September 17-18, 2025 Meeting Recap

The Iowa Board of Regents met September 17-18, 2025 at the University of Northern Iowa Maucker Union in Cedar Falls. Selected items discussed are outlined below. View the full agenda here. 

Closed Session  VIDEO
The Board voted to approve the following measures related to social media posts regarding the killing of Charlie Kirk: 

• Direct all three universities to conduct an immediate investigation of all alleged violations of Board Policy, including but not limited to Chapter 4.2, governing usage of social media, to be completed within two weeks.
• Place all employees subject to investigation on administrative leave or have them removed from the classroom. 
• Upon completion of each investigation, authorize the Presidents of each university to take immediate action up to and including termination, regarding any employee found to have committed a violation. 
• Delegate to the Executive Director the authority to direct the universities to initiate an investigation of any future alleged violations, including placing employees on administrative leave. 

The Free Speech and Student Affairs Committee, including first amendment training and authorization for the Board’s free speech training module, was moved to the November meeting to accommodate the extended closed session. 

FY 2027 State Appropriations  VIDEO
The Board approved FY 2027 State Appropriations totaling 503.8 million in general university funding. This equals the Board’s FY 2026 appropriation. Additionally, the three universities requested special purpose unit funding based on statewide need and other factors. UI requested $3.6 million to increase the number of physicians serving rural Iowa. ISU requested $1.8 million for its Agricultural Experiment Station and UNI requested $1.6 million to fund its neighboring state tuition initiative and expand its nursing program. 

Further, Regent Gipple amended the motion during the meeting to include $1 million in student mental health funding. 

More on FY 2027 State Appropriations

Governance, Evaluation and Human Resources Committee  VIDEO
The committee approved UNI employee insurance plans, adoption assistance for all three universities and policy manual changes. In addition, the committee approved the advisory council for the forthcoming Center for Intellectual Freedom at UI. 

More on the Center for Intellectual Freedom Advisory Council

UNI Future Center  VIDEO
The Board received an update from UNI on the work it is doing in preparation for the arrival of US Senator Chuck Grassley’s official senate papers. Additionally, UNI president Mark Nook presented updates on the potential creation of the Chuck and Barbara Grassley Center, which will house those papers.

Property and Facilities Committee  VIDEO
The Committee approved the UI Register and UI’s request to purchase the remaining Mercy Iowa City Downtown real estate and raze the building on the site. Additionally, the committee approved the annual facilities report, including the FY 2027 capital requests. Capital requests included funding for a nursing simulation laboratory at UI, the Atanasoff Hall renewal project at ISU and the Commons Modernization project at UNI.

Academic Affairs Committee  VIDEO
The committee approved three department realignments, one at UNI and two at UI. It also approved two new programs at ISU: a BA in digital storytelling and a BFA in illustration. The committee also received an update on UNI@Iowa Community Colleges from UNI representatives. 

Facility Analysis of Presidential Residences  VIDEO
ISU Senior Vice President Sean Reeder presented a facility analysis on the Knoll at ISU. President Bates charged Regent Tjaden with determining next steps toward renovation, remediation and improvement of the Knoll. 

Faculty Presentation  VIDEO
Colleen Mulholland, dean of the UNI College of Education, presented on student success initiatives in the college. 

Audit and Compliance Committee  VIDEO
Chief Audit Executive Chad Sharp presented internal audits to the Committee. Deputy Auditor of State, Brian Brustkern and Financial Audit Division Directors Jenny Wall and Cole Hocker presented the State Audit Plan. 

Investment and Finance Committee  VIDEO
The committee received the quarterly investment report from Dave Smith of Marquette. Smith also presented updates on peer group comparisons. 

UI Health Care Committee  VIDEO
The committee received the UIHC presentation from VP for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Carver College of Medicine Denise Jamieson, Associate VP of UI Health Care and UIHC CEO Bradley Haws, and Associate VP for Finance and UIHC CFO Mark Henrichs. 

Public Comment  VIDEO
Three presenters spoke to the Board on a variety of topics. They included:

• Olivia Jones, UI student
• Anita Johnson, citizen
• Randal Meyer, UNI alum