Trustees: AIB athletics to end with University of Iowa merger

IOWA CITY - As part of a proposal to convey the AIB College of Business campus in Des Moines to the University of Iowa, AIB athletics 'would be phased out right away,” according to notes from a recent AIB board of trustees special meeting.

'What would go would be the athletics,” according to the document, dated Jan. 14, that was made public Thursday by WHO-TV in Des Moines.

Trustees, according to the meeting notes, discuss honoring scholarships of the 300-some student athletes and working to keep them from being harmed and offer them choices.

'If they want to do their sport, they could apply someplace else,” according to the notes.

AIB President Nancy Williams and UI President Sally Mason announced the merger Monday, along with UI's plans to open a second campus on the 20-acre AIB property in Des Moines.

During a news conference, Williams said the proposed partnership was not financially motivated. And, Williams said, she didn't have answers regarding the future of the athletic program, which involves hundreds of students competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

AIB sports include men and women's golf, basketball, bowling and soccer, volleyball, softball, baseball, competitive dancing and cheerleading.

Jane Schorer Meisner, public relations director for AIB, told The Gazette an announcement on the future of AIB athletics is expected in the near future.

'One of the delays on that is that it involves employees and coaches,” she said, mentioning the possibility of severance options.

Athletes on Thursday night staged a peaceful protest in support of the athletics program, and one student has launched on online petition to 'save AIB athletics.”

'With fourteen varsity sports and almost one third of the current student population at AIB, athletes make up a huge part of our identity,” AIB student and athlete Brennen Flores wrote on the petition website. 'Please sign this petition to keep the athletic programs and show support for the athletes, coaches, administrators, and the community of south side Des Moines.”

As of Friday morning, 539 people had signed the petition.

Flores, a 20-year-old sophomore recruited to AIB from New Philadelphia, Ohio, to play baseball, said the goal is to show widespread support for keeping the athletics program intact and in the NAIA. He said other large universities have multiple athletic programs, and he thinks UI could do the same.

'But we came to AIB, and we want to still have that AIB pride,” Flores said. 'Even if we change names, we will be eagles at heart. But we will compete for the love of the game, not the name on the front of our jersey.”

The goal, he said, is to get several thousand signatures.

'If we get 25,000 signatures, the White House would have to take a look at it,” he said. 'That wouldn't be too bad. But that might be far-fetched.”

Aside from athletics, many of AIB's more than 1,000 students, 180 full- and part-time employees, and alumni have asked questions about what the merger means for their education, the value of their degrees, and their jobs. Presidents Williams and Mason didn't have immediate answers Monday.

But UI officials earlier this week announced plans to begin immediate work on the transition by forming 10 working groups to address key areas, including student registration, financial aid, housing, and academic programming.

At Monday's news conference, Mason said the goal is to complete the transition by June 2016, but students applying and being admitted to AIB as soon as fall 2015 could be considered UI students.

In the AIB board of trustees document made public this week, board members mention the sense of urgency in discussing a new Board of Regents model for funding Iowa's public universities. That model ties a majority of state appropriations to resident enrollment, and UI would lose $12.9 million in the first year unless it enrolls more Iowans.

'Iowa has to get more in-state students, and we have 800 of them,” a trustee said, according to the notes.

'It's like ripping a bandage off the sore,” another person said, according to the notes. 'If they could have it by August, they would like it. How willing are they to finish our kids?”

Those early discussions were to remain 'confidential,” the notes indicate.

'We need to work on what the message will be early,” according to the document. 'If it gets out, and we're not in control, it won't be good.”

The trustees discussed the need for approval from the Board of Regents and said Mason was going to make sure she had support from board President Bruce Rastetter.

'A gift allows Sally to get it through the regents,” according to the document.

Even though presidents Williams and Mason emphasized the merger is not financially driven, discussion among trustees indicated AIB does have concerns about its future and mentioned 'operational losses.”

'The last time we met was to have a three-year plan to go forward and right the ship,” one trustee reportedly said at the meeting. 'What happened? Are financials so bad?”

Trustees discussed the changing nature of higher education, especially with the new funding model proposed for regent universities.

'There's a risk for tuition driven schools like AIB,” according to a trustee, who goes on to question the need for more than 20 private colleges in Iowa. 'There won't be a need for that ... recruiting is hard and will get harder with the funding formula.”

One trustee asked what 'dire” means and said cutting sports 'would be bad publicity.”

According to the document, athletics have been pushing for a new facility, and Meisner told The Gazette that AIB has multiple capital improvement needs across campus.

'All those needs for the future are considerations,” she said.

Total expenses for AIB athletics is about $3 million, according to U.S. Department of Education data for the reporting year that ended Aug. 31. The college provided $1.6 million in athletically-related student aid that year and spent $18,542 on recruiting.