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FIRST ON FOX: An official in the University of Iowa’s Division of Student Life openly admits in a new undercover video obtained by Fox News Digital that she and others at the university are actively “finding ways to operate around” state and federal directives intended to end the practice of reverse discrimination in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The official, Drea Tinoco, assistant director for Leadership and Student Organization Development at the University of Iowa, pointed out in the undercover recording how in early spring the university’s leaders began directing an end to DEI initiatives and policies.
However, as Tinoco points out, that didn’t stop her or others at the school from continuing to advance the discriminatory measures.
“We’re essentially finding ways to operate around [the bans], so that was our solution. We were like, ‘Oh, okay, we can’t use that word? Okay – “civic engagement.”‘ I think that’s a lot of what we’re doing, it’s like, ‘Oh, okay, we’re not allowed to use this word. Oh, okay. We’re just going to do this,'” Tinoco can be heard saying in the video. “That’s why you’re not going to see DEI listed on any University of Iowa website … but there have been transitions and things that they’ve done, so they’re not like getting rid of certain things.”
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The University of Iowa is just the latest school in a salvo of others that have come under fire recently over attempts to rebrand their DEI initiatives in order to skirt state or federal directives ordering them to be terminated.
Last week, Fox News Digital also obtained undercover footage showing that, despite state and federal orders aimed at dismantling DEI initiatives, school officials at Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee described a deliberate strategy to rename, repackage and quietly preserve these controversial programs under new labels like “access and engagement” and “belonging and community.”
“It definitely is still here, it definitely still exists,” Tinoco can be heard saying on the undercover recording. She also suggests her superiors are supportive of defying orders to dismantle DEI policies at the university, and says that when collaborating with other schools in the state, the University of Iowa staff are typically the most “combative” when it comes to standing in the way of getting rid of DEI policies.
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“On behalf of my office. We are, we’re still going to talk about DEI. We’re still going to do all the DEI things. My assistant dean is a Black woman, and I could not imagine her being like, ‘Okay guys. Yeah. We’re just not going to talk about DEI anymore,'” Tinoco says on the video recording.
“I have yet to be told, like ‘Dre, you can’t say DEI.’ And I’m still going to say it,” she adds.
During the recording, Tinoco also discuses “loophole[s]” at the university to advance DEI, which she says can be done through student groups that are protected on account of freedom of association rights.
“I will say personally, like I am proud of the fight,” Tinoco said of her and others’ efforts to fight against state and federal anti-DEI directives.
Meanwhile, Tinoco can be heard on the recording disparaging the school’s Board of Regents for being White, and calling Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed anti-DEI legislation into law back in May, “coo-coo bananas.”
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In response to this article, Reynolds told Fox News Digital that she would be referring the matter to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird for her review as it pertains to the state’s anti-DEI laws.
“I’m appalled by the remarks made in this video by a University of Iowa employee who blatantly admits to defying DEI restrictions I signed into law on May 9, 2024,” Reynolds said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I already issued a letter to the Board of Regents on January 23, 2025, reminding university representatives to comply, not only with state law, but an executive order signed by President Trump ending implementation of DEI policies at public institutions.”
The university responded by insisting it holds its faculty to the highest standards of compliance and any deviation from such compliance “is taken seriously,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital, indicating the school would be launching an internal investigation probing the matter.
The university added that it “will take all necessary steps to ensure university policies and procedures as well as state and federal laws are being fully upheld.”
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