The University of Iowa announced plans to close its Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies department as part of broader efforts to scale back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across public universities in the state.
The Iowa Board of Regents recently approved recommendations to reduce DEI-related programs, prompting the university to close the department and replace it with a a new major in Social and Cultural Analysis. According to Fox News, this restructuring plan, which also includes closing the American Studies department and discontinuing the Social Justice major, will take effect in July if approved at the Board of Regents’ February meeting.
“Under the proposed plan, the college would close the departments of American Studies and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, as well as the current majors in American Studies and in Social Justice, which have fewer than 60 students combined, and create a new major in Social and Cultural Analysis,” the university stated in a December press release.
Cornelia Lang, associate dean for undergraduate education at CLAS, emphasized the new major’s potential benefits for students, saying, “Students in this major would be able to connect their individual experiences and ideas to larger social contexts.” Lang added, “This would prepare them well for potential careers or graduate work in cultural studies and related fields through highly adaptable skills like analytical thinking, effective communication, and research.”
The shift comes amid a national trend of universities reevaluating their DEI offices and initiatives amid growing legislative and societal pushback against such programs.
