Gov. Kim Reynolds has just signed into law House File 437, which establishes a Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa. Reynolds did a great service to Iowans — as did Rep. Taylor Collins, who shepherded the bill through the Legislature, and all his colleagues who supported and voted for House File 437. The new center will do a great deal to improve Iowa’s public higher education. It will improve intellectual diversity on campus, and it will help address Iowa’s crisis in civic education.

The Center for Intellectual Freedom will provide faculty, courses, and entire programs dedicated to teaching courses in American history and government that lead students to a greater understanding of the principles of the American Founding and the Constitution. Because the center will be administratively autonomous within the University of Iowa, it will be immune from capture by members of the education establishment who are allergic to depoliticized, truly civic instruction. Iowa policymakers still should exercise oversight, to make sure no bureaucrats attempt to veto legislative intent, but the Center’s administrative structure should make sure that a mission-aligned executive director can proceed without sabotage from the larger university. The ideologically extreme advocates of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) would undermine the center if they were given the chance.

While making claims for “intellectual diversity” with the “Center for Intellectual Freedom” in one paragraph, they also claim that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is extreme in the next paragraph, thus mocking their own claims.

Below is a conversation from Iowa City radio station KCJJ with Iowa State Representative Dave Jacoby where he and the interviewer peel away the dishonesty of the so-called “Center For Intellectual Freedom” and expose what extreme right wing agendas always want to do: suppress dissent and create their own narrative that is not to be questioned. (25 minutes) Note: Dave Jacoby serves on the state Education Committee.

Covering this event for iowacapitaldispatch.com Brooklyn Draisey noted the way the conference started:

The first day of the University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom’s two-day inaugural event sought to answer two questions — what is wrong with higher education, and what caused these problems — with discussion from academics and activists involved with the center or invited by its interim director.

There wasn’t much debate among panelists and audience members, with the group seeming to agree that the root of the problems facing higher education comes from liberals and the ideas they bring with them.

There is little doubt that this “Center” is nothing more than yet another cog in the Republican led freedom suppression bandwagon. Iowa’s stature in education has gone from the top to the bottom 3 as noted by Captain Steve in the video. Thanks Republicans.

tip of the hat to all-hat-no-cattle.com