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…
UW System
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…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Ethics, Misconduct, Nepotism, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
Another ‘Advisory Council’ Isn’t What Whitewater Needs
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
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,…
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…
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. …
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…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Politics, UW System
Thursday in Madison at 2 PM: The Sabina Burton Hearing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Thursday, May 10th at 2 PM, there’s a scheduled termination hearing before the Board of Regents for Sabina Burton, tenured professor of Criminal Justice at UW-Platteville. Readers may be familiar with her story from published accounts. Television station KWWL describes how the case began: [O]ne of their professors very vocal about what she’s been…
Government Spending, University, UW System
Subsidies for Subsidies
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In Wisconsin, UW System schools typically rely on private foundations to offset the costs of some university expenses. This make sense – alumni and other donors can support activities at their schools. What happens, though, when private foundations designed to supplement public programs wind up depending, themselves, on public money? One finds that even subsidies,…
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…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Misconduct, Negligence, Press, University, UW System
The Sketchy – But Revealing – UW-Whitewater Dormitory Stories
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
The big UW-Whitewater story last week wasn’t about a dormitory, but about a lawsuit against former Chancellor Telfer and current Athletic Director Amy Edmonds. The dormitory stories are at best evidence of administrative incompetence, at worst evidence of a manipulated story (albeit ham-handedly). They also, ironically, offer a dark motivation for the repeated actions of UW-Whitewater…