HF 2185 (LSB 5159YH (6) 88)

HOUSE FILE 2185

BY  SALMON, GASSMAN, BAXTER, GERHOLD, JENEARY, SHIPLEY, and WHEELER

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the appointment of a director of public policy events at each institution of higher education governed by the state board of regents.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  262.100  Director of public policy events —— institutions of higher education.
   1.  The board of regents shall direct each institution of higher education to appoint a current employee to the position of director of public policy events. The director shall report to the office of general or university counsel, as appropriate, at the institution.
   2.  The duties and responsibilities of the director shall include all of the following:
   a.  Organizing, publicizing, and staging debates, group forums, and individual lectures that address, from multiple, divergent, and opposing perspectives, an extensive range of public policy issues widely discussed and debated. The director shall make a reasonable effort to organize a substantial number of debates, group forums, and individual lectures that fall within the parameters described in this section.
   b.  Inviting speakers who hold a wide diversity of perspectives, from within and outside the campus community, to participate in public policy events, with particular attention to inviting speakers from outside the institution who can ably articulate perspectives on widely debated public policy issues otherwise poorly represented on campus.
   c.  Providing, when funding is available, honoraria and actual transportation and lodging expenses to speakers when the speakers are from outside the campus community. The director shall make every reasonable effort to ensure that funding is available to host speakers holding opposing view points.
   d.  Maintaining a publicly accessible, current, searchable calendar of public policy events open to the entire campus community, on the institution’s internet site. The director shall make print copies of the calendar available to the campus community. The calendar of events shall include events organized by the director and shall also include public policy events organized by other offices, institutes, departments, programs, or organizations affiliated with the institution. The calendar of events shall include the title of the event, the name and institutional affiliation of the speaker, and the sponsor of the event. The calendar of events need not include an event sponsored by an entity that rents a facility under the control of the institution if the entity is not affiliated with the institution.
   e.  Publishing a document of the previous academic year’s annual public policy event calendar for the institution, arranged chronologically, on the institution’s internet site. The director shall make print copies of the document available to the public upon request and may collect a fee from the recipient totaling not more than the cost of printing and postage, and shall submit copies of the document to the institution’s library for preservation and for public access.
   f.  Making publicly available a complete internet-accessible video record of every event organized pursuant to paragraph “a”, and publishing each video on the institution’s internet site within ten business days of the event recorded. Each video shall be accessible on the institution’s internet site for not less than five consecutive years following the date of the event recorded. The videos shall also be provided to the institution’s library for preservation and public access.
   3.  All events organized pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph “a”, shall be open to all students, faculty, and staff at the institution and, unless restricting attendance by persons unaffiliated with the university is necessary to achieve a compelling governmental interest, to the general public.
   4.  For purposes of this section, “campus community” means the same as defined in section 261H.1.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill requires the state board of regents to direct each of the universities it governs to appoint a director of public policy events who shall be responsible for organizing, publicizing, and staging debates, group forums, and individual lectures that address, from multiple, divergent, and opposing perspectives, an extensive range of public policy issues widely discussed and debated.
   At the university of Iowa, the director shall report to the office of general counsel, while the directors at Iowa state university and the university of northern Iowa shall report to their institution’s office of university counsel.
   The director must make a reasonable effort to organize a substantial number of such events, and to invite speakers, especially speakers from outside the campus community, who hold a wide diversity of perspectives and can ably articulate widely held perspectives on public policy issues otherwise poorly represented on campus, and to pay the expenses, when funding is available, of speakers who are from outside the campus community. The director must make every reasonable effort to ensure funding is available to host speakers with opposing view points.
   The director is responsible for maintaining a publicly accessible, current, searchable calendar of public policy events open to the entire campus community on the institution’s internet site, and must make print copies of the calendar available to the campus community. The calendar shall also include similar events organized by other entities affiliated with the institution. The bill describes the details the calendar must contain.
   The director must also publish the previous academic year’s calendar on the institution’s internet site, make print copies available to the public upon request, and submit copies of the calendar to the institution’s library for preservation and for public access. The director may collect a fee of not more than the cost of printing and postage from anyone requesting a copy of the document.
   Similarly, the director must make publicly available a complete internet-accessible video record of every event, and organize and publish each such video on the institution’s internet site within 10 business days of the event recorded. Each video must be accessible on the internet site for at least five years and must be provided to the institution’s library for preservation and public access.
   All events organized by the director must be open to all students, faculty, and staff at the institution and, unless restricting attendance is necessary to achieve a compelling governmental interest, to the general public.
   The bill defines “campus community”.