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…
University
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Harassment, University
A Community Listening Session for a New Chancellor
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
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 • • 1 Comment
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, City, Culture, Local Government, Poverty, School District, University
The Recent Cold
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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 • • Comments
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, City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Dogs, Economy, Education, Federal Government, Foxconn, Free Markets, 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 • • Comments
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 • • 2 Comments
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 • • Comments
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 • • 3 Comments
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…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Litigation, Nepotism, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
The Limits of an Institutional Deal
by JOHN ADAMS • • 7 Comments
Yesterday, UW-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper announced that she was resigning her position as of 12.31.18. Later in the day, the UW System publicly announced that Kopper would be on leave at her former salary for eight months, and then in the fall have the option of returning to UW-Whitewater’s Psychology Department as a professor. See…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Misconduct, Nepotism, Public Relations, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
Kopper Resigns, Whitewater Remains
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
One reads that Beverly Kopper, UW-Whitewater chancellor, has resigned her position effective 12.31.18. Her resignation was generally expected for at least the last few weeks, and was, more importantly, necessary. This was a public matter involving a spouse appointed to a public position accused of sexual harassment by at least five women while the appointing chancellor kept…
Babbittry, City, Culture, Local Government, Politics, School District, University
The Beauty & Opportunity of Ordinary Time
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the calendar of the Church, Ordinary Time is that part of the year between the seasons of Advent, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Perhaps it seems less momentous to some, but Ordinary Time is no less important, offering as it does “time for growth and maturation.” Far from being a lesser time, I find it beautiful…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Misconduct, Nepotism, Public Relations, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
0, 448, 476, 84
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
0 Number of published words from Chancellor Beverly Kopper in support of five complainants alleging sexual assault or harassment from her publicly appointed assistant-to-the-chancellor spouse. 448 Number of published words from Chancellor Beverly Kopper in reply to one remark from a single sportscaster during a single Packers preseason game. (It’s not that one shouldn’t reply…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Misconduct, Nepotism, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
A Defense That’s Worse Than Nothing
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Retired UW-Whitewater professor Brian Kevin Beck contends that Kopper shouldn’t leave [the] Chancellor post. (Candidly, there’s a chance that his defense is so bad that it’s an intentional parody of a defense. It’s hard to believe anyone who served on a worthy faculty could reason so poorly.) Beck argues that (1) misconduct involving Kopper’s public…