Report: University of Iowa Athletics Official Accused of Trading Tickets for Sex, History of Complaints, Resigns

A University of Iowa athletics department official who worked with student-athletes and has a lengthy list of complaints, many sexual in nature, has resigned, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reports in a copyrighted story.

Peter Gray, who was the associate director of athletic student services and director of academic advising and counseling, violated the school's policy on sexual harassment following an internal investigation, the newspaper reported citing documents from a school investigation.

Gray created a hostile work environment and acted inappropriately with students and student-athletes, the investigation summary stated. Among other things, he was accused of trading money and football tickets for sexual favors, inappropriately touching students, offering a student oral sex and having inappropriate photos on his work computer.

Gray had worked for the department in the 1990s and again from 2002 until earlier this week, the newspaper reports. Incidents occurred through his tenure, the Press-Citizen reported.

"It remains unclear how long Gray’s superiors were aware of his misconduct, which appears to have been an issue (in) the office for years, and why only this fall it became the subject of a UI inquiry. Also unclear is if Gray was suspended during or after the investigation, and why he was allowed to resign and was not terminated after investigators reached their conclusion that he had violated UI’s Policy on Sexual Harassment," the Press-Citizen reports.

Local media have been reporting about Gray's resignation on Monday throughout the week, but this is the first report that offers a glimpse of why.

Gray does not have a listed number.

The paper obtained the documents, which had several redactions.

School officials have confirmed Gray's resignation but have declined comment, calling it a personnel matter.

A school spokesman had this to say:

"The Press-Citizen has not revealed how it obtained the documents. We would not release that document because it’s a confidential internal report," UI spokesman Tom Moore told KCRG.

Situations identified in the documents include:

• Having a picture of male swim team members in their swimsuits as his screen saver on a work computer.
• Providing football tickets and money for sex. Gray denied he received sex.
• Touching the genital area of a student on one occasion and offering to perform oral sex.
• Observations by staff of inappropriate touching of students in a way that was "not casual or professional, and was unsolicited."
• Photographs of individuals engaged in sex acts with toys or stuffed animals, among others, stored on his work computer.