IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A University of Iowa official says the former athletics department counselor at the center of a sexual harassment scandal was rehired in 2002 after a national search where he beat out other candidates.
William Hines chairs the Presidential Committee on Athletics, which provides oversight of the athletics department. In an interview Tuesday, he defended the decision to hire Peter Gray to oversee its advising and counseling program in 2002 after he’d left the university in 1995.
Hines said that he doesn’t believe Gray left “under a cloud” but rather for a promotion elsewhere. He says Gray was rehired in 2002 because he was considered an “outstanding candidate” and a star in his field.
Critics have questioned Gray’s rehiring after an investigation found his inappropriate behavior dated back to the 1990s.
