After hours of closed discussion, the Iowa Board of Regents directed state universities Wednesday to investigate social media posts allegedly made by university employees relating to rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk and his death.
The board began its first meeting of the fall semester with a closed session, added to the agenda after multiple Iowa State University employees were accused of making social media posts celebrating the killing of Kirk last week at a Utah Valley University public debate event.
Board President Sherry Bates said during the meeting universities must “conduct an immediate investigation of alleged violations of board policy,” including rules on social media use that state employees are allowed to post their personal views on their own social media accounts as long as that expression doesn’t violate institutional policies. The board policy manual states one example of this situation is when an employee’s personal expression is threatening to a coworker.
These investigations must be completed within two weeks, Bates said, and employees under investigation should be placed on administrative leave or “removed from the classroom.” Once investigations have concluded, universities must take “immediate action” against employees found in violation of board policies, up to and including termination of their employment.
“We’ve seen some appalling things on social media in the last week, and we also understand that some appalling things are protected by the First Amendment,” Regent Robert Cramer said during the meeting. “So the purpose of this is to delve in and to see if these, any of these, cross the threshold to where they’re so disruptive to the university that they still need discipline in an employment sense.”
Iowa lawmakers and members of the public have called for the termination of Iowa State University staff and faculty who allegedly posted that everyone is alright with political violence and that Kirk “got what was coming.” Across the country (including in Oskaloosa), teachers, professors, journalists, government employees and others have been fired for social posts about Kirk that didn’t endorse his murder, but critiqued his political messages or were otherwise unmournful.
Cramer added during his comments that students are not being treated the same as employees, and that the board is not seeking to punish anyone for what they have expressed on social media, but “there’s not an absolute right to employment … if that employee is disrupting the university.”
Regent Christine Hensley said after the closed session that a lack of investigation so far by Iowa’s universities has “slowed the process” and prevented the board from taking action beyond the directives set forward Wednesday.
Regent David Barker expects action on at least one of the investigations to take much less time than two weeks, he said during the meeting, as “there’s very little investigation to do.”
“It’s my expectation that in at least some cases, action will be much faster than in two weeks, and I certainly hope that that’s what occurs,” Barker said.
Brooklyn Draisey is a Report for America corps member covering higher education for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this story first appeared.
