Jurors hear starkly different portrayals in opening statements of Jane Meyer's case against Iowa

[tksirius]

How will a jury view this?

 

[EstronHawkKing]

Over on Hawkeye Insider.com there is not one thread about this topic, amazing. Huge story and those guys must be in la la land.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Word is that Meyer recently applied for an athletic AD sports position within Rutgers. Those at Rutgers who interviewed her asked for some references from the athletic dept at Iowa, she couldn't get one person to give her one. So, Meyer did not get hired at Rutgers. Just shows how despised she was by others at Iowa.

that speaks volumes

 

[thetrza]

I am worried that this case will drag on and cast a shadow on our National Championship run this fall.

 

[pootspot]

I am worried that this case will drag on and cast a shadow on our National Championship run this fall.

This is the perfect distraction and sets Iowa up for another infamous KF under the radar run, brilliant!

This lady(is she the guy in the relationship?) is throwing stones all over the place, ballsy move and career suicide.

Interested to hear how Barta is on the stand. Who'd want to go to one of his parties anyway? Lame as F and a bunch of rich pricks you'd rather not be around anyhow if you ask me.

 

[atomicblue224]

Do they like diesel trucks with this engine?It's all about efficiency of making money off Iowa.

 

[hagarwood]

This trial has a long way to go yet. I've tried to follow it by reading the reports and transcripts. I especially paid attention to Dr. Lopiano's testmony and report. The biggest problem for the University appears to be the difference between the way Bowlesby and Barta ran things. I am also reading a lot of comments on here that are not reflective of actual trial testimony or are contradicted by trial testimony. If you are basing your expectation of the outcome on what you read or hear on here you may be in for a shock at verdict time. I am not taking sides, but it is clear that both sides could have done much better in doing their jobs. Iowa may be better off without either party to the conflict.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

KGYM Radio had a reporter from the Gazette yesterday who is covering the trial. He said that when Barta was back on the stand yesterday, that Meyer just glared at him non stop. Sounds like her lawyer was grilling him in regards to when Barta actually found out when Meyer was having a relationship with the field hockey coach. This reporter a number of times said he had never covered a trial before and the radio host would ask him questions and he didn't know what to say. I kept thinking, then why would the Gazette stick this guy on this story then? He seemed clueless, frustrating to listen to

 

[DMLadyhawk]

None of those arguments would have any merit should her lawyer bring them up.

Hiring relatives is extremely common in college sports, as long as the relationship stays professional, and in Brian's case, it's hard to say it hasn't been. Same with the Brands.

Language on a field or court of play is rough and cannot be expected to be clean, and again has no bearing on job performance.

Meyer's problem with Griesbaum is that she knowingly entered a relationship with someone who directly reports to her, which is very unprofessional, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. On top of that, it's been reported that because of this, Meyer may have given Griesbaum's team special consideration and resources compared to other athletic teams.

I really do not see Iowa losing this case. So far, Meyer has relied mostly on character assassination of the athletic department, which, to me, reeks of a lack of evidence on her claims.

Might want to check your facts. The Register reported that Griesbaum did not report to Meyer, During the University's investigation into the Field Hockey program, they asked Meyer if she had a relationship with Griesbaum. This is against the U of I's own policy and is part of the discrimination lawsuit.

 

[thawks1]

Previously it was widely reported that Meyers told Griesbaum about the student complaints and then the coach basically sought revenge against those players. Supposedly that is how the whole thing got started.

 

[RobHowe]

Let's just hope the 12 jurors aren't all Cyclone fans

Jon or Rob, did you ever have any issues with Meyer?

I did not but I also didn't have much interaction with her.

She gave me a ride from the airport to my off-site rental car place once during a road game. She seemed nice. That was more than 15 years ago. As I said, I didn't have much interaction with her since then.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

Write up in the paper today said that field hockey players complained to Meyers about how their head coach (Griesbaum) was treating them (paper didn't say, but am guessing the players may not have know that their coach and Meyers were dating) but then Meyers would tell Greisbaum about the players complaints about her, then Griesbaum took her anger and frustration out on the players that went behind her back. Also, the paper mentioned that one player said that Griesbaum told the field hockey player that she would be better off by just going off and killing herself. If true, major solid grounds for Barta firing her.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I did not but I also didn't have much interaction with her.

She gave me a ride from the airport to my off-site rental car place once during a road game. She seemed nice. That was more than 15 years ago. As I said, I didn't have much interaction with her since then.

I'm going to go out on a limb here Rob, and say that nothing happened in that car ride as far as sexual tension or innuendo.

 

[SteveGarvey1]

I'm going to go out on a limb here Rob, and say that nothing happened in that car ride as far as sexual tension or innuendo.

Most likely not but I bet Barta didn't have her schlepping people to rental places like Bowlsby did.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

This is the perfect distraction and sets Iowa up for another infamous KF under the radar run, brilliant!

This lady(is she the guy in the relationship?) is throwing stones all over the place, ballsy move and career suicide.

Interested to hear how Barta is on the stand. Who'd want to go to one of his parties anyway? Lame as F and a bunch of rich pricks you'd rather not be around anyhow if you ask me.

Class envy looks good on nobody.

 

[Fryowa]

Class envy looks good on nobody.

I get what you're saying Bob, but the phrase "rich pricks" didn't come out of thin air the first time it was uttered.

 

[Fryowa]

Seems like a high-risk play by Meyer. She has to realize that the trial transcript (or at least the key points) are going to be stapled to the back of her resume for any significant job she applies for.

She's got nothing to lose and is taking the only Hail Mary she possibly has left.

Her career in any kind of sports or school admin is effectively over. No one would touch her with a 30' pole and a gas mask after something like this, especially after she admitted in public that she was boinking a subordinate for several years against school policy. Her last possible chance was to get a good reference from her previous employer, and when she couldn't get one she was smart enough to know her career was kaput.

 

[HuckFinn]

I can recall a fairly large number of times that an employee who I supervised had several years of positive evaluations. Unfortunately, in some of those cases, the employee went down hill on the performance scale and I had to take serious actions. Past evals are simply not very good evidence that someone was unfairly terminated.

When I have had employees who are in a supervisory role to a spouse, the boundaries are clearly and openly established. The supervisor is required to turn the supervision over to another administrator. And, the administration and other employees are fully aware of the relationship between the supervisor and the spouse/employee. This is a fairly rare situation, but it does happen. It can be awkward, but is not illegal.

In this case, Meyer should have immediately informed Barta of her relationship with a person who reports to her. An earlier post argues that Meyer was not in a supervisory role of the coach. The roles of the two women would seem to fall under the definition of employee/supervisor, but I don't have the flow chart available to me.

If an employee is in fact insubordinate, that employee can and should be fired.

 

[thawks1]

I am aware also that Meyer gave Field Hockey anything and everything at the point Barta was not aware of Meyer's relationship. He would not of done that if he was aware of the situation.

 

[hawkeyemark]

Greisbaum likely reported directly to Barta just like the other coaches. Having a military background and finishing my career as a military civilian I see Meyer as a key player in Management as senior to Greisbaum. In the military their relationship would get them in hot water where these days nobody cares about your gender nor your sexual orientation just like the rest of society.

I don't see any way around the fact that Meyer had a conflict of interest especially after the Greisbaum investigation started and it affected her job performance. I would cite Exhibit A her crying on the stand about the firing as evidence of that. That undermines her claims of discrimination which seem ridiculous on their face in the PC world of today's colleges and universities. Gays and lesbians have become part of the mainstream Jane and don't need protected.