A professor convicted of using a computer to facilitate a sex crime will be immediately removed from his position at the Comparative Literature library in Vilas Hall and placed on paid leave, according to UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear.
Lewis Keith Cohen, formerly a UW-Madison comparative literature professor who was removed from his professorship in March after he was caught pursuing a 14-year-old boy over the Internet, had been employed in the library as part of his work release program.
State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, vehemently criticized the university in a Thursday statement for allowing Cohen to remain on staff after his conviction.
Spear said Cohen had only retained his job due to Wisconsin state laws which guaranteed his due process.
\We are required to pay him until the full process of the investigation and his appeals go through,"" Spear said. ""We cannot deprive him of property, and pay is property, until he's had full due process [of the law].""
UW-Madison officials concluded because it was required to pay Cohen, it made the most sense to place him in a low-traffic area away from the classroom.
""Now that our investigation is complete and we have determined that he should be terminated, we have decided to remove him from the campus immediately,"" Spear said.
However, Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, feels UW-Madison should never have employed Cohen after the controversy started.
While he acknowledged the state law permits work release employees back to their old jobs, Suder noted the exceptions.
""The university did not have to allow him back on campus. There is a clear exemption that states if anyone is placed at risk based on the work release, that the plan doesn't go forward,"" Suder said.
Spear emphasized Cohen interacted little with the students and faculty, because his tasks placed him in a storage room cataloguing books.
As a term of his work release, Cohen could not access computers and was required to stay in his office.
Suder contends if the university had barred Cohen from the campus when the investigation started, matters would never have become so complicated.
""Had the university started their investigation when the man was charged, this situation would not have occurred,"" Suder said. ""They're squarely to blame for this.They could have solved this problem by firing this individual a long time ago.""
