(Urbandale, IA) -- Iowa Board of Regents President Michael Richards is ordering the three state-run universities to pause any new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Richards says the Board of Regents will initiate a comprehensive study and review of all DEI programs at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
Richards is appointing Regents Barker, Lindenmayer and Rouse to lead the study. This working group will report their findings and any recommendations back to the full Board.
A measure advancing in the Iowa Legislature would cut DEI spending, programming, and training on diversity, equity, and inclusion at Iowa's three state-run universities.
"For too long, the DEI bureaucracies at our institutions of higher education have been used to push a woke agenda on the faculty, staff and students," Iowa state Rep. Taylor Collins told Fox News. "Under the guise of diversity and inclusion, these programs work to indoctrinate students into their preferred political ideology."
Critics argue that cutting DEI offices would remove support for a variety of students.