Iowa House Higher Education Committee focuses on civics education in meeting, legislation

Iowa’s public universities are “derelict in their duty” of teaching students about the United States, its history and ideals, a presenter told Iowa lawmakers Wednesday.

The Iowa House Higher Education Committee passed four bills, most with amendments, during its meeting after hearing a presentation from the National Association of Scholars.

House Study Bill 55 would require state university faculty to publish syllabus information online for public view, including the educator’s name, course requirements, reading materials and class subject descriptions.

Amendments added to the bill struck language requiring the subject matter of each lecture and discussion to be published online as well, and added a section saying these rules don’t apply to courses that don’t regularly meet in a classroom setting.

Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport said despite the amendments, which were recommended by the Iowa Board of Regents, she was still concerned about the potential cost of complying with the law.

“I think that it represents an overreach that is undesirable,” Kurth said. “I’m also concerned that it takes away the flexibility that might be needed within a course to address certain types of issues or problems as they come up.”

Under House Study Bill 59, universities would also have to post online certain financial information. As amended, budget lines totaling $50,000 or more would need to be published online, as well as expenditures and vendor services that meet that same threshold. Each university administrative unit would also be required to share its budget, and expenditures for diversity, equity and inclusion would be made public as well.

Kurth also voiced concerns about HSB 59, citing an email from the Board of Regents that suggests much of the information is already available online. Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, said the bill would make that information more organized and accessible to the public.

House Study Bill 57 would bar accrediting agencies from taking negative action, such as removing accreditation, from public universities for following or refusing to violate state law. If authorized by the attorney general, universities would be able to bring a civil suit against accreditors who take action against them for that reason.

The bill will head to the floor, but Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, said he has “several concerns” about the Legislature’s ability to block a nongovernmental organization such as an accrediting body from taking action against universities that fail to comply with their policies.

Under House Study Bill 53, public universities would be prohibited from requiring students to take a course relating to DEI or critical race theory to fulfill general education or any academic program standards, with exceptions for programs with titles directly showing the main focus of the course to be on race, gender or sexuality.

The bill also provides that universities cannot require or incentivize employees, appointees and committees to participate in DEI or critical race theory activities. Wilburn brought forward an amendment to remove this section, as he said it could have unintended consequences of not getting faculty the continuing education they need, especially in various medical fields.

Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, urged the committee to resist the amendment, but said he’d like to speak with Wilburn more about potentially adding language relating to medical issues. The amendment failed to pass, but the legislation itself will move to the House floor.

David Randall, director of research at the National Association of Scholars, told lawmakers students across the U.S., including those in Iowa, are not learning the necessary knowledge of the U.S., its government and history, in K-12 or higher education. According to a 2024 survey of 3,000 college students by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a minority of students were able to say when the Constitution was written and that the legislative branch can declare war, among other things.

“If you look at the general education requirements of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, you will see that Iowa’s public universities are derelict in their duty,” Randall said.

Randall said none of the state universities have general education requirements for American history and government, and civics courses are generally more focused on civic engagement rather than education. He added that the UI has a general education requirement in the category of “Diversity and Inclusion,” which the university said will be changed to “Understanding Cultural Perspectives” starting in the 2025-26 school year.

Priorities Randall cited in improving civics education in higher education can be found in legislation already being discussed by lawmakers, including changing general education requirements and stopping accreditors from taking negative action against universities for following state laws.

Another solution he proposed was to have universities establish “administratively autonomous” schools that focus on U.S. history and government that would report to the Legislature itself rather than the university it is housed in, in order to “ensure that civic education in Iowa’s public universities is not entrusted to the radical university establishment.”

Civic education requirement bill passes out of subcommittee

Holt referenced the presentation during a subcommittee meeting on House Study Bill 56, which would require college students to take a course on American history and civics in order to earn a bachelor’s degree.

The course would need to include, but not be limited to, instruction on “the study of and devotion to American institutions and ideals,” according to the bill, as well as the history and principles of U.S. government, founding documents like the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation and the Emancipation Proclamation, and landmark court cases.

Iowa Board of Regents State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson said the board is registered “undecided” on the legislation but could support the bill if the board was able to work with the Legislature on amendments.

Members of the public questioned how certain topics, people and documents were selected as topics for the course and what the process was for choosing what and who would be included or excluded from the bill language.

Brian Schurz, a resident of Norwalk who graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in history, asked why people like Ida B. Wells and Susan B. Anthony, among others, were not listed in the legislation, as well as topics like efforts to combat the Ku Klux Klan.

“Our process of America, of where we came today, is kind of ugly, and there were people that were taken advantage of, and it’s important to have those conversations in an open and honest forum,” Schurz said. “By using this prism as we’re trying to pass laws in the state of Iowa, I don’t want to call it McCarthyism in the 1950s but if it’s something that you don’t like and somebody gets upset about it, then we’re trying to shout each other down or legislate someone to be quiet. So I think we have to be very cautious with this.”

After reading a quote from former President Ronald Reagan about how “freedom is never more than one generation from extinction,” Holt said the presentation cited data from a recent study that showed half of respondents would flee the U.S. if it was invaded.

This is why it is so important to teach young people about the topics outlined in the bill, he said, and added that despite what was suggested in the meeting, this legislation does not prevent any topics from being taught in the classroom.

Subcommittee chair Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said he looks forward to working with the Board of Regents to come to an agreement on language in the bill, but the fact of the matter is that students need to be required to learn what is touched on in the legislation. If people don’t unite to tell one story about the U.S. and its history, Wheeler said, multiple versions of the country will continue to be taught in schools.

“Why in the world … do we have an education system if we’re not going to be able to utilize it to make sure that kids know basic things about our country, things that they should know?” Wheeler said.

The bill will head to the full higher education committee for consideration.

This article was published by the Iowa Capital Dispatch on February 5, 2025.