Meeting Public Comments

Stacy Volmer

I strongly urge you to reject House File 401, a dangerous overreach that threatens academic freedom, burdens students, and injects political control into Iowas higher education system. This bill imposes rigid, statemandated general education requirements that strip universities of the flexibility needed to design curricula that best serve their students. By forcing unnecessary coursework and capping credit hours arbitrarily, HF 401 will delay graduation, increase tuition costs, and create obstacles for students trying to transfer creditsplacing an even heavier financial strain on Iowas families.Beyond its logistical and financial burdens, this bill takes direct aim at academic freedom by censoring discussions on systemic racism, sexism, and oppression. Legislators should not be in the business of dictating what historical truths can or cannot be taught. HF 401 silences important perspectives, weakens students critical thinking skills, and undermines the very purpose of higher educationto challenge, inspire, and prepare students for a complex world.Additionally, the bills requirement that a Center for Intellectual Freedom approve certain courses is nothing more than a mechanism for political oversight of higher education. Rather than protecting intellectual diversity, this center would serve as a gatekeeper, allowing only stateapproved narratives to be taught while suppressing viewpoints that do not align with a particular ideology. This is government overreach at its worstmicromanaging university curricula and threatening the independence of faculty and institutions. Education should be driven by expertise and academic inquiry, not political agendas.This bill is not about improving education; it is about control. It prioritizes ideological oversight over student success, making degrees more expensive, less relevant, and more difficult to obtain. Iowas universities should be places of learning, not battlegrounds for governmentimposed narratives. I urge you to stand for students, academic integrity, and true intellectual freedom by voting NO on HF 401.

Benjamin Larson [Nebraska Cardiac Care]

This bill should not simply be rejected outright, but should also be openly tossed into the trash. Claiming that the united states which was founded with slavery legal and women unable to vote has not participated in this, calling it "identity politics", and attempting to strangle a teacher's ability to teach our history is pathetic in the extreme and is merely trying to erase history.

Pamela McDonald

Oppose HF 401. This is an example of government overreach. Politicians have no place imposing their will on professionals who actually know what they're doing.