Protesters picket University of Iowa efficiency meeting

By Sara Agnew, Iowa City Press-Citizen

Protesters picked Regents town hall: Protesters picketed an Iowa State Board of Regents town hall meeting to discuss broad potential cuts at the UI Friday. 

About a dozen protesters holding “Dump Deloitte” signs showed up today at a town hall meeting at the University of Iowa to kick off a $2.3 million comprehensive review of higher education in Iowa.

The protesters said the upcoming review by Deloitte Consulting is a sham and that a one-hour town hall meeting isn’t enough time to understand what students, employees and the community want.

A leaflet they were handing out read: “Iowans expect fairness and a consultative process with decision making power vested in members of the university community.

The Iowa Board of Regents I hiding behind corporate consultants to circumvent shared governance and impose cuts from the outside. The voices of the people most affected by this process – students, university faculty, graduate employees, staff and community members – are not being heard.

During the meeting, however, Rick Ferraro, director of Deloitte Consulting, told listeners that they had already scheduled nearly 200 interviews with students, staff and faculty next week and are still booking appointments. They also said they would be taking suggestions online.