Barrows, lawyer to sue UW again

by Tom Schalmo

Friday, January 19, 2007 00:00

Two months after retiring from the University of Wisconsin, former Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows is preparing to file a lawsuit against the university.

Barrows told The Badger Herald he is unhappy with the way the university handled his employment.

“I’ve been treated unfairly,” Barrows said. “We will see — hopefully they will be held accountable for what they have done.”

The lawsuit revolves around a denied contract claim after Barrows was offered a job at Hunter College in New York. That job would have provided Barrows with a salary of $150,000, one Barrows was told UW would match if he stayed in Wisconsin.

Despite staying, Barrows was paid less than half of that — about $73,000 — when he returned from suspension. He then filed the contract claim because he was not paid the promised $150,000.

In December, the Wisconsin Claims Board denied Barrow’s contract claim against the university, prompting his attorney Lester Pines to threaten a lawsuit.

Pines said he and Barrows are waiting for the results of another pending lawsuit currently in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. That case is an appeal of a civil suit against Chancellor John Wiley.

An additional lawsuit against former Dean of Students Luoluo Hong is pending in a state court, Pines added.

Barrows, who joined the university in 1989, added he is entitled to working with a better team than the one led by Wiley.

“Having to deal with an administration that’s rotten at its core — I feel I deserve much more than that,” Barrows added.

UW Communications Director Amy Toburen said the lawsuit should not affect the university’s learning environment.

“Every big organization has independent personnel issues,” Toburen said. “I’m sure we’ll move forward from it no matter which way things are resolved.”

UW legal counsel Nancy Lynch told The Badger Herald she was aware of media reports that a lawsuit might be coming forward, but said the university has not seen anything specific as of yet.

“We don’t have any knowledge of any suit being filed,” Lynch said. “If one comes forward, we’ll certainly treat it like any other case and process it and … do what we always do.”

According to Lynch, both Wiley and the university are represented by the state attorney general’s office.

Barrows retired as senior administrative program specialist in the office of the provost in November after years of controversy.

Looking back, Barrows said he has “mixed emotions” about his early retirement.

“I’ve given that university the best years of my life,” Barrows said. “Given how the university has treated me, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.”

In 2004, Wiley asked the former vice chancellor of student affairs to take a leave of absence and gave him a $120,000 pay cut after he admitted to having a consensual relationship with an adult graduate student. A university committee later found the punishment to be unjustified.

Barrows, who is black, has in the past accused Wiley of racism over his handling of sexual harassment allegations made against him. An appeals committee cleared Barrows of the accusations, concluding there was not enough credible evidence to merit disciplinary action.