Lang
9/19/26
The president of the Iowa Board of Regents is telling the chairman of the search committee tasked with finding a new executive director for the University of Iowa Center for Academic Freedom to either work with the board or resign.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette has obtained an email that president Robert Cramer wrote to committee chair Richard Lowery Thursday night telling him to “get on board” with Regent Christine Hensley on the search for a new director or to resign. The email was copied to Governor Kim Reynolds and state Rep. Taylor Collins, who helped create the center in 2025.
Lowery…an associate professor at the University of Texas…had sent an email just after 4:00 Thursday morning claiming that the regents had no authority to schedule meetings of the search committee. Hensley wanted to schedule a meeting for the coming week, but Lowery insisted the meeting would have to wait until later this month.
Cramer expressed concern with recent resistance from the center’s interim director, Luciano de Castro, who has insisted on having more of a say in the hiring of staff and the center’s day-to-day operations.
Cramer wrote, ““We don’t want CIF to be an island of disgruntled nonconformists but an engaging center that permeates the whole campus. We want to change the culture.”
de Castro made Lowery the head of the center’s executive committee, which is tasked with finding a permanent director. de Castro has since applied for that position.
The full story from the Gazette can be found under this story on the KCJJ app and at 1630KCJJ.com.