Iowa Republicans Propose Bill to End Diversity Agenda at Public Colleges

Republican legislators in Iowa have introduced a bill that would bankrupt the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies at state colleges.

The proposed legislation, House File 616, would bar public institutions governed by the Iowa Board of Regents from funding DEI efforts or hiring DEI officials, thereby ending their DEI initiatives and bureaucracies. 

The legislation was introduced as an “Act prohibiting institutions of higher learning governed by the state board of regents from expending moneys to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or to hire individuals to serve as diversity, equity, and inclusion officers.”

The bill explains that it also “authorizes a student, faculty member or alumnus of a public institution of higher education alleging a violation of the bill’s provisions to bring a civil action for injunctive relief against the public institution of higher education to prohibit the public institution of higher education from continuing such violation.”

BREAKING: Iowa legislators have introduced a bill to abolish all DEI bureaucracies in the state's public universities. The legislation would immediately terminate all administrative departments, plans, programs, and initiatives that promote left-wing racialist ideology. pic.twitter.com/oJAlMJ1VhW

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 5, 2023

In addition, the legislation, which was introduced by the Iowa Committee on Education, would require money that would have been spent on DEI initiatives to instead be spent on merit scholarships for lower- and middle-income students. 

If the legislation is passed in both chambers and signed into law, the state’s attorney general will have the authority to oversee the universities’ plans to cancel their DEI initiatives and even to punish the schools if they allow their DEI agenda to persist.

The legislation comes after Republicans in the State House questioned the presidents of three public universities on their schools’ DEI expenditures, who were asking for a budget increase. 

Rep. Taylor Collins (R-Mediapolis) asked the presidents of the institutions how much the top DEI administrators were paid before estimating that approximately $750,000 was spent across the three universities.

“I just have a hard time when I see a $32 million request and I find $750,000 for four people,” Collins remarked.

Meanwhile, Rep. Carter Nordman (R-Adel) explained, “We are interested in looking at every aspect of taxpayer dollars being spent at our regent universities. Everything,” which includes “What they spend on programs, DEI, other administrative costs.”

“We are interested not only in how much we appropriate, but how those appropriated dollars are being spent at our regents,” Nordman added.

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com.