Trevor Babcock
Discussions of race, gender and sexuality in one Iowa public school district are raising questions about what content schools should be responsible for teaching their students.
In February, as a part of Black History Month, Ames Community School District engaged in “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.”
The district described the program as time set aside to affirm all Black identities by centering Black voices and to teach about Black experiences beyond slavery.
The lessons also included education affirming LGBTQ identities. The programming was not officially affiliated with any Black Lives Matter organization and parents were able to opt their children out of the education.
As a law professor, I am a strong defender of free speech. Defending free speech as a constitutional principle means defending the right of people to speak even when I disagree with their message.
Christina Bohannan
Guest Columnist
As a law professor, I am a strong defender of free speech. Defending free speech as a constitutional principle means defending the right of people to speak even when I disagree with their message.
As a Democratic State Representative from Iowa City, I have heard a lot, recently, about how Iowa Republicans believe they are victims of First Amendment violations against conservative speech. The Iowa House Government Oversight Committee held hearings to review complaints that the Regents universities infringed on conservative students’ free speech rights. In the University of Iowa case, the College of Dentistry Dean admitted that the college was wrong to schedule an inquiry for a student who criticized the college’s statement opposing an Executive Order issued by then-President Donald Trump. Republican lawmakers accused the universities of “hypocrisy” and said that it is a university’s job to educate, not “indoctrinate.”
Katherine H. Tachau, Edward Wasserman and Ann Rhodes
Guest Columnists
The right of the people to express opinions free from government interference is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. So it was disappointing to see the right of free speech weaponized in a recent hearing held by the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee. (“‘Unsafe just because they disagree’: University of Iowa dean apologizes for infringing on rights of conservatives on campus,” Feb. 3).
In that hearing, Dean David Johnsen of the University of Iowa s College of Dentistry apologized to the committee for his actions last fall when he and other faculty circulated a memo to the college deploring an Executive Order issued by then-President Donald Trump. The order prohibited recipients of federal funding from offering certain kinds of training on diversity and white privilege, and teachers at recipient institutions from “endorsing” ideas that the government defined as “divisive co
By Christina Bohannan, State Representative, Iowa House District 85; law professor, University of Iowa
As a law professor, I am a strong defender of free speech. Defending free speech as a constitutional principle means defending the right of people to speak even when I disagree with their message.
As a Democratic State Representative from Iowa City, I have heard a lot recently about how Iowa Republicans believe they are victims of First Amendment violations against conservative speech. The Iowa House Government Oversight Committee held hearings to review complaints that the Regents Universities had infringed on conservative students’ free speech rights. In the University of Iowa case, the College of Dentistry Dean admitted that the College was wrong to schedule an inquiry for a student who criticized the College’s statement opposing an Executive Order issued by then-President Trump. Republican lawmakers accused the universities of “hypocrisy,” and said that it is a univer