A House higher education subcommittee in Iowa advanced legislation that would eliminate the Board of Regents’ lone voting student seat and replace it with a governor-appointed regent. The proposal would add seven nonvoting seats — including three for students and four for legislators — and give the legislature new powers to override board and university expenditures. The measure also mandates post-tenure review, restricts faculty governance authority, and requires biennial reviews of general-education and low-enrollment programs. The change would centralize control over governance in a state where trustees already oversee the University of Iowa, Iowa State, and University of Northern Iowa, and it signals growing legislative intervention in campus governance and academic priorities.
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