U of I athletic director fired
The Idaho State Board of Education voted Thursday to fire the University of Idaho athletic director Rob Spear.
The board claims this is in response to sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced from 2012 to 2013.
An independent report commissioned by the university also identified a number of ways the university failed to address those allegations.
They did not release any more details about those allegations but noted their investigation into these claims found several departments never properly reported it to the university.
The board explained, “We’re involved in consideration of Dr. (Rob) Spear’s employment status as a result of President (Chuck) Staben’s disclosure of a conflict of interest and at President Staben’s request to recuse himself. As a result of the President’s recusal, the Board is not considering or giving any weight to information or opinions he may have provided. The independent report commissioned by the University to review the University’s response to 2012 and 2013 allegations of sexual misconduct identified in a number of ways the University failed to respond appropriately to allegations of sexual misconduct. The investigators concluded that the University failed to provide proper notice and education to the University community of significant changes to its policies regarding sexual misconduct. The report said “[t]he result of the failures to provide proper notice of policy changes and education regarding Title IX resulted in those in the Athletics Department (as well as in other departments), lacking an understanding of the appropriate processes to address allegations of misconduct.” We’ve considered the report, comments received from the public and the university community, information received from the University’s counsel, and information received from Dr. Spear and his legal counsel. After considering this information and what’s in the University’s and the students’ best interest, I move to terminate for convenience pursuant to Dr. Spear’s employment agreement with the University.”
Spear will receive compensation for the remainder of the term of his employment agreement which terminates on February 17, 2020.
