The Walworth County District Attorney, Dan Necci, has sent former UW-Whitewater wrestling coach Tim Fader a letter completely clearing Fader of criminal wrongdoing of any kind, in his wrestling program or any other matter. See, Former UW-Whitewater wrestling coach cleared of wrongdoing by DA @ Channel 3000 WISC-TV. Here’s the text of that letter: November…
University
University
UW-Whitewater Chancellor Richard Telfer Announces Retirement, Effective June 30th, 2015
by JOHN ADAMS •
Crime, Open Government, University
Support the Campus Accountability and Safety Act
by JOHN ADAMS •
Discussion is better than silence; knowledge trumps ignorance. Thousands of universities receive federal funds, including our own campus. Under the law, those universities are required, since the Clery Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), 34 C.F.R. 668.46 to record and report instances of crime on and near their campuses. (UW-System schools publish that information in compliance…
University
Scalding’s Not the Remedy to Freezing
by JOHN ADAMS •
University
‘No One Left to Lie To’
by JOHN ADAMS •
That’s the title of a book by the late Christopher Hitchens. Although I share neither his atheism nor his support for the Iraq War, I’d suggest that for his book title alone Hitchens deserves to be remembered well. It’s just perfect. There’s a point at which, after years of dissembling, distracting, and excuse-making, shifty leaders…
City, University
The Campus-City Gap
by JOHN ADAMS •
All these years, so much talk about closer ties, and there’s still a chasm between city and university. So much so, that for many residents in the city to learn about university-related crime, they’d have to look for an out-of-city station or publication. See, from Saturday @ 2:58 PM, Student reportedly called name, kicked, punched:…
Crime, Law, University
The Dean’s Drug-War Equality Argument
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m sorry I didn’t get to this sooner, but one of UW-Whitewater Dean of Students Mary Beth Mackin’s remarks about drug busts on campus deserves a reply. She’s offered an argument for equality of treatment on and off campus. Her argument implies that she either misunderstands the underlying justification for equality arguments, or that she…
University
Coach Fader’s Interview with WISC-TV (Channel 3000)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update: Video interview embedded immediately below. On Monday night, WISC-TV Madison broadcast an interview with UW-Whitewater’s former wresting coach, Tim Fader. Coach Fader was dismissed from his position in June 2014, two months after he reported an alleged sexual assault to the Whitewater Police Department. A story based on the broadcast interview is now online.…
University
Questions on Assault Reporting, Formality, and Former UW-Whitewater Wrestling Coach Fader
by JOHN ADAMS •
Minor athletic-rules violations, no matter how widely reported, are trivial compared with assuring an open climate to report and address sexual assault and harassment (no matter how some try to change the subject). A focus on a university’s small athletic discrepancies inadvertently (or intentionally) distracts from a more important focus on that university’s commitment addressing…
University
Assault Reporting, Formality, and Former UW-Whitewater Wrestling Coach Fader
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the spring, UW-Whitewater suspended, and later fired, wrestling coach Tim Fader. See, Wrestling coach seeks answers to dismissal and Update on dismissal of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling coach Tim Fader. Around the same time that the Fader matter hit the news, UW-Whitewater was – and still is – separately under federal investigation for its handling of…
Police, Politics, Press, University
The Politics of Informants at UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
In a well-ordered community, there should be an accord between good policy and good politics. That’s not yet Whitewater, and this post will address the political implications of using confidential informants. (For a review of policy, please see yesterday’s How Rural Wisconsin Campuses Coerce Students into Becoming Drug Informants.) 1. Police Leadership. There’s almost no…
Police, University
How Rural Wisconsin Campuses Coerce Students into Becoming Drug Informants
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, University
Local Crony Capitalism via the WEDC (and similar schemes)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s had a decades-long problem of a few town insiders manipulating government and public resources for their own private ends. That time is drawing to a close, but there are yet some years ahead in which aging, mediocre town figures will push their self-promoting lies. As their chief motivation is personal vanity and pride, they’ll…
City, University
The Town-Gown Divide, Simply Illustrated (in Forty-Four Seconds)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater is a small town, of about fifteen thousand people. From east to west, the main road in town is about three miles long. Our town is lovely, but not a big place. For years, this small town has struggled with town-university conflicts, despite myriad committees, projects, task forces, and commissions. There’s no quicker illustration…