Comment on Iowa universities apologize for ‘egregious’ free speech errors

Leaders from all three of Iowa’s public universities on Tuesday apologized to lawmakers for “egregious” incidents on their campuses that suppressed First Amendment rights and quelled free speech — largely affecting conservative students — and committed to taking corrective action.“Since October, we’ve been reviewing what happened, how the process worked and didn’t work, and we’re working to implement steps that will prevent this from happening again,” University of Iowa College of Dentistry Dean David Johnsen told the House Oversight Committee, while speaking about his decision in October to send a mass email to the college condemning a White House executive order barring certain types of diversity training.Michael Brase, a conservative UI dental student, “replied all” to Johnsen’s message, asking questions and sparking a back and forth that prompted collegiate administrators to call him in for a disciplinary hearing for “unprofessional behavior.” The letter summoning Brase warned he could face “dismissal,” prompting Brase to reach out to lawmakers — who intervened on his behalf.