The witness list is a who's who at Iowa.
http://daily-iowan.com/2017/04/17/metro-brief-meyer-lawsuit-goes-to-trial/
http://daily-iowan.com/2017/04/17/metro-brief-meyer-lawsuit-goes-to-trial/
Meyer lawsuit goes to trial
- Thread starter Duke
- Start date
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Sounds like one big happy family to me. For me, it really boils down to whether Greisbaum's termination was fair and justified. If it was, then this appears to be sour grapes...then again, there is always more to the story. Meyer getting paid 173K to watch paint dry seems like a nice fall back for awhile. Unfortunately, you need to get along with your boss in most jobs, as the writing is on the wall if you don't. It appears Barta and Meyer weren't best of buddies...especially after the Greisbaum firing.
Not sure how they got around that memorandum for Male/Female number one and two in the department. I'm assuming someone got that amended...if not, that's an issue.
Not sure how they got around that memorandum for Male/Female number one and two in the department. I'm assuming someone got that amended...if not, that's an issue.
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MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I was always thinking the same thing. The only question I have is the Greisbaum termination as she was very successful with a good track record at Iowa and obviously didn't want to leave. If there were issues with her coaching style. they could have done some education and training with her.
I doubt Barta has a problem against LBTGABCD's as it's no secret there are lesbian college coaches at many places. Just a known fact if you are in the field. If it was an issue for Barta, well that's on him. Shouldn't be though. Most in the academia setting are quite used to the LBTG whatever community and accepting of it. It very well may have come down to personalities with Meyer just as it could have with any other woman or man.
I doubt Barta has a problem against LBTGABCD's as it's no secret there are lesbian college coaches at many places. Just a known fact if you are in the field. If it was an issue for Barta, well that's on him. Shouldn't be though. Most in the academia setting are quite used to the LBTG whatever community and accepting of it. It very well may have come down to personalities with Meyer just as it could have with any other woman or man.
mopkins
King Kong
It reads to me like Meyer was potentially giving the women's field hockey team special treatment because she was dating the head coach. So I'm not really sure how she can claim unfair treatment when she was doing it herself. I'm not sure how the U of I didn't deem it a conflict of interest in the first place. Thats on them.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
Yea, I don't see them being on the hook for the Meyer situation. Wonder if they will eventually just settle out-of-court to save some $$. I hope not & they stick to their guns.
I'm actually surprised this hasn't been settled out of court. Iowa could easily write a check to Meyer for a couple million and she could simply retire, and Iowa would avoid the public embarrassment of all the dirty laundry being aired in public.
To me this all goes down to Barta being a poor decision maker. Even if it was justified firing the coach for being abusive, how does he not think that is going to cause problems with Meyer who is the highest ranking female in his dept? Did he really not envision that a lawsuit would be coming his way? So now he has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorney fees, will have to sit through the bad publicity of a trial accusing Iowa of gender-discrimination, etc., when he could have just written a check from day one to make this all go away.
I again just think Barta is lucky that someone (boosters, Ferentz, Iowa Regents) are protecting him because he seems to make a lot of bad decisions.
To me this all goes down to Barta being a poor decision maker. Even if it was justified firing the coach for being abusive, how does he not think that is going to cause problems with Meyer who is the highest ranking female in his dept? Did he really not envision that a lawsuit would be coming his way? So now he has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorney fees, will have to sit through the bad publicity of a trial accusing Iowa of gender-discrimination, etc., when he could have just written a check from day one to make this all go away.
I again just think Barta is lucky that someone (boosters, Ferentz, Iowa Regents) are protecting him because he seems to make a lot of bad decisions.
SpiderRico
Well-Known Member
If you're gonna throw someone under the bus, at least make sure you've got your facts straight to support it....neither the firing of the field hockey coach nor the reassignment of Meyer was Barta's decision....the field hockey decision was an edict straight from Mason and the reassignment of Meyer was the University's legal counsel....
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Thats the problem with the system...settle and save money. Never mind that lesbians are wrong once in a while too. Why settle if Barta did nothing wrong and Griesbaum's firing was warranted. Meyer has no position and if she became a liability because her lover's firing caused her to have attitude problems...well, shit happens. I'm hoping the University's HR group had their stuff together and did these moves the right way according to employment law. You know damn well, finding her a position of equal level and pay was the first step. Then allowing enough time to pass before they eliminated the position seems like a lawyerly thing to do.
If they did everything according to the law, then Meyer can suck it. If they didn't, well, she can still suck it, albeit with a heavier wallet and better hair cut. I want you all to know I was going to say something different than haircut, but I thought the better of it. It did begin with "D" and end in "DO" though.
If they did everything according to the law, then Meyer can suck it. If they didn't, well, she can still suck it, albeit with a heavier wallet and better hair cut. I want you all to know I was going to say something different than haircut, but I thought the better of it. It did begin with "D" and end in "DO" though.
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Meyers has a long history of having problems within the Athletic department. She was living with and a partner of a coach who reported to her. She then told the coach of complaints from athletes, which the coach turned around and punished for their complaints. This is not the first time Meyers has done things easily out of policy. Meyers attorney's have pushed for a settlement and UI refuse to even negotiate at this point.
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
I'm glad the University is taking this stand. I'll be really surprised if they didn't dot the i's and cross the t's on this one. They should have seen it coming from a mile away.
That's what gets me. You'd sure as heck think so as it was all going down have had that foresight. These people that are in these chairs can't be stupid/naïve enough to think if you tip over this domino that the next wouldn't fall... There is no way that getting her gig back is on the list of demands... How flipping awkward would that be? Going back to work where everyone your reporting to you sued...Yeah nobody on either side would be crazy about that.
As far as the field hockey coach getting fired is good coaches get fired all the time... Nebraska fired Pelini for winning 9 games every year... I'm sure there are better examples than that out there that was just off the top of my head. Schools so long as they pay whatever buyouts are agreed to on your contract can let you go pretty much for any made up reason they want.
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
I think, unfortunately, there was a big difference here. Pelini wasn't a lesbian, although it would help make sense of that whole cat thing.
It is not about sexual orientation. It is about a supervisor being in a relationship with a direct report, getting complaints of abuse about that report, then running and telling the report of the complaints about abuse.. Then the report takes revenge on the athletes who complained about her abuse. This is not acceptable on any level. Meyers attorney is trying to make it about sexual orientation which it is not.
Talk about making bad decisions, this post is a good example. Forming an opinion with out knowing the facts and letting your bias rule in favor of the facts.
That's the roundabout way of looking at it I had as well... If you wonder why organizations frown on in office romances here's just another messy example why....
SpiderRico
Well-Known Member
Office romances, by themselves, aren't bad (sure they can cause some messiness on occasion), but where it gets dicey and should NEVER occur is between two parties where one is the manager and one is the subordinate. The U of I should never have allowed that to move forward. You obviously can't stop two people from being in love and pursing a relationship, but you can stop the process where one is reporting to the other.
Fryowa
Administrator
My employer goes beyond that and implicitly bans any workplace romance, regardless of supervisor/subordinate relationships. We're a small/midsize private company with about 400 employees and it's made 100% clear when you start that there's no dating going to happen with your coworkers unless you want to get canned. We've inevitably had people get attracted to others and complain, and in a couple cases (that I know of) threaten to sue. Most either try to sneak it, then get outed and fired, or one party quits.
I've talked to our HR manager informally about it and he says the company's position is that they'd rather get sued for the rule than get sued for allowing sexual harassment. Myself I don't really care much because I tend to avoid hanging out with co-workers in general.
EstronHawkKing
Well-Known Member
Meyer has a reputation within the UofI and the local media as being an extremely difficult person to deal with. She is not settling out of court because this is a revenge situation for her. She wants to smear the Iowa athletic dept. I bet she wants nothing but negative state wide coverage and would love negative national coverage, especially from a slug like Colin Cowturd. A local media/radio host today said on air live that most local sports folks including himself that he did not care for Meyer personally. Also (not sure if this is true) but had heard that Meyer applied for a AD job for a school on the east coast. During the interview she was asked for references from within the UofI sports dept. Word is that she couldn't get anyone because she was so disliked by the staff.
