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Board of Education votes to fire University of Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear

The state board's decision to fire Spear stemmed from the University of Idaho's handling of sexual assault and harassment allegations leveled against a former Vandals football player by a swimmer.

MOSCOW, Idaho — The Idaho State Board of Education voted Thursday to fire University of Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear.

The decision stemmed from the university’s handling of sexual assault and harassment allegations leveled against a former Vandals football player by a swimmer.

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In April, University of Idaho officials said Spear was put on administrative leave for 60 days while investigators and university leadership worked to “better understand process failures in reporting sexual assault complaints in 2012 and 2013, what has been done since then, and what should be done in the future.”

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In early August, an investigation found that the university’s athletic department failed to support the victim in a number of ways. This included the school’s incorrect belief that the assault was a matter for police to address rather than the university because it happened off campus.

The report said Spear and others with the athletic department were unaware of national collegiate changes made in 2011 that mandated off-campus sexual misconduct is the responsibility of the school.

The report also said that Spear's comments to the victim and her family in the aftermath of the assault were defensive and lacked compassion.

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Spear will receive compensation for the remainder of the term of his employment agreement, according to Mike Keckler with the Idaho State Board of Education. His agreement ends February 17, 2020.

The university said Pete Isakson will be filling the role of acting athletic director.

University of Idaho officials released this statement Thursday:

The Idaho State Board of Education, sitting as the Board of Regents of the University of Idaho, made a difficult decision today about the university’s athletic director. University leadership respects this decision and will work closely with the board and, with the support of our university community, will continue to move our great institute forward in a positive and productive way. Pete Isakson has been serving the university well as acting athletic director during this difficult time. He will continue in this role for the foreseeable future.

Prior to Thursday's vote, board member Emma Atchley made the following statement and motion:

“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.”

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