A New Committee Structure

The new Free Speech and Student Affairs Committee will hold its first meeting at the September Board of Regents meeting in Iowa City. The committee is a combination of the existing Free Speech Committee and Student Affairs Committee. 

In 2021, the Board established the Free Speech Committee as a permanent committee responsible for monitoring strategies and best practices for fostering free expression on its campuses. To enhance the committee’s oversight authority, the Regents merged the Free Speech Committee with the Campus and Student Affairs Committee in April 2023. This reorganization assures oversight of both free speech and student affairs occurs under a single committee.

Additionally, as part of the April 2023 committee reorganization, the Board created the Governance, Evaluation and Human Resources Committee. Charged with overseeing all human resources policies, evaluation structures and professional development of institutional heads, and reviewing policy manual and code revisions at the Regents institutions, the new committee represents an expansion of the previous Governance and Evaluation Committee. Both committees consist of three voting members appointed from the Board of Regents.

The Board’s committee reorganization represents another step toward more efficient and effective oversight of Iowa’s public universities.