The Horizon League restored the eligibility of UIC student-athletes for all winter and spring league championships on Tuesday, walking back a previous decision to ban the school‘s athletic programs from postseason play in response to the school‘s move to join the Missouri Valley Conference.
After less than a week of outrage from the UIC side, the league‘s Board of Directors opted to grant Flames‘ athletes a special exemption to compete fully for the rest of the year.
“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,” Horizon commissioner Julie Roe Lach said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”
The Horizon League maintained its position of a championship ban for UIC winter and spring athletes as recently as last Wednesday, denying the school‘s request for a special waiver. UIC leadership released a statement shortly after, claiming that its sole request to the Horizon League was to not punish its athletes for the school‘s decision to leave the conference.
“This decision is shocking and entirely inconsistent with the values of the Horizon League, which UIC helped establish and support for nearly three decades,” director of athletics Michael Lipitz said in the release on Feb. 9. ”The League has chosen to punish our student-athletes as retribution for our decision to change conferences next academic year. The League is hiding behind its bylaws rather than prioritizing the welfare of students."
UIC announced its decision to join the Missouri Valley Conference on Jan. 26, beginning with the 2022–23 school year. Belmont and Murray State will also make the leap to the MVC from the Ohio Valley Conference.
