The University of Wisconsin System will pay $135,000 and remove a critical letter to settle a bitter dispute with Paul Barrows, a former vice-chancellor at the Madison campus who was accused of sexual harassment (and later cleared of the charges), an article in The Chronicle reports. (Also see an article in the Wisconsin State Journal.)
In return, Barrows, who is black, has agreed to drop his pending employment and racial-discrimination complaints against the university.
Chronicle reporter Paula Wasley, retraces the events, which made national headlines a few years ago:
John D. Wiley, chancellor of the Madison campus, asked Mr. Barrows to resign in November 2004, after Mr. Wiley learned about a consensual relationship between Mr. Barrows and a female graduate student. But Chancellor Wiley allowed Mr. Barrows to take sick leave and collect his $191,000-a-year salary for eight months while he looked for another job.
Mr. Barrows was later demoted to a campus position that paid $72,000 after allegations surfaced that he had sexually harassed two female employees.
In April 2006, a university panel reviewed the case and found that the university had not shown just cause in disciplining Mr. Barrows. Nonetheless, the university’s provost placed a “letter of counsel” in Mr. Barrows’s file saying that his behavior toward women was “unacceptable and can’t be tolerated.”
According to the settlement, which was made public last Friday, that letter will be removed from his personnel file and the university will pay Barrows $124,000 plus $11,000 in back pay. Both sides say they’re glad to finally have the matter resolved.
See related articles:
Harassment Case Reviewed at Wisconsin
Wis. Administrator Prevails in Appeal
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5 Responses to UW Reaches Settlement With Former Administrator
jffoster - June 5, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Semper Paratus mate. And thank you for your service.
johnbee - June 6, 2011 at 7:30 am
I wonder if vets might bring back badly needed gravitas to US campuses which are deficient in so much except perhaps a widespread, destructive student frivolity and too much faculty selfserving.
[I don't wish to imply the frivolity and self-serving are predominant - it wouldn't be fair to the serious majority - but they constitute a swelling, vulnerable underbelly insidious in its possible implications.] I’m heartened by vets on campus. They know life; its selfless side. The sense of purpose they bring with them should make a nice balance between Hoot & Boot Camp-us.
chandrak - June 6, 2011 at 8:34 am
It is remarkable that Veterans helping each other. I have seen Veterans not getting needed assistance at universities and colleges. They need assistance and we owe it to them.
citizenship - June 6, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Unfortunately it is not remarkable that veterans end having to help each other when the get on campus. So very few others in the administration, faculty, staff and student population have the slightest concept of what veterans experience before enrolling in school or what the veterans experience (and need) once on campus.
Even more unfortuante is the prejudice both blatant and subtle aimed at veterans form the same people mentioned above.
A veteran I know went back to school after five years in the service and remarked how driving to the campus with the “civilian” students was like riding on a school bus to grade/high school. Most conversations were about latest crush/romance, video game or TV show. Very little on class assignments, degree programs, career goals, local and world events, getting a job.
SophieMerry - June 8, 2011 at 3:44 am
The mistake of banning ROTC units from certain campuses in the ’60s and ’70s is an error whose implications are still being felt.