UI Field hockey complaint: The latest in a string of failures

In the past 35 years, the University of Iowa has suffered notable failures of internal policies and investigations that have taken enormous tolls on the university community.

The pattern looks like this: Complaints are filed. Internal investigations indicate that there are no problems, or they find something wrong but nothing is done. External bodies, including the courts, eventually step in and find problems. That pattern is being repeated right now in relation to the recent Title IX complaint, and it is time say 'no more”.

Since 1982 we have seen four extreme examples of this pattern.

In 1982, Dr. Jean Jew filed a complaint about sexual and racial harassment in her department, which then moved on to the Affirmative Action office, through a special university committee (which found in her favor though no follow-up action was taken), and finally into civil court in 1985, ending in an expensive judgment against the university five years later.

The pattern repeated in 2002 when the Athletics Department handled the Pierre Pierce sexual assault incident internally, triggering an avalanche of negative publicity and a universitywide review that eventually outlined a new process for investigating such incidents.

Another athletics department investigation into rape allegations in 2007 led to an expensive external investigation and the firing of two high level administrators.

In 2008, internal investigators handled complaints about the repeat offenses of several faculty members accused of serial 'sexual misconduct” with female students. When some of those students became frustrated by the internal process and took their complaints to civil and criminal processes, the two accused abusers committed suicide in separate incidents several months apart. One of the student victims pursued her case and was awarded a judgment against the university in civil court.

What all of these examples have in common is that university processes ultimately failed. In some cases complaints were not taken seriously, internal investigations did not uncover violations, or investigators found egregious behavior in violation of university policy, but failed to do enough about it. In some cases, particularly related to sexual assault, changes were eventually made to the system. But in each case, external investigations found that the university did not do what it needed to do to protect individuals involved or to hold itself accountable.

Which brings us to the most recent 'nothing to see here” moment at the University of Iowa. A Title IX complaint has been filed with the U.S. Department of Education alleging gender discrimination in the UI athletics department. Much has already been written about the firing of field hockey coach Tracy Griesbaum, which is just one factor in this case. Regardless of what you think about her case, this complaint has turned a spotlight on the decline of support for women's programs at Iowa.

In a document of support, attorney and former coach Beth Beglin has compiled damning evidence of a pattern of inequity after the merger of women's and men's programs upon the 2000 retirement of Dr. Christine Grant, a women's sports pioneer who championed equity so successfully that in 1993, basketball head coaches Vivian Stringer and Tom Davis were paid the same base salary. Sadly, Beglin's research finds systemic presence of gender bias at Iowa today, from patterns of salary increases/decreases, hiring/firing practices, program mergers, and expectations of acceptable behavior, along with a not so subtle suggestion that a culture of homophobia permeates the decision-making process.

UI administration has stated that it stands behind Athletic Director Gary Barta and has not investigated or publicly addressed concerns about the broader problem.

Nothing to see here, except a major federal investigation looming on the horizon. And once again the UI is on the wrong side. Once again our system has failed us. Four brave students are standing up to demand better; we should all stand with them. As President Mason prepares to step down, she should stand with them and work to change the system. We can continue to ignore the problems impacting our university community, or we can decide that we can and should do better.

' Laurie Haag is a community activist and a staff person at the University of Iowa. Comments: lhaag305@gmail.com