At the conclusion of his remarks, Wilmore observes that “Even if he doesn’t get convicted, this is still a good thing, because for too long, the women who have accused him of this crime were not being listened to, because they were being silenced by a powerful man and a complicit culture. And, now,…
Crime
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Official Misconduct, University
Chancellor Kopper’s Belated Statement on Another Federal Complaint
by JOHN ADAMS • • 9 Comments
Today, only after publication of an account of a second Title IX complaint against UW-Whitewater from a second sexual assault survivor, Chancellor Kopper finally chose to issue a statement in her own words (assuming that she wrote it). I have published that statement in full, at the bottom of this post. (For the story on…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Official Misconduct, University
A Second Sex-Assault Survivor Files Federal Complaint Against UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Raechel Liska, aged 22. Photo from Channel 3000. Link to Ms. Liska’s video interview, available online. Raechel Liska, aged 22, an honors student and Army ROTC candidate at UW-Whitewater, has filed a sexual discrimination action with the U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Division, against our local university. This is the second federal action that…
Crime
The BB Gun Shootings in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s an account from WISC of injuries an adult BB gun shooter inflicted on others in Whitewater on July 4th. I’ve embedded it below. It’s a thorough recounting, and the report offers some of those who suffered personal injury or property damage the opportunity to speak directly.
Personal injury, in particular, can be a hard thing, but there’s nothing hard about forming an opinion on a crime like this: there’s no justification worthy of the term for any part of the alleged accused’s conduct. It’s wholly wrong.
That residents and emergency workers responded quickly is all to the good, and deserves commendation.
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Misconduct, University
How UW-Whitewater Treated a Sexual Assault Victim
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
I’ve written before about the handling of sexual assault complaints nationwide and at UW-Whitewater. The more one reads on the matter, the more concerned one becomes, both generally and locally. There’s a new and troubling story about how UW-Whitewater handled an assault victim’s Title IX assault complaint at WISC-TV. In the report, entitled, Graduate speaks…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Law, Walworth County
What the Victim’s Mother Told Walworth County Judge Carlson
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s both a pity and a disgrace that a fourteen-year-old victim’s mother had to plead with the Hon. James Carlson to sentence to jail the men who assaulted her daughter: ELKHORN—The mother of a 14-year-old girl sexually assaulted by three men in an Elkhorn basement in 2013 pleaded with judges Tuesday to send two of…
Crime, Government Spending
Justin K. Laxton Stole Money from the Wrong People
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Still Time to Learn the Craft One reads that Justin K. Laxton, an employee of a public relations firm, has pled “guilty to theft in a business setting, forgery and fraudulent writings for thefts at Klaetsch Public Affairs Strategies, where he worked.” (The Dane County District Attorney’s Office is recommending probation with conditional jail time…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Federal Government, Government Spending, Libertarians, Official Misconduct, University
If Universities Want Federal Money…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
If universities want federal money (and they want as much as they can get), then it’s wrong for them to shirk federal legal standards for reporting assault and for proper treatment of those alleging assault. (Make no mistake: I’d contend that universities have a duty to manage campuses well and fairly even if there were…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Federal Government, Law, Official Misconduct, University
UW-Madison Now Joins UW-Whitewater Under Federal Title IX Investigation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the Wisconsin State Journal this morning, one reads that a second Wisconsin school is under investigation for its handling of sexual assault complaints. Dan Simmons writes that UW-Madison is now the second university in the state to be included in a growing probe of possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime
What a Headline Says
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
When someone alleges a sexual assault, or other violent crime, the immediate significance of that claim affects the alleging victim, and one or more alleged assailants. Fundamentally, violent acts are about actual people, not headlines, policies, politics, etc. Even if there were no criminal law, if there were no statutes criminalizing any kind of conduct,…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Law, Laws/Regulations
SUNY Stony Brook Failed Sarah Tubbs
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Video Link: Sarah Tubbs of Montrose talks about her ordeal after she says she was sexually assaulted at Stony Brook University, and then forced to prosecute her own attacker. Updated with video as link, 3.4.15. Sarah Tubbs attended (and was graduated from) SUNY Stony Brook, part of New York’s state university system. It’s part of…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Film, Official Misconduct, University
The Hunting Ground
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Academy-award nominated filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering have a new film now in limited-release, entitled, The Hunting Ground, about campus sexual assault. The film addresses violence, institutional cover-ups, and the damage done to victims & families from both assault and subsequent, institutional misconduct. The official trailer for the film is embedded above. (The same…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Law, Open Government, University
Former Coach Fader Vindicated Five Times Over
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
It’s been over nine months since Chancellor Richard Telfer suspended former UW-Whitewater wrestling coach Tim Fader, and later effectively fired him (Fader’s contract was not renewed). In April 2014, a woman alleged that a wrestling recruit assaulted her, and Fader has consistently said that he contacted the Whitewater Police Department about the incident, and that…
Crime, District Attorney, Law, Misconduct, Sheriff, Walworth County
Seventeen Questions: Injustice in Walworth County Wrongly Sends a Fourteen-Year-Old to Jail
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Yesterday, I posted about an appellate court decision that reversed a juvenile’s conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. See, Injustice in Walworth County Wrongly Sends a Fourteen-Year-Old to Jail. Today I’ll post several questions concerning the decision and two published accounts about of it. The appellate decision (“Appellate Decision”) is online at…