News

Judge releases UW audit

A Wisconsin judge authorized the release of a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater audit of former Graduate Studies Dean Lee Jones Monday.

The audit was cleared for release after Jones' attorney dropped the lawsuit blocking its release, UW-Whitewater spokesperson Sara Kuhl said.

According to Kuhl, the publicity of the audit will help the public understand the university's case for demoting Jones.

"Certainly it shows that there was a pattern of behavior by Dr. Jones that was counter of what was acceptable of people in administrative positions on the UW-Whitewater campus," Kuhl said. "The behavior wasn't just once or twice but it was repeated."

The publication of the audit revealed what the university said was Jones' failure to adhere to guidelines on documenting money spent in support of non-university events, including travel and purchases.

"In the spring of this year, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater discovered some possible problems with the use of state and university purchasing card and travel policies," Chancellor Martha Saunders said in a release. "UW-Whitewater has already taken steps to correct the problems that were raised in the audit and corrective procedures were put in place over the summer."

Allegations of financial misspending are of particular note to UW officials as they simultaneously look to cut costs wherever possible and to petition the Legislature for increased funding.

In light of this climate, both Saunders and UW System President Kevin Reilly stressed that UW handled the Jones case prudently.

"Overall, the university's stewardship of public dollars is sound and strong," Reilly said in a release. "However, the internal review has identified the need to address business-process issues at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I want to make sure that situations like this do not happen again, at Whitewater or elsewhere in the system."

Jones — one of the founding members of the Brothers of the Academy, a nationwide organization devoted to increasing diversity in higher education — had argued through his attorney that the release of the audit would hurt diversity at Whitewater.

His attorney, David Lasker, provided the Associated Press with a copy of the audit along with a rebuttal in order to "save Dr. Jones from the unconscionable ruination of his career and good name."

Ladner also told the Associated Press the university blew Jones' errors out of proportion because he was black.

As of press time, Lasker did not return a call seeking further comment.

"What's being lost in all this is the UW-Whitewater's long commitment to diversity on campus," Kuhl said. "For anyone to say that the administration at UW-Whitewater functions by dealing with people by their race is ridiculous. They're very ethical people [and] they're smart people who have gotten where they are by doing the right thing."

In accordance with what it found in the audit, UW-Whitewater last week demoted Jones to his contractual concurrent position in the department of educational foundations, and is currently moving to strip Jones of his tenure.

"It's a process that takes quite some time," Kuhl said. "This is an effort to take a look at whether or not he is the kind of faculty person we want to be teaching students at UW-Whitewater."

Per his contract, Kuhl said Jones is currently slated to teach four classes at the university next semester.