put on leave.

“Upon completion of each investigation authorized the presidents of each university to take immediate action to and including termination regarding any employee found to have committed a violation,” Bates says. Regent Christine Hensley says she want’s it on the record that she raised concerns in their discussions about a lack of investigations before the meeting.”The lack of investigation really has, I would say slowed the process,” she says. Regent David Barker says he has concerns about the length of time it has taken to answer concerns.

The Board of Regents meeting in Cedar Falls. (photo from BOR online stream)

” I was very close to voting no, because I believe that in at least one case, there’s very little investigation to do. But I don’t want my, I wouldn’t want that vote to be interpreted as opposing taking action. So it’s my expectation that in at least some cases action will be much faster than in two weeks, and I certainly hope that that’s what occurs,” Barker says. Barker is likely making reference to an Iowa State University employee whose social media post on Kirk led to a call by lawmakers and others to fire her. Regent Robert Cramer says it is important to review each case.

“We’ve seen some appalling things on social media in the last week. And we also understand that some appalling things are protected by the First Amendment,” he says. “So the purpose of this is to delve in and to see if these any of these cross the threshold to where they’re so disruptive to the university that they still need discipline in an employment sense.” Cramer says. Cramer says this allows the universities to consider the impact of what was posted.

“We also recognize that we treat students differently than employees, and we’re not talking about punishing anyone for what they’ve said or posted. But we’re also saying there’s not an absolute right to employment if that employee is disrupting the university,” he says. The motion approved by the board gives the Board of Regents executive director the authority to direct the universities to initiate an investigation of any future alleged violations.