Center for Intellectual Freedom advisory council passes bylaws after disagreements

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – The advisory council for the University of Iowa’s new Center for Intellectual Freedom voted 10-7 Tuesday to approve bylaws, including how to select the permanent director.

Republican legislators established the center to combat what they felt was too much liberal ideology on university campuses. The center aims to create college classes that promote what legislators consider intellectual diversity.

Interim director Luciano de Castro created the advisory council’s bylaws, which included who would decide the next director. The group would have consisted mainly of scholars from high research universities.

But Iowa’s Board of Regents felt that too many of those scholars would come from outside Iowa.

“The hiring of the permanent director is on the top of the list. So having a faculty balance at this point and as we’re moving forward, I think, is really important,” said Christine Hensley of the Iowa Board of Regents.

The center’s council considered those concerns at Tuesday’s meeting, but not without disagreement between members.

“Most of the academic side of you folks being willing to serve on there, which we truly appreciate, are from a different state and just not known by Iowans,” said Robert Cramer of the Iowa Board of Regents.

Thomas Gallanis, a professor at George Mason University, disagreed.

“This center is under Iowa control because it reports to the Board of Regents. The Board of Regents is the governing body. The Advisory Council is not a governing body,” Gallanis said.

The council now needs the Board of Regents to sign off on the bylaws before the process can get underway to choose a leader for the center.

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