The departing dean of the University of Iowa law school says the Legislature’s scrutiny of things like diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEII, programs at public universities has created a chilling effect among faculty.
Last year, the Republican-led legislature banned most DEI efforts at the state’s three Regents universities. This year, the Iowa House is forming a higher education committee to examine academic programs and administrative spending.
University of Iowa law dean Kevin Washburn said one reason he is stepping down is so that he’s no longer under that microscope.
“I want to get my voice back. You know, leading this institution I have to be very careful what I say because I don’t want to cause harm to the institution among the legislature. We are very grateful for all the state support that the university gets and the law school gets from this state,”Washburn said.
Washburn has served as the law school dean since 2018 and is leaving the position at the end of the month. He plans to return to teaching and research.
*Additionally, problems with installing a heating system one year ago were among the factors that delayed the opening of the new Woodbury County jail facility.
Now, two months after the jail started holding inmates, there are problems with the heating system.
The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors heard about that during their weekly meeting Tuesday. Woodbury County Building Services Director Kenny Schmitz said three areas have heating system pieces that don’t work properly,
For now, the county is spending $51,000 to buy space heaters as a temporary fix until the system can be more fully addressed.
Such snafus have plagued the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center on the northeast side of Sioux City. The cost has spiked from the originally estimated amount of $54 million to $70 million.
The county supervisors have retained a law firm to pursue financial damages from engineers and contractors that worked on the jail that can hold 440 inmates.
The three problem areas with insufficient heating are the laundry area, loading dock, and near medical cells.
*In other news, the Le Mars City Council members are moving forward with lining up financing of up to $40 million to build a new water treatment plant and other water-related pieces.
Le Mars needs a reverse osmosis water treatment plant, in order to alleviate the problem of high chloride discharges, as required by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The city council held a public hearing on the step of setting a loan agreement for the work on Tuesday, and no Le Mars residents appeared to speak for or against taking that borrowing step.
The projected cost of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant was $27 million. In the prior council meeting a contract for that work was approved for the much lower cost of $20.4 million for Hoogendoorn Construction.
There will be other water-related pieces associated with the work, including building a new well in Le Mars. The city also finalized a $2.2 million contract for the well at their December 3 meeting.
All the work is estimated to be done by summer 2027 in the Plymouth County town with a population of 10,600.
*Additionally, an Iowa Supreme Court justice says there are lower rates of pro bono representation in Iowa courts now than there were before the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Pro bono work is defined as lawyers providing free legal services.
Justice Edward Mansfield made his remarks at the Iowa Summit on Justice and Disparities.
He says the Iowa Access to Justice Commission noticed the problematic trend. Mansfield told attendees to not be afraid to reach out to lawyers for pro bono services.
“That is a problem…speaking of my experience in private practice, I feel my pro bono cases were a blessing to me,” he said.
In 2018, Iowa attorneys provided nearly 133,000 hours to pro-bono work. Four years later in 2022, that number dropped to about 107,000.
The Iowa Supreme Court encourages all Iowa attorneys to devote at least 50 hours per year to pro-bono work.
