Father: Kansas officials didn’t seek Title IX investigation

TOPEKA, KAN. >> University of Kansas officials did not seek a Title IX investigation after a women’s basketball player said Jayhawks star Josh Jackson vandalized her car and that she was treated unfairly when she reported it, the woman’s father told a Kansas Senate committee.

Tim Calvert, speaking by phone Tuesday to a Kansas Senate committee, said he asked for a Title IX investigation after his daughter, McKenzie Calvert, told police and the university that Jackson damaged her car after a confrontation at a Lawrence bar Dec. 9, The Kansas City Star reported.

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination in education including sexual harassment and sexual violence. University of Kansas policy requires coaches to report any possible Title IX incident they learn about or observe.

Calvert told the committee that the university’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, which handles Title IX cases, told him no one from the school sought an investigation into the matter.

McKenzie Calvert has said she told her coach, Brandon Schneider, about the vandalism shortly after it occurred. She said Jackson kicked her car after she had thrown a drink at Lagerald Vick, another Kansas player.

Jackson faces a misdemeanor charge of criminal damage to property. He issued a statement shortly after he was charged, apologizing and saying he had “offered to pay for any damage that I directly caused.” His arraignment is scheduled for April 12.

Coach Bill Self has said he disciplined Jackson “in house” for the incident but the type of discipline has not been made public.

University spokesman Joe Monaco declined Tuesday to speak about the investigation but he criticized Calvert for spreading “false information.”

“If Mr. Calvert insists on having public conversations about university investigations, then we invite him to have his daughter sign a waiver allowing us to publicly discuss her situation at KU. We’d be delighted to have that public conversation,” Monaco said.

The university’s athletic department did conduct a Title IX investigation in December 2015 of dating violence between McKenzie Calvert and Vick. Investigators determined Vick had more than likely punched and kicked Calvert in late 2015 and recommended he receive two years of school probation.