Equality
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Iowa school cancels African American Read-In, 1619 Freedom School steps in
Waterloo Schools pulled out of an event focused on promoting Black literacy over fears of losing federal funding under Trump’s new anti-DEI directives. In response, the 1619 Freedom School is stepping in to host its own event this Saturday. In a move that has drawn statewide attention, the Waterloo Community School District recently withdrew from…
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Drake University president, dean stand up for trans students despite Iowa law
An Iowa private college president and the college’s law school dean are standing up for their trans and nonbinary students in the wake of an Iowa law taking away trans civil rights. The law, passed by Iowa Republicans and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, takes away civil rights protections from trans and nonbinary Iowans. It…
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Iowa House Republicans renew effort to strip transgender protections from Iowa civil rights law
House Republicans want to remove Iowa’s discrimination protections for transgender Iowans. The bill is a long list touching on bathrooms, birth certificates and introduces a new phrase “gender theory” into Iowa law. Just like all other Iowans, transgender residents of the state are protected under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, meaning they cannot be discriminated…
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Iowa bill pressures private colleges to ban diversity offices
A bill in the Iowa Legislature would force private colleges to choose between their work to diversify their staff and students and maintain eligibility for state tuition grants. Iowa Republicans want to get rid of offices that support diversity across the state. After forcing the public universities to comply with their anti-DEI witch hunt, private…
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Students: ISU LGBTQ Center turned into ‘generic study lab’ by IA Republicans’ DEI law
Iowa Republicans’ decision to restrict DEI programs means the loss of one university’s LGBTQ+ center, where students have found friendship and safety to be themselves for decades. When Madison O. visited the suite of offices that make up the Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success at Iowa State University’s Memorial Union, she felt free. “I always…
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Kamala Harris accepts Democratic nomination for president, lays out her vision for the country
The final night of the Democratic National Convention capped off a remarkable month of surging enthusiasm for Harris’ candidacy.
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The fight against ‘clearly unconstitutional’ Iowa immigration law
Recent Iowa immigrants and allies are still fighting against an Iowa immigration law they say unfairly discriminates against and targets them. Lawyers with the US Department of Justice and the American Immigration Council argued in court Monday that a judge should stop SF 2340 from going into effect July 1. The law would allow state…
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Basic income pilot UpLift actually helped Iowans. Here’s how
The UpLift program not only helped with bills, it helped start businesses, participants in the basic income pilot said—rebuking an Iowa law that banned such programs in the state. People who received $500 per month with no strings attached told their stories Wednesday evening in a Windsor Heights event put on by UpLift, which has…
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Iowa LGBTQ+ youth find community at Safe Schools conference
Being an LGBTQ+ student in Iowa right now is hard. Laws police which names and bathrooms students can use, and what words teachers can say in their classrooms. And yet, many told Starting Line their school experiences got better when they found a community of other LGBTQ+ students and places they could be themselves. A…
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GOP bill to restrict support services at Iowa’s regent universities advances
A redundant bill attacking and restricting measures to increase diversity and support for marginalized people at Iowa’s regent universities passed a subcommittee in the Iowa House on Monday. HF 2327, changes several things about higher education in universities, but the most pressing issue at the subcommittee concerned changes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). DEI…
