Two employees have been on paid administrative leave since July, when the undercover videos aired on Fox News.
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The University of Iowa Board of Regents on Thursday green-lighted disciplinary proceedings against one employee who was secretly filmed discussing diversity, equity and inclusion, The Gazette reported.
Two employees—UI Leadership and Student Organization Development Assistant Andrea Tinoco and Memorial Union Senior Associate Director Cory Lockwood—have been on paid administrative leave since July, when the undercover videos aired on Fox News. One of them will now undergo disciplinary proceedings, though it’s unclear who.
In one video, Tinoco said the university was finding ways to operate around state bans on DEI initiatives.
“So it still exists,” Tinoco said in the video. “DEI and student organizations and all of that. Like it is real. It still exists. We are still doing DEI work.”
In the other secret recording, Lockwood said, “Someone’s not going to have [DEI] in their job description because of the State House.”
The conservative law firm Consovoy McCarthy, along with the Iowa attorney general’s office, has investigated Tinoco and Lockwood. Consovoy McCarthy recommended disciplining only one of them—“Employee B.” President Robert Cramer did not specify publicly which employee was Employee A and which was Employee B, according to The Gazette.
“I want to be clear—this review was not about personal viewpoints or differing opinions,” Cramer said at the Thursday board meeting. “This is about compliance with the law. The Board of Regents and its institutions will comply with the law. Period. As these are personnel matters, we cannot and will not share specifics beyond what we say here today.”
