Bill aiming to stop accreditors from targeting law-abiding state universities heads to governor

The Iowa Senate has sent a bill to Gov. Kim Reynolds’s desk that would bar penalization from accreditors to universities for following state law, despite concerns from some lawmakers that it would not prevent universities from potentially losing accreditation.

House File 295 would bar higher education accrediting bodies from taking negative action against state universities that follow or refuse to be noncompliant with state law, like legislation passed in the state prohibiting universities from funding or maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion offices.

The bill also removes mention of the Higher Learning Commission and replaces it with “any federally recognized accreditor of postsecondary educational institutions,” a move Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said could lead to universities choosing lower-quality accreditors and “call into question” students’ degrees.

“I think that we are heading down a path that is creating political cover for laws that are being passed that conflict with gold standards of higher education,” Winckler said.

Sens. Janice Weiner of Iowa City and Herman Quirmbach of Ames agreed with Winckler, saying if Iowa universities stop using the “gold standard” Higher Learning Commission, students may choose to take their tuition dollars somewhere else and education in Iowa could deteriorate as a result.

Weiner reiterated that legislation to create a center for intellectual freedom at the University of Iowa could endanger the university’s accreditation, and said the introduction of House File 295 told her “the majority party knowingly is putting the university’s accreditation at risk.”

“We could be voting, and we could be focusing on helping UIHC find a cure for the cancer plague in this state. Instead, we’re dealing with a bill that knowingly risks the school’s accreditation,” Weiner said. “It’s like we’ve stepped through the looking glass.”

Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen, R-Walcott, said there was “a little bit of exaggeration” in the comments from his colleagues about the dangers of Iowa universities losing accreditation or using lower-quality accreditors. He doesn’t expect any problems to arise with current or proposed legislation, including the bill to establish the UI intellectual freedom center.

The bill passed with a 32-15 vote.

“You know, these past couple weeks, we have heard a lot of concern about intellectual freedom, diversity, allowing both sides to speak,” Gruenhagen said. “Instituting this in a college should have been an easy ‘yes’ vote for both sides of this chamber, according to floor arguments that I’ve been hearing. Unfortunately, we did not hear those. We did not receive a yes. Here’s another chance to say ‘yes’ to provide opportunities.”