University of Iowa reverses classroom ban on mask and vaccine speech

In August 2021, the University of Iowa posted a COVID-19 FAQ page for instructors that included a rule prohibiting any discussions about masks or vaccines outside of course material. After criticism from professors in- and outside the university, along with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the university removed the policy from the FAQ page days later. 

Key Player

The University of Iowa (UI) issued the policy to its faculty. The institution has had previous brushes with COVID-19-related criticism. Earlier in August 2021, hundreds of students and professors signed a petition urging the university to issue stricter public health protocols, including a vaccine mandate. 

Further Details

On Aug. 10, 2021, the University of Iowa’s executive vice president and provost sent a fall 2021 FAQ letter to all faculty. One of the questions read, “May I make statements in the classroom regarding mask usage or vaccinations?” The letter explained that instructors “may only make statements regarding mask usage or vaccinations in the context of course material discussions of health-related issues.” 

The policy came under criticism from several members of the higher education community. Keith Whittington, a politics professor at Princeton University, wrote on Twitter that the policy was “an academic freedom problem & potentially a First Amendment problem.”

In an email to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, wrote, “This idea that a fiercely-debated matter of public policy would be off limits in any course other than a ‘health-related’ one is absurd,” Kirtley wrote. “These questions, for better or for worse, have become highly-politicized, and are relevant to courses ranging from political science to philosophy to psychology to journalism, just to name a few.”

Teresa Mangum, an English professor at UI, told Inside Higher Ed, “As educators and as citizens, most faculty I know share my belief that it is our ethical and intellectual obligation to urge our fellow faculty, staff and students to take those steps to protect themselves, the campus and local community, and their friends and loved ones. I do not want to be the cause of my 90-year-old father’s death. I need to say that to my students.”

On Aug. 12, 2021, FIRE released a statement criticizing the policy. According to Robert Shibley, FIRE’s executive director, there is “no constitutional basis for a public university to restrict professors from expressing quote-unquote ‘value judgments’ in explaining why they made the choices they did about masks or vaccination, whether for or against … the ability to thoroughly discuss and debate the merits of such decisions is a hallmark of liberal education and free speech more generally.”

Outcome 

University of Iowa reverses rule, allowing speech on vaccines and masks

At the end of the day on Aug. 12, 2021, the university removed the line specifically prohibiting discussions of masks or vaccinations. Kevin Kregel, the UI’s executive vice president, released an apology stating that the rule had not been intended to restrict free speech. “When we heard those concerns from some of our faculty, we reviewed the document from their perspective and worked together to make changes.”

In defense of the original policy, Kregel wrote, “Our goal from the start was to remind faculty that they will have students in their classroom who come with different perspectives than their own and that it is important to show respect even when we disagree. There is a power differential between students and faculty, and we wanted them to be mindful of how they approached these conversations, which can be extremely personal and emotional.”

FIRE says tweaked university policy isn’t enough

On Aug. 18, Adam Steinbaugh, director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program, told KCRG that the revised policy still restricts some speech, citing a line in the new FAQ page that advises instructors to avoid discussing a student’s vaccination status. 

“If your employer says that you should avoid discussing something in particular, that is an instruction,” Steinbaugh said. “The university has overstepped the bounds and is now limiting how faculty members can discuss these issues and that is going to inhibit the ability of faculty members to discuss public policy and public health more broadly, and that’s unconstitutional.”