State universities remove gender options from admissions forms
Lang
2/21/25
Students will no longer be able to list their sex as anything other than “male” or “female” on state university admission forms in Iowa, according to documents submitted to the Iowa Board of Regents.
Iowa Capitol Dispatch reports that ahead of the regents’ Feb. 27th meeting, the board released documents detailing revisions to the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University strategic plans, striking out language referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.
According to board documents, Republican legislators Taylor Collins of Mediapolis and Lynn Evans of Aurelia sent a letter to the board on Feb. 10th citing recent executive actions taken by President Donald Trump and saying public university practices are going against Trump’s assertion that there are only two genders. The only example provided in the letter was of the UI’s admissions application listing seven genders from which prospective students could choose.
Collins and Evans were the same legislators who urged the regents to deny the UI’s plan for a new School of Social and Cultural Analysis to replace its American Studies and Social Justice majors.