Politics & Government

Lesson Not Learned? Cedar Falls Leader Says Videotaped Public Input Falls Short of Face-to-Face with Iowa Regents

A Cedar Falls state senator says moves to make Iowa's public universities more open to scrutiny don't go far enough.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, who sits on the Iowa Board of Regents Transparency Task Force, took issue with the group's proposal to allow a public hearing on regent matters but only by video and days before the meeting of the regents, the nine-member board that governs University of Iowa, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa.  

"I'm not sure the lessons learned of the past couple of years come out in these recommendations," Danielson told the Gazette. "The idea that you would record and forward a comment period falls short of face-to-face interaction. There is a value in speaking truth to power before they actually decide something."

Regent Nicole Carroll said she thought the task force's recommendations would make the regents more responsive to the public. 

“The recommendations of the transparency task force will allow the board to be more responsive to the concerns of Iowans.  In particular, the public comment periods prior to each Board meeting will allow the Board additional time for more careful consideration of the public’s concerns,” Carroll said in a news release.  

Danielson and the Citizen for Community Improvement wanted open public comment times during regents meetings, the Gazette reports. 

The task force was formed after a year of controversies where the public was kept in the dark for months, such as a sexual abuse case in the University of Iowa sports program, the closure of Price Laboratory and academic programs at University of Northern Iowa and a battle over the former Harkin Institute at Iowa State University.

The regents will review the recommendations at a board meeting in August. 

Other recommendations include establishing a transparency officer at each university to handle public record requests, a log of public records requests, state emails for regent board members, allowing requests to speak at a board meeting after the agenda is released, and regent board members conflict of interest disclosures posted on the regents website.


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