University of Iowa

The third candidate vying to be the next president of the University of Iowa has spent much of her career teaching and writing about disability and employment rights law. Wendy Hensel currently serves as the chief academic officer at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and presents herself as an innovator who’s spent her career focused on equity and problem solving.

The second candidate interviewing to be the next president of the University of Iowa comes from the state university system in neighboring Illinois. Barbara Wilson, a top administrator at the University of Illinois system visited campus Thursday, taking questions and meeting with school leaders.

The University of Iowa held its first public forum with one of the candidates to be the school’s next president on Monday. Hari Osofsky is currently the dean of the schools of Law and International Affairs at Penn State, and was the first finalist to field questions from community members on how she'd approach the job.

Local groups have been working to translate, interpret and disseminate COVID-19 vaccine information to Latino communities in Iowa. Some of those efforts have been successful, but they have not yet reached everyone who needs to hear them.

Researchers are trying to figure out the long-term effects of COVID-19 on Latino households in Iowa. To do that, they have sent surveys to Latinos throughout the state.

University of Iowa administrators can be held liable for monetary damages for improperly barring the Business Leaders in Christ, which rejects same sex relationships, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, in a victory for religious conservatives on college campuses. The case dates to 2017, when the organization barred a student from serving in its leadership after disclosing that he was gay and did not agree with its teachings on sexuality.

The Iowa House passed a bill that calls for faculty and students at the three state universities to be trained each year about free speech rights. Rep. Dustin Hite, R-New Sharon, said the bill is in response to incidents in which the views of conservative students at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa were dismissed or denigrated.

A University of Iowa committee is now taking public comment on proposals to reimagine campus safety and policing. Some of the potential models include significantly reducing the police presence on campus and redirecting calls for service to other responders like health care providers.

Leaders at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics say they intend to continue making the case for a proposed $230 million hospital in North Liberty, despite a rejection from a key state council and opposition from other area hospitals.

A Title IX complaint brought by female student athletes against the University of Iowa is slated to continue moving forward, despite the school's announcement on Monday that it would reinstate the women's swimming and diving program.