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CounterCurrent:
Higher Ed Progress and Setbacks
Iowa and Virginia offer opposing glimpses into higher education’s current state
of affairs
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the most significant issues in academia and our responses to them.
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Category: Civics Education, DEI, Academia;
Reading Time: ~4 minutes
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** Featured Articles: “Establishing intellectual freedom at the University of Iowa”and ([link removed]) “UVA’s Administration Is Stonewalling on Viewpoint Diversity Too” ([link removed])
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While the nation watches with bated breath the situation unfolding in the Middle East, American higher education continues to stir its own controversy. But there is also a glimmer of hope.
At times, it is worthwhile to compare and contrast how states go about furthering education reform efforts or how colleges and universities within the states hinder progress in dismantling discriminatory ideology in hiring, admissions, and classrooms.
Though Virginians voted for a republican governor in 2022—which was the first time in nearly a decade—the state is still considered blue. Even under republican leadership and President Donald Trump’s many directives for higher education to dismantle “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs, many colleges and universities in Virginia and elsewhere are pushing back. Case in point: the University of Virginia (UVA), which is currently under investigation ([link removed]) by the federal government for attempting to maintain its DEI regime in secret.
Scott Gerber writes in an article ([link removed]) for Minding the Campus that UVA’s administration is “stonewalling” the Board of Visitors’ March and April Resolutions—which sought to dismantle DEI and increase viewpoint diversity at the school. At UVA's June Board meeting, administrators clashed with Board members. When faced with questions about UVA’s proposed 2025-26 budget, which continued to spend money on DEI, Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Wagner snapped at Board member Doug Wetmore that she was “wildly disappointed” by Wetmore’s remarks. Later, Interim Provost Brie Gertler admitted that she was being “strategic” in her presentation in order “to convince the Board to allow UVA’s existing liberal faculty to attempt to summarize the conservative position on controversial topics rather than hire conservative faculty to speak for themselves.”
The discussion at the UVA June Board meeting revealed that the university was really not working on “dismantling DEI” or “increasing viewpoint diversity.” In summary, Gerber tells a common tale: administrators obstructing the wishes of the people through camouflage and deception.
Thomas Jefferson, UVA’s founder, would certainly shake his head at UVA’s current state of affairs.
Compare this to the progress being made in Iowa. Last week, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 437 (HF 437) into law, which establishes a Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa. Establishing this Center is a step in addressing the civics education crisis, which plagues all levels of education, according to John Hendrickson and David Randall in an article ([link removed]) for The Center Square. The National Association of Scholars is also happy ([link removed]) that HF 437 became law, and that the Civics Alliance’s model School of Intellectual Freedom Act ([link removed]) informed the legislation.
This Center provides faculty, courses, and programs dedicated to teaching American history and government that deepens students’ understanding of our Constitution and principles of our Founding. In establishing this Center, students will be less prone to ideological capture by progressive influences because they will have a better understanding of their birthright as Americans and their duty to act as virtuous citizens.
Graduates from the Center will be a new generation of teachers who can reinvigorate civics education to replace the current “action civics” pervading the K-12 sphere. As I wrote last week ([link removed]) , how will students know the importance of their rights, the duties of citizenship, or why they should vote if the extent of their civics education consists of protesting during school hours?
UVA's administrators would do well to study and replicate efforts that advance intellectual freedom, foster the pursuit of truth, and cultivate virtuous citizenship. If more states follow Iowa’s lead in passing legislation to secure these ideals, higher education may yet reclaim its true purpose.
Until then, the burden falls on institutions themselves to root out indoctrination and restore integrity to their mission.
Until next week.
Kali Jerrard
Communications Associate
National Association of Scholars
Read the Article ([link removed])
For more on the civics education, DEI, and academia:
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June 23, 2025
** All Men Are Created Equal but They Are Not Equal in Any Other Way ([link removed])
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John Staddon
“What Is Replacing DEI? Racism” is the title of a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Arizona State University professor Richard Amesbury. It is provocative, for sure, but also comes across as ignorant since racism is to many people a feature of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) itself.
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June 17, 2025
** Black Michigan State U. Students Demand ‘No Hate Ordinance’ ([link removed])
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NancyLee Bareham
“Hate speech” and other conduct should be further policed by Michigan State University (MSU), according to the campus Black Student Alliance.
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June 10, 2025
** Report: The Archimedes Standards ([link removed])
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National Association of Scholars and Freedom in Education
These model PreK-12 state mathematics standards seek to establish a sure foundation in the concepts, processes, formulas, and practices discovered by great mathematicians throughout history in American mathematics education, along with teaching the spirit and rigor of Archimedes, the great Greek mathematician of antiquity.
** About the NAS
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The National Association of Scholars, founded in 1987, emboldens reasoned scholarship and propels civil debate. We’re the leading organization of scholars and citizens committed to higher education as the catalyst of American freedom.
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