As the semester comes to a close, two of UW-Madison's most prominent figures have yet to settle a year-and-a-half-long battle involving sexual harassment allegations, an extended leave of absence and an eventual removal from a job that paid an annual salary of $191,749.
The steep, public reduction of job status and pay of former Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Paul Barrows was only the second such instance at UW-Madison. The other individual embezzled $500,000 from UW Hospitals and Clinics, according to Director of Academic Personnel Steve Lund.
Chancellor John Wiley maintains that Barrows' status change was not a demotion, and that he has lost trust in the once high-ranking official.
Background
Before the removal from his position, Barrows led UW-Madison's main diversity effort, Plan 2008. But since Nov. 1, 2004, Barrows has been embroiled in accusations from former Dean of Students Luoluo Hong that he had sexually harassed several UW-Madison employees.
The first day in November 2004 marked the beginning of a saga-like controversy affecting everyone from UW-Madison minority students, who feared the dissolution of Plan 2008 when the plan's visible point person suddenly left campus, to state legislators, who criticized the University's wasteful\ spending of taxpayer money when Wiley allowed Barrows nearly eight months of paid sick leave.
One of the flash points of the issue has been Barrows' official position at UW-Madison, before, during and after the allegations. While Wiley contends he acted within Academic Staff Policies and Procedures, Barrows said he believes he was treated differently and unjustly.
Once Wiley learned from Hong of Barrows' relationship with a 40-year-old graduate student Nov. 1, 2004, he told Barrows he was banned from campus and should take two months leave, after which the former vice chancellor would return in a ""backup position,"" according to an interview Barrows gave The Daily Cardinal.
""He was getting so much heavy, negative fallout from demoting me and from dismantling the student affairs division and because of the fact that he no longer had a point person that was highly visible for diversity on campus,"" Barrows said. ""And so he kept pushing me away, forcing me to stay away.""
Back-up positions
Backup positions can be used if indefinite academic staff employees' appointments are terminated or if they resign, according to ASPP. In Barrows' case, he resigned Nov. 1, 2004, from his limited appointment as vice chancellor of student affairs.
Barrows said Wiley made him use his ""own hard-earned sick leave,"" instead of putting him on paid administrative leave to punish him.
The sticking point for the state legislature was from March through June 2005, when Barrows used this sick leave while still receiving his original salary of $191,749. Wiley said he had sufficient documentation of Barrows' medical excuse, but Barrows said his doctor never signed the draft.
Barrows was to return in his back-up ""consultant"" position June 23, 2005 with a salary of $150,000. But on June 20, 2005 Hong provided Wiley with information regarding allegations of sexual harassment confided in her by various Bascom employees.
Wiley then sent a letter to Barrows June 23 informing him he would not return as a ""consultant"" and that he was being placed in another backup position titled ""Senior Administrative Programs Specialist"" with a $72,881 salary.
""I know this has been difficult for people to understand, but Paul was never demoted,"" Wiley told The Daily Cardinal. ""A limited appointment is not a job. It's a temporary assignment and you can be removed from your limited appointment at any time, for any reason or no reason.""
""I can just say, ‘I want to get a different vice chancellor, you step aside,' and I'll appoint someone else, or I'll eliminate the position or I'll do whatever I want. It is entirely my call,"" Wiley added. ""I lost confidence in Paul and removed him as a vice chancellor; that's not discipline and it's not a demotion.""
Barrows, however, said he disagreed, citing Lund's testimony at Barrows' Academic Staff Appeals Committee hearing April 14, 2006. According to Barrows, Lund said no limited-appointment employee has ever been ""demoted"" that far down past their original position, aside from the UW Hospital and Clinics embezzler.
Although Barrows' position has a lower salary, ASPP does not consider placement in back-up positions to be demotions; however, ASAC deemed Wiley's decision unjust at its hearing April 14 because he was not given due process.
In particular, ASAC considered parts of the investigation unfairly researched. Additionally, Barrows said he never got a chance to confront Hong after she gave an eight-page memo to Wiley and Casey Nagy, executive assistant to the chancellor, Nov. 1, 2004 regarding Barrows' relationship with the graduate student.
In an interview with The Daily Cardinal, Hong said she was not asked to testify as a witness is the recent Barrows hearing.
ASPP said the chancellor will determine discipline for limited appointees; however, given Wiley's involvement in the situation, new Provost Patrick Farrell will deem Barrows' reassignments just or unjust by June 5.
contributed to this article\
