Iowa’s House Higher Education Committee, set in motion by House Speaker Pat Grassley and chaired by Rep. Taylor Collins, has done a remarkable amount of good work in the last two years. Iowa has become one of the nation’s leaders in higher education reform. Iowa, and the country, would benefit if the committee were renewed for the next legislative session – or even made permanent.
The committee has a wonderful list of achievements to its credit. I can’t list them all, but some of the best ones include:
Capping annual tuition increases for resident undergraduate students at a three-year rolling average of the higher education price index.Requiring university financial information and course syllabuses to be posted online.Allowing universities or the attorney general to sue an accreditor if an accreditor forces a university to violate state law to maintain their accreditation status.Establishing an autonomous Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa.Requiring students starting in 2028 to take a three-credit hour course in American History, and a three-credit hour course in American Government.
The committee’s work has focused first on protecting the economic welfare of Iowans, by ensuring that Iowa’s public universities don’t charge extortionate rates of tuition or maintain academic programs that don’t meet minimal Return On Investment standards. It’s increased transparency and accountability at Iowa’s public universities, so that Iowans can know how they spend their money and what their professors teach. It’s made sure that accrediting organizations can’t force “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies on Iowa universities – and also made sure that radical bureaucrats in Iowa universities can’t use the accrediting organizations as a convenient excuse to impose DEI policies. Above all, the committee has started to improve the content of what Iowa’s public universities teach, both by creating the Center for Intellectual Freedom and by reforming Iowa’s General Education Requirements (GERs). The committee’s accomplishments have been well-intentioned, well-tailored, and effective.
The committee proves the value of a committee dedicated to higher education reform. Such a committee is not a machine for imposing policy, but for focusing attention and providing real policy possibilities to the Legislature and the governor. I have not catalogued all the committee initiatives that did not end up as law, but the Legislature and the governor have appropriately exercised their powers not to take up committee initiatives. Where the committee has succeeded, it has made the case to Iowa policymakers and citizens that its proposed reforms are good policy. The committee’s ability to articulate public policy solutions is the essential weapon in the fight for good governance in higher education, against the twin monsters of inertia and bureaucracy.
Legislatures in other states should consider taking up the model of a committee specifically focused on higher education reform. Iowans have shown that such a committee can work, and do much good. The other states should do the same.
Regardless of whether other states imitate the Hawkeye State, the Iowa House ought to renew the Higher Education Committee – and, indeed, consider making it permanent. A piece of government that has done this much good in 2 years deserves renewal.