University students speak out against anti-DEI actions at Board of Regents meeting

Daniela Pintor-Mendoza stood up before the Iowa Board of Regents Wednesday, a crowd of people holding signs and waving flags behind her.

She spoke during the board’s public comment period to express her feelings as a “proud” University of Iowa student about decisions made by the board to reduce diversity, equity and inclusion practices at state universities.

Directing universities to wipe DEI information from websites and course curriculum directly opposes the board’s mission to be a steward of quality instruction, research and service to Iowans, she said.

“These actions are not just policy shifts,” Pintor-Mendoza said. “They are an attack on the values of fairness, success, access and representation.”

A coalition of Iowa State University and University of Iowa students used public comment and protests outside of the ISU Alumni Center to raise their voices against the Iowa Board of Regents’ actions diminishing diversity, equity and inclusion and creating other negative impacts on their campuses.

Students at both institutions have held protests against anti-DEI measures before, calling on the board and their administrations to support students of color, LGBTQ+ students and others rather than push them to the side at the behest of the state and federal government.

Pintor-Mendoza ended her comments with “collective demands” from her and other students feeling the hurt from eliminated programs and uncertainty from federal actions.

They included maintaining funding and support for critical services like multicultural and LGBTQ+ student centers, ensuring those offices are staffed and operating, providing “full transparency” in DEI compliance processes, guaranteeing university employees can still conduct optional DEI activities and including it in coursework without penalty, committing to ending job cuts due to closing DEI programs, creating a student oversight committee for DEI policy changes, giving aid to international students who have seen their visas revoked and protecting free speech.

ISU student Binx Hilton said teachers are censoring themselves in class and course materials out of fear of saying something the board or the government wouldn’t like, as they are unsure about what can and can’t be taught.

“Teachers have no directives, no protections right now … and you are the only thing that stands between unchecked federal regulations and our universities, our professors, our students and our programs,” Hilton said. “Stand between it.”

Darrell Washington, also a UI student, said erasing DEI education and support for students is a choice the board is making to “scrub our histories, our identities, our truths, out of the curriculum, out of existence,” and to ignore students and their needs.

Taking away LGBTQ+ and multicultural centers cuts away students’ foundations and leaves them without a sanctuary, Washington said, and it tells them they don’t matter.

“We are not asking for special treatment,” Washington said. “We are asking for our rightful place at the table, because we have built this table, we bring the chairs and we will not be pushed away. We are not invisible, we are not optional. We are not leaving.”

Graciela Rangel, the last student to speak during the public comment period, urged the board to not preemptively comply with rules that are not yet set in stone and that hurt the communities they’re supposed to serve.

Programs Rangel said made an ISU education possible are on “shaky ground” right now or gone entirely, like the LGBTQ+ center on campus. When students and staff are choosing to pack up and leave their universities, Rangel said, it’s more important than ever for board members to show their commitment to students and university employees.

“Now more than ever, I need you to understand the importance of standing with your students and staff,” Rangel said. “Let me repeat — anticipatory obedience to unjust policies and oppressive ideologies is not a sign of ethical leadership.”