We can't be judgemental now, can we
Posted by Jerry Scharf
Common Sense and Wonder
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UW-Madison keeps jailed professors on payroll
(MEGAN TWOHEY-Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)
The University of Wisconsin-Madison came under fire Tuesday for not immediately dismissing three professors who have been convicted of crimes and for keeping two of them on the payroll while they serve time behind bars.
Under a UW-Madison policy, the professors - whose convictions range from sexual assault to online dalliances with a minor boy and stalking - can't be fired solely because they've been found guilty in a court of law. The university must conduct its own investigation to determine whether there is cause for dismissal. The professors have the right to appeal a dismissal up through the university system and into state court, a process that can take years.
UW-Madison defends the policy, which is common at universities across the country and tied into the practice of granting certain professors lifetime employment.
Casey Nagy, spokesman for Chancellor John Wiley, said Tuesday that state and federal laws guarantee "due process" to university employees, even those convicted of serious crimes.
But Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) lambasted the university. Suder, who had sent Wiley a letter Tuesday demanding to know the employment status of one of the convicted professors, said that once university employees are convicted of a crime, they should be dismissed immediately and given no pay. He said he and other legislators would call for changes in the way Wisconsin universities handle such situations.
"The constitution guarantees due process in the court system, not in the university system," Suder said. "I don't care if it's standard practice at other universities. Wisconsin taxpayers aren't going to stand for it, certainly not for university employees who have been convicted of a crime, especially when they're apparently able to tap into vacation time while in prison."
2 professors on vacation time
The three professors are Roberto Coronado, a professor in the medical school, who earns $137,641 per year; Lewis Keith Cohen, a literature professor, who earns $72,856 per year; and Steven Clark, an associate professor in the medical school, who earns $67,761 per year.
On Friday, Coronado was sentenced to eight years in prison and 10 years of supervision for sexually assaulting three young girls over the past 10 years. The administration has moved to fire him, but Coronado, who is now in custody, is pursuing the appeals process that is granted to him under the university's policy. He will continue to collect 2 1/2 months of accrued vacation time, then be placed on unpaid leave for the remainder of the appeals process.
Last month, Cohen was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years' probation after pleading no contest to having sexually explicit conversations with a 14-year-old Greendale boy in Internet chat rooms and sending nude photographs of himself and other males to the boy via e-mail. The university is investigating whether there are grounds for his dismissal. Cohen begins serving his sentence at the end of August. When he returns to the university, he will continue to be paid pending completion of the investigation.
In June, Clark was sentenced to one year in jail after being convicted of stalking. He began serving his sentence June 23. The university has begun an internal investigation into whether Clark violated policies related to faculty conduct that it says could lead to discipline or dismissal. Clark was granted a month of paid time for accrued vacation to be followed by unpaid leave pending the investigation's outcome.
Coronado and Clark are among the two-thirds of professors in the UW System who have tenure, which, in essence, guarantees lifetime employment. To obtain tenure, faculty members must survive a seven-year probationary period during which they undergo a rigorous peer review of their teaching and research. It's a tradition that's rooted in a commitment to academic freedom. Faculty members are guaranteed the free exchange of ideas without fear of being fired.
Their commitment to tenure prompted most universities to create policies that say a university must show just cause to fire professors and guarantee those subject to dismissal due process, said Robert Kreiser, a senior program officer at the American Association of University Professors. The aim is to avoid professors being fired for minor offenses or false claims because the administration doesn't like them. Allowing professors convicted of crimes the same due process is part of the commitment, he said.
"It's all part of the basic principle of protecting academic freedom," Kreiser said.
Some universities allow administrators to fire professors convicted of crimes without granting them due process.
"Most universities," he said, "do what the UW-Madison policy calls for."
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