Iowa regents vote to end Social Justice, American Studies programs

The Iowa Board of Regents has voted to discontinue the University of Iowa’s (UI) Bachelor of Arts in Social Justice and Bachelor of Arts in American Studies programs.

The vote occurred on Feb. 27, and students enrolled in the programs will still be allowed to obtain their degrees, according to The Daily Iowan.

[RELATED: University of Iowa drops Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies department]

The move comes amid the state’s crackdown of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in higher education.

According to the university website, the Social Justice program specifically teaches students “how the intersections of geography, race, class, gender, sexuality, health, economics, and history create networks of privilege and oppression across the globe.” 

To fulfill the “Human Rights, Diversity, Activism” requirement, students can choose from courses like “Working for Social Justice,” “Women and Their Bodies in Health and Illness,” “Latina/o/x Immigration” and “Human Sexuality, Diversity, and Society.” 

The program also “integrates theory and real-world field experiences to provide an intersectional and situated understanding conditions for political and personal change, and the history of social movements,” according to the Iowa Board of Regents Academic Affairs Committee.

[RELATED: Students protest as Iowa State alters LGBTQ center under new anti-DEI law]

Since 2022, the amount of students enrolled in the program has reduced significantly, as noted by The Daily Iowan. 

In 2021, 55 students were enrolled, but during the current academic year, the enrollment has fallen to only 24 students.

“Due to the departure and retirement in 2022 of two key faculty members who proposed and implemented the major, the BA in social justice has been hampered by staffing shortages,” the Academic Affairs Committee says. “With no faculty to offer courses on a regular basis, the department has relied on hiring adjunct professors to teach required courses or improvising a teaching format that relies largely on guest lecturers.”

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences “has chosen not to replace those faculty members because of pressing needs in other departments,” the committee also notes.

UI’s American Studies program has faced similar challenges of low enrollment with only six students enrolled during the fall semester of 2024, as reported by The Daily Iowan. 

On Tuesday, Campus Reform reported that the Iowa Board of Regents instructed public universities to remove DEI content from their websites.

Last month, Campus Reform reported that a document used by Iowas’ public universities asked applicants to choose from multiple genders beyond male and female.

Campus Reform has reached out to UI and the Iowa Board of Regents for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.