Department head and professor of political science, Scott Peters, shuffled his notes in the wind as he received the wearable microphone from Christopher Martin, professor of digital media journalism, at the Teach In hosted by United Faculty on the roof of the Maucker Union. “We are professionals,” Peters spoke to the growing crowd of students, faculty, staff, reporters and Cedar Valley community members. “We do not indoctrinate students. That is not what we do.”
According to Robert Earle, vice president of United Faculty and ethics professor at UNI, the Teach In was hosted in conjunction with a national Day of Action, under the umbrella of promoting academic freedom at college campuses. Earle says that UNI worked closely with the University of Iowa faculty to emphasize the importance of academic freedom. “There’s a number of bills, at the state and national level, that undermine academic freedom and threaten this wonderful place to learn,” Earle told the Northern Iowan. “It’s especially important that we speak up in effort to protect the tenants of academic freedom.”
The Teach In hosted a myriad of speakers, from former SNL cast member Gary Kroeger to graduate student Nic Trip, speakers delivered lectures about DEI initiatives and their importance to universities, first amendment rights, censorship, facism, colonization, LGBTQ+ rights, international student rights and more. Each subject revolved around policies or legislation that could do potential harm to students, faculty and staff at UNI.
Social work students spoke about how DEI initiatives directly impact their career field and education at UNI. Trip, a graduate social work student, talked about how DEI initiatives allowed them to attend UNI. “I lived in a religious house where being gay was grounds for conversion therapy and being kicked out of the house at a given moment. College was an opportunity to get an education, but more importantly, a way to have stable housing and a way out,” said Tripp.
Trip listed DEI initiatives that directly impact almost every Panther. Federal Pell grants, flexibility to stay in dorms throughout spring and winter breaks, scholarships dedicated to different groups of students, agencies that support survivors of violence, being a student worker on campus, the Panther Pantry, library services at Rod library, utilizing eduroam internet, free textbook assistance programs, and “at one point, having a gender and sexuality service on campus.” According to Trip, utilizing these services means engaging in DEI initiatives on campus, which creates a mutually beneficial relationship between the university and its students.
Bella Sloan, an undergraduate social work student at UNI, explains that DEI policies are essential to UNI. “Insinuating that we don’t need research, or services like the gender and sexuality service because there are services alike in the community for LGBTQ+ individuals,” Sloan said, in reference to a statement made by President Mark Nook. “The reason these services exist outside of the university is because I, as an openly lesbian social work student, had to grow a program because our resources were seen as disposable.”
Martin spoke in reference to a bill that asks universities to prioritize majors and programs that have the most job prospects in Iowa. For some faculty, this legislation looks like the abandonment of programs. “When ill-informed people tell us about jobs and that we should get rid of majors and minors in programs that don’t generate high salaries, they’re missing the point,” said Martin. “Not only that, but they’re missing the point about the law. Iowa without arts and humanities would be an incomplete place, just an enormous farm of accountants. And we love accountants, but we don’t just want there to be accountants.”
“There’s room for all kinds of people here. That’s what makes America and Iowa great.”
