Meeting Rundown

The Iowa Board of Regents will hold a virtual meeting July 30, 2025 originating from Cedar Falls. Open session portions of the meeting will be livestreamed on the Board’s YouTube Channel. 

Meeting Background
The late summer meeting is when the Regents consider budgets for the following fiscal year. With 2025-26 tuition and fee rates set and final state appropriation actions taken by the Iowa Legislature, Iowa’s Regent universities can move forward with budget presentations. State appropriations, tuition and fees, budgets and November’s forthcoming comprehensive fiscal report represent nearly all of the Board’s financial reporting mechanisms.

FY 2026 Budgets
The Board will consider FY 2026 Budgets for the universities and the Board Office. The three university presidents will present FY 2026 budgetary slideshows for the Board’s consideration. In previous years, the presidents have highlighted programs, initiatives and scholarships that demonstrate how the universities allocate their budgets to further their commitment to student success and enrich the lives of Iowans.

Policy Manual Revisions
The Board will take action on policy manual revisions regarding human resources and academic policies and procedures. The Regents will not consider proposed policy 3.23, which contains course requirements on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT), and received a first reading at the June 2025 meeting. Board of Regents President Sherry Bates issued a statement on Tuesday, July 22:

At its June meeting, the Board of Regents heard a first reading of proposed policy 3.23 on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) requirements.

The Board received feedback from a wide variety of constituents, and declared its intent to review the proposed policy and bring it before the Board, potentially with changes, at the July meeting for consideration.

This is an important issue, and we have heard people’s concerns. After numerous thoughtful discussions, we have determined we will not consider the proposed policy at the July meeting. We will continue reviewing the feedback, and the Board will identify a future meeting to consider this issue.

UNI Tuition for Contiguous States
The Board will consider approval of UNI’s proposed tuition and mandatory fees for new students residing in the six states bordering Iowa. If approved, incoming students from states bordering Iowa will pay tuition rates equivalent to those of Iowa residents, which were approved in June. 

Center for Intellectual Freedom
The Board will consider appointing UI Economics Professor Luciano de Castro as the Interim Executive Director of the forthcoming Center for Intellectual Freedom on the UI Campus. House File 437, which was signed into law on June 11th, 2025, requires the creation of the Center at the University of Iowa under the purview of the Board of Regents.