Higher Education

Hundreds of students marched and rallied at Coe College in Cedar Rapids Thursday to protest what they see as a lack of action on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The students were galvanized by the resignation of a longtime trustee who had criticized the school's recent presidential search process as lacking diversity.

From Iowa to Oklahoma to Kansas, universities are working more closely with agribusiness in search of ways to pay for projects where tax dollars have become more scarce. Critics worry that agriculture schools might focus more on industry than the public interest.

TIAA-CREF invests heavily in farmland, so it paid a university to research it.

The president of the student government at the University of Northern Iowa has penned a resolution condemning school administrators for sanctioning a professor after he mandated students wear masks in his classroom. Professor Steve O'Kane has been relieved of his in-person teaching duties, a step which students say punishes them as well as him.

Students of an Iowa professor who was sanctioned for mandating masks in his classroom are defending their teacher. Students in Steve O'Kane's plant systematics class at the University of Northern Iowa penned a letter of support for him Tuesday that was forwarded to the Board of Regents and school administrators.

The University of Iowa has reached a settlement agreement for a Title IX lawsuit brought by female athletes who alleged the school isn’t providing equal access in sports. As part of the agreement, the UI Athletics Department is creating a women's wrestling program, a decision the athletic director called "historic."

A Mount Mercy University student has died of COVID-19 at the age of 21. This week the school announced the death of student Ashley Hudson, who was an aspiring kindergarten teacher.

Community colleges in Iowa are preparing for a more diverse student body. They saw overall enrollment go down when the pandemic started, but now they’re ready to gain more students of color.

The University of Northern Iowa President on the challenges of starting a new school year while COVID-19 infections are on the rise. Then how two Des Moines non-profit organizations prepare for Afghan refugees inbound for Iowa.

Hundreds of faculty, staff and students across Iowa’s public universities are urging campus leaders to implement more coronavirus precautions as the delta variant fuels an increase in cases ahead of the fall semester. Petitions circulated at the schools call on school administrators and the Iowa Board of Regents to reinstate mask mandates and require vaccines, in line with other peer institutions.