Things to know that the article doesn't mention: Christopher Rufo was the invited speaker for the opening event, and the interim director is UI economics professor Luciano I. de Castro[1]. In 2025 de Castro cited extreme bias in advocating for the creation of the center[2]. The sponsor of the bill to create the center, Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis also said while working to advance an earlier bill to ban DEI spending at public universities, "the bill is needed because the three universities are spending too much on DEI officers and programs. He said the salaries for the top four DEI professionals across the regents universities add up to about $750,000 per year."[3]

1 https://www.thegazette.com/news/gop-invited-to-center-for-in...

2 https://www.thegazette.com/news/education/university-of-iowa...

3 https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2023-0...