The University of Iowa president fired two high-ranking officials yesterday over the handling of an alleged rape from last October involving two football players, the Daily Iowan reports. Phillip Jones, vice president for student services, and Marcus Mills, vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, were asked to resign and, when they declined, were fired.
The firings come a week after a report commissioned by the Iowa regents condemned the university's follow-up to allegations by a student athlete that she had been raped by two football players in an empty dorm room. The report concluded the response "simply was not adequate" but did not add up to a coverup, which had been alleged by the victim's mother.
The report cited Mills's conflict of interest as both UI general counsel and overseer of the investigation and also said Jones and other officials were "ineffectual" when shielding the alleged victim from those she accused, as well as fellow student athletes, who she says harassed her after she came forward.
The two accused players have both pleaded not guilty to the charges; their trial is set to begin November 3.
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of 8:47PM September 24, 2008