Judge dismisses case in UI President Harreld’s hire, siding with regents

‘Based on current Iowa Law…all of these arguments legally fail’

Coming a week before the case was to go to trial, the Polk County District Court Judge William Kelly sided with the Iowa Board of Regents, saying that they did not violate the open meeting laws when they recruited Bruce Harreld to become the University of Iowa President.

This case was challenged by former UI employee Gerhild Krapf. And according to her attorney, Gary Dickey, the challenge is not over, even though it may seem like it. She has filed a notice of appeal with confidence that the District Court will reverse the ruling.

In September of 2015, regents had unanimously voted to reject three candidates and hired Harreld to replace UI President Sally Mason, who had prevpiously retired.

Krapf had accused five of the nine regents on the board of violating the law back in July of 2015.

The five members she had accused are former Regent Mary Andringa, former President Pro Tem Katie Mulholland and current members Milt Dakovich and Larry McKibben.

The suit claimed the five meeting multiple times that constituted a quorum; however, Defense Attorney Richard Sapp stated the quorum threshold was never met by the regents and he claimed these accusations as "legal fantasy."

Kelly addressed different theories but came to the conclusion that "based on current Iowa Law, as it is written, all of these arguments legally fail," the Gazette reports.

There is a second lawsuit on the hiring of Harreld continuing the accusation of the committee meeting with semi finalists away from the public and outside the state of Iowa.

This trial is set for November of 2018.

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