Iowa Regents Block Civics Center Director's Conference

The Iowa Board of Regents will not pay for Luciano de Castro, interim director of the University of Iowa's Center for Intellectual Freedom, to attend three upcoming conferences. The decision is the latest conflict in a power struggle between the university and the center.

The center opened in 2025 after a vote by the State Legislature. Its stated purpose is to expand the intellectual diversity of the university's academic community. Some Republican lawmakers had alleged rampant liberal bias on college campuses.

Despite its legislative backing, the center's initial academic footprint has been small. It taught only 19 students across two courses last semester and canceled course offerings for the current academic year. De Castro is currently its only faculty member.

State Mandate and Funding

A new state law requires every undergraduate at Iowa's three public universities to take one history and one government course selected by the center. This mandate begins in 2028. To accommodate this plan, the center must hire a permanent director and more faculty.

The state has so far appropriated $2 million for the center's operations. In April, however, de Castro published a report complaining of non-cooperation from university administrators and the Board of Regents. He alleged they blocked hiring, scrutinized expenditures, altered bylaws, and excluded him from communications.

Conference Travel Denied

Last week, a Board of Regents committee governing the center said it would not fund de Castro's travel to three conferences this semester. Each event is hosted by right-leaning organizations.

Regent Christine Hensley explained the decision. She is also a member of a separate 26-person advisory board that oversees the center. Hensley said the aim was to focus resources on growing local interest in the center.

The center has planned numerous on-campus activities for the fall. These include an 'America 250 Speaker Series,' which will feature scholar Wilfred McClay among others.

'We're going through the executive search right now, and the feeling is Luciano really needs to be focusing on the speaker series and ensuring that we have significant attendance,' Hensley told The Gazette. 'So we just feel the timing is not appropriate.'

Criticism of the Decision

De Castro and some members of the center's advisory council criticized the travel ban. They called it board overreach and a missed opportunity to promote the center.

'It is genuinely painful to miss these conferences,' de Castro told The Gazette. He viewed the restriction as another sacrifice required to create something valuable for the university's students and the state.