Whitewater has a same-ten-people problem, derived from a few people living behind (metaphorically) a narrow and high perimeter fence, with those few often producing mediocre work, while the city’s economy stagnates. And yet, and yet – one reads that even during the third investigation for sexual harassment & assault concerning the relative she appointed, supervised,…
University
Culture, Diversity, Law, Liberty, Politics, University
The Principle of Diversity Rests on Individual Rights
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Some of Whitewater’s residents may have heard – because it’s been falsely told to them – that diversity – the inclusion of people from different backgrounds and characteristics – is a group value resting on subcultures of varying size. Hearing this, they’ve heard something else, too: that to abandon a particular leader in Hyer Hall…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Bad Ideas, City, Culture, Ethics, Local Government, Mendacity, Official Misconduct, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, University
Act Utilitarianism Isn’t Merely a National Scourge
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Trump justifies his treatment of Christine Blasey Ford by the outcome of the Kavanaugh hearings: “It doesn’t matter. We won.”
One wouldn’t have to go to Washington, or wait for Trump to speak, to find this sort of act utilitarianism. Long before Trump’s 2016 campaign, officials and self-described community leaders in small towns across America shared a similar calculus. For the sake of some imagined overall gain, individual injuries and injustices have been swept aside.
And so, and so — officials justify financial and personal injuries to individuals on behalf of the supposed greater good of being ‘community-minded,’ of defending the ‘university family,’ or some such collective claim.
Trump’s act utilitarianism did not begin with Trump: it grew in cities and towns in which factions decided they’d take what they want, and conveniently sweep aside others by use of nebulous ‘community’ principles. (In the video above, Trump betrays his amorality early on, as he shrugs his shoulders when part of Christine Blasey Ford’s injury is recounted to him.)
In most of these cases of supposed collective gain, of course, it turns out to be a particular politician, particular businessman, or particular university official who reaps the most at the expense of ordinary individuals, but these community leaders would prefer one didn’t look too closely into that selfish benefit, thank you kindly.
Whether a highly-placed person’s selfish gain, or community’s supposed overall gain, the disregard for individual rights reveals a dark, calculating amorality.
City, Culture, Local Government, School District, University
No Principle But Principle
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Over these years that I have written, Whitewater has seen two city managers, three chancellors, four district administrators, and dozens upon dozens of other municipal, school district, and university officials. During this time, this ilk has relied on projects, press releases, committees, and conferences to advance itself at the expense of the community it professes…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Misconduct, Nepotism, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
An Example of Old Whitewater’s Deficient Reasoning
by JOHN ADAMS • • 7 Comments
Old Whitewater – a state of mind rather than a person or a person’s age – seldom speaks except to reveal its deficient reasoning (and to reveal, in fact, that it doesn’t even know what good reasoning might look like). Before going further, a reminder: FREE WHITEWATER is the work of one person, writing without…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Misconduct, Nepotism, Newspapers, Public Relations, University, UW System
No Ordinary, Unconnected Spouse: Public officials’ use of family appointees
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Imagine a world where public officials appointed spouses to high-visibility positions in the very same workplace, over which they had supervisory authority, but then disclaimed any responsibility over those appointees when they committed acts of assault and harassment (“that wasn’t me, that was my spouse, brother, sister, or cousin,” etc.). They’ll rely on their own…
City, Culture, Local Government, University
Self-Defined Notables (in a Small Town)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over these years of writing, I have sometimes referred to self-important political and community figures in Whitewater as notables, town squires, etc. It should be clear (at least one hopes!) that these descriptions rest not on the basis of others’ actual talent as elites but instead on their overweening (ludicrous, unjustified) sense of entitlement. (Most…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Misconduct, Public Relations, Sexual Harassment, University, UW System
The UW-Whitewater Chancellor’s Lack of Individual Regard
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
After – and only after – the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the story of repeated sexual harassment claims against Pete Hill – appointed to a public role as ‘associate of the chancellor’ (and chancellor Beverly Kopper’s husband) – did Kopper herself make a public statement of the matter. Kopper’s statement is notable for its utter lack…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Misconduct, University, UW System
A fifth woman publicly accuses UW-Whitewater chancellor’s husband of sexual harassment
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
In a story from the Chronicle for Higher Education, a fifth woman, Hailey Miller, reveals her own experience with harassment from Pete Hill, who held the position of associate to the chancellor (while also UW-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper’s husband). Miller’s account to the Chronicle, backed by contemporaneous notes she shared with that publication, is similar in…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Misconduct, University, UW System
Chancellor Kopper Should Resign
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
A few hours ago, the Janesville Gazette published portions of an open letter from Whitewater City Councilwoman Stephanie Vander Pas describing harassment that she experienced from Pete Hill, husband of UW-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper, while Kopper was nearby. See Whitewater council member: UW-Whitewater chancellor should resign after her husband’s sexual harassment. Reading her remarks, along…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Misconduct, University, UW System
Questions Concerning a Ban on the UW-Whitewater Chancellor’s Husband After a Sexual Harassment Investigation
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
On Friday, this site linked to a published article in the Journal Sentinel about a campus ban against UW-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper’s husband after a UW System investigation found that he had committed acts of sexual harassment against campus employees. See Journal Sentinel: UW-Whitewater chancellor’s husband banned from campus after sexual harassment investigation and the original story. …
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Harassment, Misconduct, University
Journal Sentinel: UW-Whitewater chancellor’s husband banned from campus after sexual harassment investigation
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Updated 9.14.18 @ 3:25 PM with public records now available as provided to the Journal Sentinel – see embedded documents below. Karen Herzog of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports UW-Whitewater chancellor’s husband banned from campus after sexual harassment investigation: The husband of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper has been banned from campus and stripped of…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, City, Development, Economy, Local Government, Public Relations, State Government, Taxes/Taxation, University
On New Market Tax Credits for a Fairfield Inn and ‘Community Engagement’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The use of government-issued New Market Tax Credits will bring Whitewater a Fairfield Inn and a building for the existing local campus to lease. Proponents of an ordinary hotel and a lease agreement for the university cannot offer any evidence that these projects will boost local individual or household incomes. What one can show –…
City, University, UW System
The UW System & Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s simply stating the obvious to report that Shrinking tuition revenue, growing expenses put UW campuses in potentially precarious position: A gap is growing between how much money University of Wisconsin System campuses collect in tuition and how much they budget for costs directly tied to educating students, such as faculty pay and advising. That raises serious questions about what…