The Marketplace of Ideas
By 
The Iowa legislature decided that the University of Iowa was a hive of scum and villainy liberalism. So it created a right-wing institute within the university. Called the Center for Intellectual Freedom, it’s just total hackwork. There was a problem though–nearly zero students want right-wing indoctrination in their higher ed. The center offered two intitial courses. A total of 19 students signed up.
So, given right-wingers deep commitment to true intellectual freedom, the marketplace of ideas, and the free market generally, the Iowa legislature is now mandating that every student at the university take not one but two courses from the Center for Intellectual Freedom.
Under a law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds earlier this month, all public university students must take an American history course and an American civics course to graduate beginning fall 2028. The courses will be designed and taught by the University of Iowa’s controversial Center for Intellectual Freedom.
The center has been plagued by low enrollment since its creation in 2025, according to an April report commissioned by its leadership from Common Sense Institute Iowa, a right-leaning think tank.
The report advised that the center could boost student demand by offering courses that fulfill core curriculum requirements — a move that would be especially effective “if the center offers the only course that fulfills a state civics requirement.”
“If legislators, the university, and the center wish to see student demand for the center, they must create it,” it said.
Theoretically, this could be a boon for history departments, who could hire a lot of historians if there were mandated courses in U.S. history taught by real historians. That is very unlikely to happen. These are going to be courses taught by right-wing ideologues who very likely are not qualified to teach college courses. Iowa is really winning the future here!