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A third video has surfaced, this time with an Iowa State University employee confessing to discovering legal loopholes, following the dismissal of two University of Iowa workers and their subsequent state and UI investigations for discussing university efforts to circumvent new DEI requirements in undercover cameras.
I use caution when I say that. According to the conservative news media watchdog, Susan Harper, the former director of Iowa State’s Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success, told an investigator for Accuracy in Media.
The video, which was reportedly taken without Harper’s knowledge, had ominous music intercut with statements like “What comes isn’t regret.” It’s a tactic. Resistance. A strategy for combat. “We’re just going to do what we’re going to do,” Harper stated.
In the video, which carries on the tradition of undercover reporting aimed at exposing attempts to evade new laws that prohibit spending, staffing, training, and other programming on campus related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, she stated, “We are finding ways to be in compliance with the law and still do the work that needs to be done.”
Iowa State complies with all state and federal regulations, according to a statement issued by ISU spokesperson Angie Hunt in response to the video. She also pointed out that the video lacks a date stamp.
According to Hunt, the location and the tone of the conversation suggest that it was taped about a year ago, before the Board of Regents’ compliance deadline of December 31.
According to Hunt, board directions to reduce DEI offices, spending, staffing, and training led to the discontinuation of all programming at the ISU Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success, which Harper was appointed to manage just three years earlier in 2022.
According to her, the director role, which the employee had when the video was shot, was removed in December 2024. We have made steps to comply with recent legislation and directions, which have been approved by the Iowa Board of Regents.
To guarantee ongoing compliance, Iowa State keeps an eye on things and takes appropriate action when needed.
Harper’s current status as an Iowa State employee and, if so, his role were not immediately disclosed by Iowa State.
It still exists
The first Iowa-based undercover film, which was shot on July 2 and broadcast on Fox News, showed UI Assistant Director Drea Tinoco talking about DEI regulations and how university employees were evading them. On July 29, Governor Kim Reynolds denounced the footage.
According to Tinoco in the video, DEI, student groups, and other things are still in place. We continue to carry out DEI work, and funds are allocated to it, such as through hiring staff for these facilities.
On the same day, Tinoco, who has been the assistant director of Leadership and Student Organization Development since 2022, was put on leave.
Days later, another conservative news organization released a second undercover film that purportedly showed the same individual questioning Cory Lockwood, senior associate director of the Iowa Memorial Union at UI, about DEI.
Does DEI work continue? He seemed to reiterate the question that was posed to him. The State House will prevent someone from having that in their job description.
The same day his video appeared on Townhall, Lockwood, who has worked for UI for 26 years since 1999, was put on leave, according to officials.
Attorney General Brenna Bird of Iowa launched an investigation after receiving a complaint from Governor Reynolds. Barbara Wilson, president of UI, stated that her university is also looking into the matter.
In order to coordinate our efforts, we have also contacted the offices of the Board of Regents and the Iowa Attorney General, Wilson added. To guarantee fairness, accuracy, and impartiality, this inquiry is being carried out in compliance with our established protocols. We shall immediately take the required corrective measures if we discover that laws or policies have been broken.
Gone underground
The opening line of the new film, which aims to expose Iowa State, claims that DEI hasn’t finished at Iowa State University. Simply put, it has gone underground.
Making reference to recent legislation and Board of Regents rules that forbid DEI work on campus, but not student organizations According to Harper, her center frequently seeks volunteers.
“If the student organizations plan it, we can do it, but if I plan it, we can’t,” she stated.
“So it sounds like you guys can still kind of do some of the diversity and inclusion work as long as students are doing it?” the woman who was filming the video said in response.
Harper affirmed that as long as students are leading the way.
According to Harper, faculty advisers to student organizations can be particularly beneficial. She confirmed that certain posts will be opening up in the ISU Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, a name that won’t last.
They are out there, and even though helping students may not be part of your job description, you are still performing the task, she added, adding that we are looking for legal loopholes.
Harper stated that even if Iowa State has to refocus some of its efforts, the work continues.
Harper stated, “It made things so much worse there because institutions in other states and communities changed the names of committees, groups, and units on campus without doing anything different.”
Harper stated, “If they’re going to set the hoops on fire, let’s take the game to them,” adding that she is not a poisonous person.
Vanessa Miller writes for The Gazette on higher education.
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