Following extensive debate and copious amounts of dissent, the advisory council for the new University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom approved bylaws formerly tabled by the Iowa Board of Regents, despite dissent from key council members at its meeting Tuesday.

The 26-member council also finalized its executive committee and discussed the inaugural event for the center, which will be held on Dec. 6 at the UI’s Old Capitol Museum, with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in attendance, Luciano de Castro, the interim director for the center, said.

The decision comes after the Iowa Board of Regents voted to table the bylaws at their Nov. 13 meeting held at Iowa State University. The bylaws were approved with the addition of new amendments, most notably the elimination of a particular sentence in Article 4, Section 2 of the bylaws.

The amendment removes the stipulation that “a majority of the executive committee be advisory council members who are either current or former tenured professors from R1 institutions,” and was brought forth following concerns from Regent Robert Cramer at the regents’ Nov. 13 meeting.

R1 is a classification for universities with very high research activity. 

Cramer said changes and amendments to the bylaws needed to be made in order to receive approval from the regents. 

“We want to understand the importance of the academic side of it and wanting to find someone of academic clout, but we on the board didn’t want to lock that in forever, that the majority of the executive committee would be from the academic side,” Cramer said.

Thomas Gallanis, law professor at George Mason University and member of the council, said he was concerned about the stipulation’s removal in the bylaws, particularly in what it would mean for the search for future directors of the center.

“[The sentence] would enable a future director search to be run by an executive committee that could have a very tiny proportion of scholars compared to other community members,” Gallanis said.

Prior to discussion surrounding the bylaws, the council approved an executive committee of nine council members. Of those nine council members, five were members of the center’s Scholar Committee, which is made up of nationally-recognized faculty.

Due to the decision to have a majority of individuals on the executive committee be scholars, Joshua Katz, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and council member, found the proposal to strike the sentence to be “peculiar.”

“One of the most important things we are doing today is selecting the executive committee, and it seems very peculiar to elect a 5-4 majority… and then to immediately then remove the provision by which we just came to one of the most consequential decisions today,” Katz said.

RELATED: Iowa Board of Regents discuss UI Center for Intellectual Freedom bylaw

Harold Uhlig, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and advisory council member, understood not having the rule would help to provide more flexibility, but inquired about the fear of having academics as the majority.

The council ultimately passed the motion to remove the provision from Section 2 of the bylaws, despite eight members voting against it.

Concerns surrounding political affiliation

Amid discussion surrounding the appointment of the executive committee, Liz Mathis, former Iowa state senator and council member, expressed concern about political balance and said she wanted to have at least one person sitting on the committee who sways Democratic.

The advisory council is made up of 11 Republicans, three Democrats, and 12 independents, with only nine members slated for appointment to the executive committee.

Richard Lowery, assistant professor of finance at the University of Texas at Austin and recently appointed chair of the advisory council’s scholar committee, said the council should not pick executive committee members based on political considerations.

Gallanis said for the executive committee, decisions should not be made based on politics.

“We want an executive committee that’s going to be in the best position to discharge the functions of the executive committee, most prominently being the director [of the center] search,” Gallanis said.

Mathias said this concern came from her understanding that the reasoning behind the creation of the center was about politics, and did not think the topic should be omitted from the conversation.

“All I am asking for is fairness because we will be talking about politics and political language when we lecture. When we talk about intellectual freedom, it is about politics,” Mathias said.

Mark Bauerlein, professor emeritus of English at Emory University, said the nature of the center is not a fundamentally political operation.

“It is fundamentally a matter of academic forms and intellectual quality. To call it politics is to introduce precisely the degradation and distortion that has to lead to the necessity of centers like this in the first place,” Bauerlein said.

Inaugural event to be held Dec. 6

Hosted at the Old Capitol Building at the UI, Castro said the inaugural event, coined the  “Reforming Universities Summit,” will host a variety of speakers, including a capstone section.

Castro said both Reynolds and Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education David Barker, a former regent, will be in attendance.

Lectures to be offered in Spring 2026

Castro said there will be three courses offered at the UI: “Political and Economic Institutions in the United States,” “American Cultures and Values,” and “Political and Economic Institutions in the United States,” offered later in the spring semester.

Castro will be the instructor for all three courses set to be offered from Jan. 20 through March 3, March 26 through May 7, and March 24 through May 5, respectively.

Castro said each course will run seven weeks and will be offered in a pass/fail format. The courses are active, allowing students to start registering for the course if they so desire.

Regent Christine Hensley expressed excitement for the future of the center and continuing to work with members of the council.

“I think this center is really going to be held up as a model throughout the country,” Hensley said.