Hunter
10/02/26
The Iowa Board of Regents, who notified a conservative-leaning group that they would not pay the full negotiated fee for a presentation, received a response from the organization.
KCJJ reported earlier this week that Regents Executive Director Mark Braun wrote to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni Senior Vice President Armand Alacbay on September 18th that the presentation at the Regents meeting on September 16th not only fell short of the expected two-hour time commitment, but Director of External Affairs Nick Down repeated a presentation that Alacbay gave to legislators in February using the same slides and anecdotes.
The Regents said instead of the $15,000 negotiated fee, they would pay a third, or $5000, instead.
The Gazette reports Alcabay wrote the Regents this week that his organization stands by the agreed-upon fee for its services as commensurate with the complexity of its proprietary research on core curriculum and on campus freedom, which was all newly updated for the engagement.
He also cited the amount of preparation necessary for the presentation, and ACTA’s unique subject matter expertise which is the fruit of 30 years of careful development. He closed the letter by saying he was including an invoice for the full amount of $15,000.
The Gazette asked Regents spokesperson Josh Lehman whether the board has paid ACTA for their presentation. He told them that “payment for $5000 is in process.”