This afternoon the Associated Press reported that there will soon be a federal Department of Education investigation on the campus of the University of Iowa.
The week of April 11, investigators from the DOE will interview Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, coaches and other staff members of the athletic department to try to ascertain whether violations of Title IX, which requires schools which receive federal funding to provide equal opportunities for all students regardless of sex, have occurred.
An initial investigation by the DOE began in May 2015 after four former Hawkeye field hockey players filed a complaint against the University in January of 2015. The complaint states that in the opinion of those former student-athletes, female coaches and student-athletes were treated differently by the athletic department’s administration than their male counterparts.
While it seems that the athletic department is eager to cooperate with the investigation and that it is confident that the allegations will go unfounded, there is one point of contention between the DOE and the university on this matter.
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The DOE has sealed the documents which spell out the reasons for the investigation, contending that handing those over to the university could alter the outcome of the investigation. That decision by the DOE is being appealed by the university.
While that and other things are being settled behind closed doors, the two main questions that most fans of Iowa athletics are probably asking are:
When will we know the results of the investigation? You might want to find other things to do. There are current underclassmen student-athletes at Iowa who could finish their degrees before this investigation concludes.
What could happen if the allegations are deemed to be founded? That largely depends on to what extent violations were found to have occurred, but what is very likely is that if any violations are discovered, the university and the DOE will work out a settlement. Changes in the day-to-day operations of the athletic department, changes in staffing, the addition of programs for women and changes in funding could all be part of or individually the sum total of that settlement.
Until the DOE concludes its investigation, publishes its findings and works out a settlement with the university (if necessary), all those of us who aren’t employed by the university’s athletic department can do is watch and wait. What’s certain is that in the midst of one of the greatest years that Hawkeye sports have ever seen in terms of performance, this announcement is untimely.