Shares Downtown Iowa City, including the University of Iowa Pentacrest and Iowa River, from a plane, June 2018. — Emma McClatchey/Little Village An effort by Republicans in the state legislature to eliminate tenure at Iowa’s three public universities advanced this week, as the House Education Committee passed a bill to end tenure at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, and a Senate subcommittee approved the Senate version of that bill. Tenure prevents college professors from being fired except for good cause or in cases where the college is facing a financial crisis severe enough to endanger its survival. It is intended to shield professors from political pressure, and allow for wide-ranging inquiry and free expression of ideas.