Safety measures must improve before Iowa plays another Cy-Hawk game, UI president says

According to an article by Marissa Payne, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Iowan, University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld questioned whether the UI should play the rivalry-series game in the future pending improvements to safety.

After Hawkeye Marching Band members went public with allegations of physical harassment faced at the Sept. 14 Cy-Hawk football game in Ames, University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld told The Daily Iowan on Monday that he wants to use this game as an opportunity to improve safety measures, questioning whether the UI should play the rivalry-series game in the future.

“I’m not convinced at all that we should play this game again — here or there or anywhere — unless we can protect our fans, our band, and of course our athletes,” Harreld said.

Band members last week alleged suffering from broken ribs and being bruised by a beer can at the Cy-Hawk game at Jack Trice Stadium.

Since the alleged incidents, Harreld said he reached out to Iowa State University President Wintersteen as well as University of Northern Iowa President Mark Nook about having conversations with athletic directors, with band directors, and campus security and safety officials to prevent such alleged harassment from happening again.

“And I think we need to put it on paper — how large should our security forces be, where should the band bus park, what tunnel should we have a secure group of people make officers and security people protecting them…” he said.

Read it all here