Iowa Undergrads Will Now Take Courses Picked by Civics Centers

Future undergraduates at Iowa’s three public universities must take a “comprehensive survey of all American history” course, plus a second such course in American government, following legislation signed this week by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Civics centers, which often lean conservative, will pick which classes fulfill the requirement.

Starting in fall 2028, new undergrads at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa must complete these courses. The law, House File 2800, says civics centers at Iowa State and UNI will designate which courses meet the requirement. But at the University of Iowa, the law’s requirement is more prescriptive: The Center for Intellectual Freedom is the only academic unit that will offer the courses at the flagship institution.

The Republican-controlled Legislature created the Center for Intellectual Freedom last year. The Gazette reported it paid conservative activist Christopher Rufo $34,000 to speak at the inauguration. Luciano I. de Castro, the center’s interim director, has said one of its goals “is to help increase viewpoint diversity on campus.”

House File 2800 is mostly a budget bill. State Rep. Taylor Collins, who chairs the House higher education committee, successfully amended it on the penultimate day of this year’s regular legislative session, adding the course requirements before the legislation reached fellow Republican Reynolds’s desk.

The requirements won’t apply to students who already completed “substantially similar” coursework or who are pursuing degrees that are supposed to take three years or less.