UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

In reversal, regents to pursue UI funding increase

Press-Citizen staff report

The Board of Regents announced Monday that it will seek $4.5 million in additional funding for the University of Iowa from the Legislature for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

The State of Iowa Board of Regents logo

Bruce Rastetter, the president of the regents, said the need for additional funding emerged during his meetings with UI faculty and others, including incoming university president Bruce Harreld, who was hired Thursday.

“It is clear that additional funding to support the long term reinvestment in the core mission of teaching and research is needed," Rastetter said in a news release. “I believe that this additional money is critical in the support of the University of Iowa’s vision to invest in its strengths and to continue to provide the highest quality education to our students.”

Josh Lehman, communications director for the regents, said $4.5 million would amount to a 1.9 percent increase for UI's funding.

State Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was encouraged by the news that the regents were revising their request.

“The one that really needs additional funding put in place is UNI, but Iowa State and the University of Iowa still need additional funding to continue their missions,” Dvorsky said. “I applaud the regents for looking at this again and moving it forward. Now the tough work comes getting the House Republicans to support it.”

Jeannette Gabriel, president of the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students — the union that represents UI's graduate employees — said the funding concession to UI is a sign the regents are “worried about how they overstepped their hand.”

“You can’t operate in a dictatorial manner when you have a government,” Gabriel said. “This is a democracy, believe it or not. And I think this is an indication of them feeling tremendous pressure. It’s a good victory.”

Last week COGS released a statement blasting the regents’ hire of Harreld, saying it was the latest attempt to “defund and defame the University of Iowa.”

Documents released earlier this month said the regents would pursue additional funding for the state's other two public universities, the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University, but not the University of Iowa.

At that time, the regents were considering whether to ask the Iowa Legislature for an average 3 percent increase in state appropriations to the general education funds of the state's three public universities. The general fund increase, however, broke down to a 8.1 percent increase to the University of Northern Iowa, a 4.5 percent increase to Iowa State University and 0 percent for the University of Iowa.

Clarification: COGS’ Jeannette Gabriel clarified her comments Tuesday, stating that a 1.9 percent increase is not adequate for UI and does not represent enough funding for the university to recover from recent cuts. Gabriel’s earlier comments were made based on a misunderstanding that the overall percentage increase was 4.9 percent rather than 1.9 percent.

— Jeff Charis-Carlson and Josh O'Leary contributed to this story.