I’ve always thought that the best approach for local public policy is to reach for competitive national standards (where one truly tries, rather than simply insisting that local work is nationally competitive). A focus on a national approach now matters for another reason: our current national environment is troubled, and by focusing on it reminds…
University
Education, University, UW System, Wisconsin
Whitewater, Rock, and the UW System
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
There’s a UW System plan to pair some two-year colleges with some four-year universities. Reporting on the plan first broke Tuesday night, and since that evening there’s been more information about the proposal (to be considered formally in November, and if adopted to be begun in July 2018). For the principal Wisconsin stories on the…
Alt-Right, America, Assault Awareness & Prevention, Babbittry, Bigotry, Conflicts of Interest, Local Government, School District, University
Priorities: Fighting Bigotry Over Babbittry
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Common men and women can learn from the examples of great men and women. In this way, one can learn how to prioritize between concurrent challenges, applying lessons from a prior and intense conflict even to present but lesser conflicts. Some threats are worse than others, and so our it’s reasonable that one places more…
City, Culture, Local Government, School District, University
Mentoring
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I’ve long held that Whitewater’s Major Public Institutions Produce a Net Loss (And Why It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way). This contention is true for several reasons, all leading to this result: “Whitewater’s major public institutions – her city government, school district, and local university – produce this unexpected result: although members of the government are…
City, Economy, Local Government, University
How a Campus Masks Local Mistakes
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Many small towns, looking for something to attract visitors and newcomers, probably dream about the possibility of a college campus. Whitewater has a public university campus, and the majority of the city’s residents are students at that school. Thousands of students in the city assure a steady stream of retail traffic we would not otherwise…
City, Culture, Economy, University
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 9: Small-Town Harvards)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
This is the ninth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Alana Semuels asks Could Small-Town Harvards Revive Rural Economies? Her contention, as she succinctly describes it: College campuses and educational institutions can bolster the economies of small towns that otherwise would be struggling like many…
City, Culture, University
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 7: How It Was Supposed to Be)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
This is the seventh post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Consider the contemporary town-gown conditions in Whitewater. Here I am referring to present-day conditions, over the last ten or fifteen years. Part of the solution to this, surely, was meant to come from university-connected residents serving…
City, Culture, Local Government, School District, University
On Lake, McHenry, and Walworth Counties
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In August, I wrote that dorm-construction wasn’t the big story at UW-Whitewater, but rather it was the federal lawsuit against former Chancellor Telfer and [then-current] Athletic Director Amy Edmonds. Even in her mundane story of residence-construction, the Journal Sentinel‘s Karen Herzog got it wrong: the bigger story was an increasing number of out-of-state students (now about…
City, Culture, Economics, Politics, School District, University
Plain-Spoken in a Small Town? Not Most Leaders
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a quaint – but false – notion that people in small towns are uncommonly plain-spoken, even blunt. One sometimes sees examples of this in films or books, where residents are depicted as folksy straight-talkers (“shucks, I don’t cotton to no one abusing nobody,” etc.). I’ve never heard anyone in Whitewater speak so colorfully, and I’ve…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Law, University
Answer of Telfer and Edmonds to Former Coach Fader’s Federal Lawsuit
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In August, Timothy Fader, the former wrestling coach at UW-Whitewater, filed a federal lawsuit against former chancellor Richard Telfer and then-Athletic Director Amy Edmonds (she has since been demoted), alleging defamation & constructive termination stemming from a dismissal because Fader reported an alleged sexual assault committed by a recruit directly to Whitewater police rather than a…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, University
Marnocha’s Return
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
I posted last week that Randy Marnocha, formerly a UW-Whitewater administrator, is back as interim athletic director following the demotion of Amy Edmonds. See, from this website on 10.14.16, UW-Whitewater’s Interim Athletic Director. The issue on campus is not simply whether this or that person will hold office, but whether the school will produce an administration…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, University
UW-Whitewater’s Interim Athletic Director
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
UW-Whitewater has hired an interim athletic director to replace Amy Edmonds, who was recently demoted: Effective Oct. 17, Randy Marnocha will begin serving as Interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Chancellor Beverly Kopper announced today. Amy Edmonds will return to her previous position as associate athletic director, and will assist with the transition. “Randy Marnocha is a…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Law, University
UW-Whitewater’s Amy Edmonds Out as Athletic Director
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
UW-Whitewater’s current Athletic Director, Amy Edmonds, is reportedly out as head of UW-Whitewater’s athletic programs. The report notes that she’s being demoted to associate athletic director (at a significant cut in salary). There’s no certainty that she would, in fact, remain in a subordinate role following the apppointment of an interim director, let alone a…
City, University
Preliminaries on Private Parties in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Last night Common Council discussed, but took no formal legal action on, a possible ordinance to regulate large private parties in Whitewater. I wrote a bit about this yesterday (see, Paradise is just one regulation away…). City employees, along with others, will consider options, but took no other, formal action last night. Some observations: Few Big Events. There…