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Aug. 13, 2025 |  By: Mark Moran - Public News Service

Iowa educators work to protect speech, academic freedom in Iowa

Iowa educators and graduate students have formed the Iowa Higher Education Coalition to advocate for academic freedom and free speech at the state's public universities. (Adobe Stock)

Iowa educators and graduate students have formed the Iowa Higher Education Coalition to advocate for academic freedom and free speech at the state's public universities. (Adobe Stock)

Mark Moran - Public News Service

Iowa educators are pushing back on what they see as an effort by the state to limit academic freedom and unfettered speech in university classrooms.

State lawmakers are working to limit what they call liberal indoctrination in Iowa's institutes of higher education. The state's three public universities, the the Iowa Federation of Labor, and a graduate student union have formed the Iowa Higher Education Coalition to defend free speech.

University of Northern Iowa Journalism Professor Chris Martin said there has been a strong effort by the Iowa Legislature to insert political influence into the classroom.

"You want to have discussions in classrooms where professors feel they can talk about anything related to that class," said Martin. "And they shouldn't feel like they can't say certain things and risk getting fired. And that's the black cloud that's kind of settled out over the state of Iowa and what we've been having to deal with this year."

The coalition is made up of graduate students, university faculty, and a handful of Iowa labor unions. The group has created a petition which it is asking educators and students to sign.

Martin added that while tenured professors still have a large degree of academic freedom, the legislature's efforts to limit free speech has a more chilling effect on those who don't have the same level of job security.

"I think a lot of people have been looking over their shoulder and worrying, especially people who work on contract and aren't tenured," said Martin. "I think they feel like they have a lot to worry about and I understand."

The Board of Regents, which oversees Iowa's public universities, is also being given new power. A new policy would allow board members to have sole discretion to reject or approve course curriculum, giving complete control over what's taught in the classroom.