One reads this morning, as might have been expected, that the UW System regents have named Dr. Dwight C. Watson to be the new chancellor of UW-Whitewater. These recent years have seen two failed chancellors at UW-Whitewater. One hopes, genuinely and truly, that Dr. Watson, now Provost and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs…
University
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Negligence, Public Relations, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
Beyond the Third Investigation
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some weeks ago, I promised readers a copy of the third investigation report into sexual harassment on the UW-Whitewater campus. That report is linked at the bottom of this post. Read merely alone, the report describes gross intentional misconduct, gross negligence and moral indifference about harassment and assault, as well as separate matters of managerial…
Babbittry, City, Culture, Seven Deadly, University
Coming & Going Depend on Doing
by JOHN ADAMS •
Originally posted 5.3.19, updated 5.17.19. Although another candidate has withdrawn from the final pool of applicants for a new UW-Whitewater chancellor, conditions that led to the present (stretching over the last two chancellors’ tenure) matter more than the immediate and futile hope that a single appointment will overcome years of the wrong direction. Genuine change…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Nepotism, Public Relations, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
Third Investigation: ‘Up to 10 students, faculty report being harassed by former UW-Whitewater chancellor’s husband’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Originally posted 4.19.19. One reads today, in a Good Friday records release from the UW System, that Up to 10 students, faculty report being harassed by former UW-Whitewater chancellor’s husband: An investigation into the husband of former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper found that at least seven and up to 10 students or staff…
City, Enforcement, Government Spending, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, University
Scrounging Through the Junk Drawer
by JOHN ADAMS •
When UW-Whitewater’s enrollment was expanding, and so student housing was in demand, some residents opposed to more rental properties rushed to local government in a futile effort to hold back the student tide, through zoning or code enforcement. Now that there’s a worry that student enrollment is declining, and rental properties are less in demand,…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Equality, Harassment, Misconduct, University, UW System
Negative Equality is No Virtue
by JOHN ADAMS •
After UW-Whitewater’s chancellor, Beverly Kopper, resigned in December, faculty member JoEllen Burkholder objected that Kopper’s resignation would amount to a double standard: Some faculty members, such as women’s and gender studies professor JoEllen Burkholder, questioned the timing of Kopper’s resignation coming before the report’s release. Burkholder said she sees Kopper’s one-sentence resignation letter submitted to…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Harassment, University
A Community Listening Session for a New Chancellor
by JOHN ADAMS •
UW-Whitewater, a public university in Whitewater, Wisconsin, now seeks a new chancellor, and the selection committee recently held a community listening session to request suggestions about a new campus administrator. (However useful an invitation to a community listening session might be, it’s worth noting that observation, reflection, and commentary answer to a different – and…
Hunger, Marketing, Uncategorized, University
On a Campus with Genuine Hunger, ‘Hungry’ Shouldn’t be a Marketing Tool
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads in an announcement from Assistant Vice Chancellor Sara Kuhl (that’s her title, truly) that a marketing firm is looking for students’ opinions, and will provide a free lunch or dinner. They’ve got quite the hook: Wanted: Opinionated and hungry students In a place of genuine hunger, with students using an on-campus food pantry,…
Charity and Mercy, City, Culture, Local Government, Poverty, School District, University
The Recent Cold
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s been unseasonably cold in southeastern Wisconsin this week, and in Whitewater that presents a challenge for the disproportionately large number of impoverished residents (some of whom occasionally lack utilities, even at the most unfavorable times). The three large public institutions in the city – municipal government, school district, and public university – have collectively dozens…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Democrats, Harassment, Law, Misconduct, Republicans, Trump, University, UW System
Immoral (and Unnecessary) Compromises
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a certain kind of Republican who rationalizes Trump’s many vices because, well, Trump has nominated some conservative judges. (Hugh Hewitt, who’ll rationalize anything to keep a job on the Salem talk radio network comes to mind. See It’s the Supreme Court, stupid.) If there’s an equivalent of this, it’s a certain kind of Democrat…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, CDA, Charity and Mercy, City, Crony Capitalism, Culture, Dogs, Economy, Education, Federal Government, Foxconn, Free Market, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Police, Politics, School District, State Capitalism, State Government, University, UW System, WEDC, Wisconsin
The Broad Outlines of 2019
by JOHN ADAMS •
For many years, I would begin the year with predictions for the twelve months ahead. Events since 2016 have made predictions harder, but one can still discern some short-term developments for the city. These prospects, of course, form an online of topics to ponder, and about which to write (often requiring that one return to the…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Culture, University
Elizabeth Bruenig Writes of Amber Wyatt
by JOHN ADAMS •
In September, Elizabeth Bruenig wrote about Amber Wyatt, a classmate she barely knew in 2006 when both attended a high school in Arlington, Texas. Wyatt was raped that year, and when she reported the crime, she found, in Bruenig’s words, that ‘few believed her. Her hometown turned against her. The authorities failed her.’ I first…
University, UW System
Cheryl Green named interim chancellor at UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
The UW System, in a press release, announced today that Cheryl Green of UW-Oshkosh has been named interim chancellor at UW-Whitewater: MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross announced today that Cheryl Green has agreed to serve as UW-Whitewater’s interim Chancellor. Green, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at UW-Oshkosh, will step into…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Harassment, Misconduct, Nepotism, Sexual Harassment, University, UW System
Updated Post: Questions Concerning a Ban on the UW-Whitewater Chancellor’s Husband After a Sexual Harassment Investigation
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve added a few additional questions to a post, Questions Concerning a Ban on the UW-Whitewater Chancellor’s Husband After a Sexual Harassment Investigation, first published here on 9.17.18. These questions are surely not comprehensive, and they are process & policy-oriented, so they implicate mainly the institutional response to individual injuries. As policy, however, the university or…