University of Iowa president, former KU College dean, under pressure

Posted by Matt Erickson December 17, 2012 at 9:51 a.m.

University of Iowa president, former KU College dean, under pressure

A former KU administrator now leading the University of Iowa has become embroiled in controversy there, as reported by the Des Moines Register this past weekend.

The Register produced a multi-story special report on the conflicts involving Iowa President Sally Mason, who ascended to the ranks of upper-tier university administrators during her 20 years at KU. She joined the KU faculty in 1981 and eventually became dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences before leaving in 2001 to become provost of Purdue University. She took over at Iowa in 2007.

After Iowa's governor and the president of the state's Board of Regents both criticized the university in recent weeks, Mason held a news conference this past week where she discussed her accomplishments and plans for the coming years.

The controversy seems to spring from a number of different issues, the chief of which at the moment involves an academic adviser in the athletics department found to have violated the university's sexual harassment policy and then allowed to resign.

If you visit that first link, you can then find links to about 10 other components of the report. They look at Mason's relationships with legislators, the governor and regents, the news media, students and faculty and others — all of which goes to show that the leader of a high-profile state university works at the intersection of a whole bunch of different constituent groups.

We (hopefully) draw attention from a lot of different constituent groups here at Heard on the Hill as well. Please confirm that hope by sending along your KU news tips, be you student, faculty, alumna/alumnus, staff or whoever, to merickson@ljworld.com.