Horizon League Statement on Board of Directors Decision to Restore Eligibility of UIC Student-Athletes for League Championships
The Horizon League’s Board of Directors voted today to restore eligibility of UIC student-athletes for all League Championships.
“I credit our League’s Board of Directors for prioritizing UIC’s student-athletes despite UIC leaders’ continued actions regarding their move to another conference,” said Commissioner Julie Roe Lach. “The response from UIC leaders has been disappointing, disingenuous, and inconsistent with our League values. At the end of the day, our League’s Board of Directors realized that UIC leaders were not going to take any action to restore eligibility for their student-athletes – including by making a simple request to the Missouri Valley Conference to enter in 2023. So our Board chose to exercise their authority to grant the student-athletes an exception to the agreed-upon bylaw.”
UIC’s decision on January 25 rendered their student-athletes ineligible for League championships as the result of a specific Bylaw that UIC itself sponsored and then voted to approve in 2013. UIC had known for months that failing to provide a one-year notice would render its student-athletes ineligible.
On February 8, after consulting with its Athletics Directors, Senior Women Administrators and Faculty Athletics Representatives, the League’s Board of Directors denied UIC’s request for relief noting that when UIC made the decision to violate League bylaws, UIC leaders knew that they were compromising the postseason eligibility for their student-athletes. The Board of Directors noted that UIC provided no compelling or extraordinary circumstance for relief.
Following the initial decision, the Horizon League proposed multiple alternatives to UIC leaders. At the time, UIC leaders engaged in an inflammatory and misleading media campaign that attacked the League, including posting contact information of the League’s university presidents and chancellors on official UIC websites. UIC rejected any alternative and did nothing to help the student-athletes they claimed to care about.
In these circumstances, the Board of Directors met again to consider UIC’s request for a special exemption. Recognizing UIC leaders were not going to engage in a constructive pathway to remedy the situation, the Board decided to provide relief. “This decision by our Board of Directors is the culmination of a three-week effort to find a pathway for all student-athletes to participate in upcoming League championships,” noted Board Chair Ashish Vaidya, President of Northern Kentucky University. “I appreciate the willingness of our Board members to work through this difficult situation on behalf of UIC student-athletes.”