A UI donor has recently resigned as finance chairman of the RNC because of sexual assault and harassment allegations.

University of Iowa donor and businessman Stephen Wynn has recently been accused of decades of sexual harassment and assault.

In response, he resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee on Jan. 27.

Wynn, the chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, is a major donor to the UI. In 2013, he committed to donating $25 million in order to help eradicate heritable blinding eye diseases, one of which he suffers. On Oct. 18, 2013, the Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research was renamed in his honor.

“The groundbreaking work of the institute is critical to so many families suffering from inherited eye diseases and must continue,” Assistant Vice President for External Relations Jeneane Beck said in an email to The Daily Iowan.

The allegations against Wynn appeared in a Wall Street Journal report on Jan. 26, in which dozens of women employed by Wynn accused him of sexual misconduct. The detailed report alleges decades of sexual harassment and abuse.

“The university takes these reports very seriously, and campus leaders are working to learn more,” Beck said. “We do not condone sexual misconduct of any kind.”

Wynn initially denied any claim as “preposterous.”

In a university press release in 2013, he said, “I am thrilled by the pace of the scientific progress that has occurred in the past few years, and I feel that the prospect of finding a cure is possible and probable in the short term and certain in the long term.”

Wynn was appointed RNC finance chairman by President Donald Trump. He served from January 2017 to January 2018. After mounting pressure, he announced his resignation on the evening of Jan. 27.

“UI leadership is engaged in conversations with the community to determine next steps,” Beck said.

— Julia DiGiacomo