Iowa AD Barta found guilty of discrimination

[Red Five]

A unanimous ruling from an eight-person jury to award Meyer $1.43 million for the university’s “willful” discrimination. Unanimous on all five counts: gender and sexual orientation discrimination, retaliation and whisteblower violations, and unequal pay.

 

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta — Meyer’s former boss and the primary target of hours upon hours of testimony — couldn’t have seen this coming, either.

 

But it came.

 

And now he’s in big, big trouble.

 

While the case was officially Meyer vs. the UI, it was really always about Meyer vs. Barta.

 

The university’s top-ranking athletics official losing a case about civil rights isn’t something that should be casually brushed aside.

 

A jury of Iowans said he violated Iowa law,” Thomas Newkirk, one of Meyer’s attorneys, said Thursday, a little more than an hour after the verdict broke. “He fired women for potentially having conflicts of interest. … And he testified in his deposition that if he violated the law, then he possibly should be disciplined or removed from his position.

 

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/columnists/chad-leistikow/2017/05/05/leistikow-jane-meyer-ruling-university-iowa/311222001/

[Swiv3D]

Wow, I thought for sure Iowa would win this case.

[Frostberg]

"Barta kept her around for another 18 months before reassigning her across campus, where she testified she had so little to do at times that she took walks and did Sudoku puzzles for $176,000-plus a year."

 

Holy cow! Give me that job!!!

[NUance]

Taylor's first day of work was also the last for Tracey Griesbaum, Iowa's longtime field hockey coach and Meyer's partner. Barta fired Griesbaum after what he said was a pattern of reports of abusive behavior toward her athletes. A university inquiry into that had found no policy violations.

Meyer became extremely upset with the decision and protested loudly in a staff meeting. She testified that she maintained her professionalism but wanted to make sure her concerns were heard. Others in the meeting said Meyer crossed the line and could have been fired on the spot.

 

So AD Barta fired Meyer's partner? Sounds like Meyer and Barta had a blood feud going on.