A growing percent of students across Iowa’s public universities feel comfortable expressing their opinions on and off campus, in and out of class, and even on social media according to a second free speech survey Iowa’s Board of Regents administered earlier this year, just over two years after ordering its first following a string of campus incidents that drew intense criticism from Republican lawmakers.
For the first time in nearly seven years, Iowa’s Board of Regents has a new president in Sherry Bates a social worker who’s been on the board for nearly a decade.
After eight years on the Board of Regents and nearly seven as its president, Michael Richards on Tuesday announced he’s stepping down from his presidential post and will leave the board at the end of April three years before his term expires.
Speaker of the Iowa House Pat Grassley has served in the Legislature nearly 18 years and has never over that span seen it undertake a broad review of “how we deliver higher education.”
Before approving its state appropriations request in advance of the upcoming Legislative session, Iowa’s Board of Regents on Thursday tacked on another $1 million specifically for “extended mental health resources at our three regent universities.”