SW Iowa Times

Iowa State University officials ruled the rowing club can’t hit the water until the 2022-2023 school year at the earliest, after investigations into two students who drowned March 28.

University officials said in a Sept. 13 release that they commissioned two investigations after the students, sophomore Yaakov Ben-David, 20, and Derek Nanni, a 19-year-old freshman, died on Little Wall Lake.

“Both reviews concluded that the university failed to clearly define roles and responsibilities for effective oversight of sport clubs, especially for higher risk activities such as the Crew Club,” Iowa State University said.

Iowa State University said the investigation was conducted by the U.S. Council for Athletes Health. 

An internal review led by university personnel also determined crew club leadership failed to follow several procedures.

Club leadership, including students, should have recognized that wind speeds were beyond acceptable limits on March 28, university officials said. They also failed to respond to adverse weather conditions, didn’t use a safety launch boat, should have had a team member onshore to relay conditions and two team members didn’t have sufficient on-water experience.

The university plans to develop guidelines for each sports club, designating them as ”low,” “moderate,” or “high” risk, as well as implement new safety policies and training.

The investigations are preliminary, and the university expects to have a full report of the incident by Jan. 31, 2022.

In February 2020, the crew club sent an email to the university’s recreation services listing multiple safety concerns within the club, KCCI reported.