Legislative media tips from Office of Strategic Communication

Below is a quick refresher on how we handle media inquiries related to proposed or recently adopted legislation. 

Iowa Board of Regents policy 

The university does not comment on pending, proposed, or recently adopted legislation. That is handled by the Iowa Board of Regents communications team, because the board sets legislative policy for the public universities. (Board Policy Manual 1.9.6)

Faculty and staff political activity guidelines

Individual faculty or staff may comment on legislation either as a subject matter expert or simply a concerned citizen. To comply with the university’s political activity guidelines, the employee should remind the reporter that they are speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the university. (Here are the faculty guidelines and staff guidelines).

Tips on how to know whether employees should use their title during an interview

• If the subject matter is related to their scholarship, they can use their title because it highlights their expertise in the matter.
• If it’s not related to their work at the university but just an issue they feel passionately about as a citizen, they should not use their title.  
• If the employee has an administrative role, use of the title is not appropriate unless the university has adopted such a position on the matter and the employee is charged with representing the university’s position in an official capacity.

The Office of Strategic Communication is here to help 

If a faculty or staff member is contacted directly by a member of the media, we encourage them to contact OSC as a courtesy (email media-request@uiowa.edu). This helps us expand our experts list for responding to other media outlets or for future news pitching opportunities. 

• We can share information about the reporter or publication making the request and help the faculty or staff member consider benefits and or risks of responding.
• For example, will this help with their scholarship, raise their faculty profile, or, in extreme cases, bring unwanted harassment?
• OSC also maintains a log of media requests and can help follow up if the reporter needs additional information.

Please reach out to Ben Hill with any questions.