UIC won’t be allowed to participate in Horizon League championship events

The Horizon League denied UIC’s request to allow its athletes to participate in the league’s winter and spring sports championships.

“This decision is shocking and entirely inconsistent with the values of the Horizon League, which UIC helped establish and support for nearly three decades,” said Flames athletic director Michael Lipitz said in a statement. “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 last month that it will leave the Horizon League and join the Missouri Valley Conference beginning with the 2022-23 academic year.

A letter from the Horizon League, provided by UIC, said the school did not provide the one-year minimum notice required by the league’s bylaws. Because of that, UIC won’t be allowed to participate in winter and spring championship events.

“The (Horizon League board of directors) was sympathetic to the effects of a league transition on student-athletes but recognized that ensuring UIC’s student-athlete eligibility for Horizon League championships was within UIC’s discretion and control, and could have been ensured through a timely notice,” the league wrote in its letter to UIC.