UI professor says Athletic Department should have mitigated perceived conflict of interest

IOWA CITY - A University of Iowa professor who advised the Athletics Department for 10 years, said the UI should have done a management plan to avoid a conflict of interest between a former coach and assistant athletic director.

The UI fired Head Field Hockey Coach Tracey Griesbaum Aug. 4, later saying she created an environment of 'fear, intimidation and/or mistreatment” for student-athletes.

Parents of student-athletes reported their daughters were afraid to raise concerns because Griesbaum is in a long-term relationship with Jane Meyer, senior associate athletics director, said Elizabeth Altmaier, a UI psychology professor who served as a faculty adviser to athletics from 2001 to 2011.

'It was a wrongful decision that they did not have a management plan,” Altmaier said. 'A management plan would have prevented the appearance of favoritism in facilities, around her (Griesbaum's) contract and with student-athletes.”

Meyer said Thursday she told Sue Buckley, UI Vice President for Human Resources, about her relationship with Griesbaum 'years ago”, although she did not remember the date. Buckley told The Gazette she talked with Meyer within the last two to three years.

Buckley told Meyer her relationship with Griesbaum was not a conflict of interest.

'We cleared it through the appropriate channels,” Meyer said. 'I was not involved in her (Griesbaum's) contract negotiations and I have no direct supervision.”

Conflicts of interest at UI are triggered when an employee 1) has direct supervision of a person with whom they are in a relationship or 2) an employee 'has the responsibility to make, or participate actively in making, decisions or recommendations relating to the employment status” of their close friend, relative or partner, according to a policy last updated in 2004.

The policy also seeks to prevent or mitigate relationships 'that for a reasonable person could create the appearance that such an individual may not be objective.” But the policy does not specifically address how to measure or deal with perceived conflicts of interest.

'We would be more concerned about managing actual conflicts of interest,” UI Vice President for Strategic Communication Joe Brennan said Friday.

Meyer, who is the NCAA and Big Ten senior women's administrator for UI and oversees facilities planning and management within the department, said student-athletes' perceptions about her influence are out of her hands. 'I can't control what people perceive,” she said.

Altmaier said UI officials are ignoring the appearance of a conflict as a defense for not developing a management plan. 'They know the appearance part violates the policy.”

Buckley's decision not to do a management plan for Meyer and Griesbaum was different from her view in a 2013 case in which she said a plan was needed for Tyler J. Barnes, who was hired in 2012 as an administrative assistant in football under his future father-in-law, Kirk Ferentz.

No conflict-of-interest review was done for Barnes after he was initially hired in January 2012 or after he became engaged to Ferentz's daughter, Joanne Ferentz, about six months later. When Buckley learned of this in early 2013, she requested a review.

As a result, Barnes was reassigned so he did not report through football.

The UI Athletics Department has had other high-profile family hires.

In February 2012, the UI brought in Brian Ferentz as offensive line coach under his father. In this case, the UI did complete a conflict-of-interest management plan, which included Kirk Ferentz not supervising his son.

Head UI Wrestling Coach Tom Brands also hired his twin brother, Terry Brands, as an associate head coach.

The Athletics Department did a conflict-of-interest review and management plan when Monica Mims, daughter of longtime athletics official Fred Mims, was selected associate director of compliance in August 2012.

Griesbaum's firing has led to scrutiny of how the Athletics Department deals with student-athlete complaints.

The Gazette was among media outlets that requested correspondence about the decision in August. Although the UI released hundreds of pages of documents, officials decided to withhold 230 documents from Altmaier.

'The general counsel of the University of Iowa, after consulting with both an attorney at the Board of Regent's office and an attorney with the Attorney General's Office, determined that the records turned over by Betsy Altmaier were FERPA protected student records and should not be turned over,” Brennan said.

The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy act (FERPA) requires schools and universities to keep many student records confidential. However, Altmaier, who has worked extensively with FERPA, said 11 documents withheld by UI have no student records.

Griesbaum, 48, was fired after 14 years as head coach. Iowa agreed to pay her $200,000, as provided in her contract. Lisa Cellucci, who served as assistant under Griesbaum, was promoted to interim head coach.

Griesbaum's attorney, Tom Newkirk, said his client is considering filing a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission or filing a lawsuit for discrimination in employment based on gender and sexual orientation. Hundreds of former players and coaches have written emails and online messages in support of Griesbaum.