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Professor sues to keep files closed

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Also by Danielle Repshas:

Judiciary mulls over new hires (September 10, 2007)
Professor sues to keep files closed (May 3, 2007)
UW college pay behind the class (April 19, 2007)
UW salaries on rise, still behind (April 11, 2007)
Board issues AP standards (March 5, 2007)

by Danielle Repshas

Thursday, May 3, 2007

A University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point biology professor sued the university Tuesday to ensure his records are kept confidential after the chancellor removed him as chair of his department.

UW-Stevens Point removed professor Robert Bell from his position in March, but according to Todd Kuckkahn, director of university communications and relations, the school cannot discuss the details of the dismissal at this time.

Bell is choosing to sue the university to block the release of records detailing the misconduct that led to his removal. He said releasing the records would unjustly harm his reputation and violate the confidentiality of the students and employees listed in the records.

However, Kuckkahn said the professor's request to withhold the records is out of the university's hands.

As to which documents the university is allowed to release, "The judge will determine what can and cannot be released," Kuckkahn said.

When contacted by The Badger Herald, Bell's lawyer, Gary Dreier, refused to comment on the case.

In another UW-Stevens Point case, history professor Michael Foret made his first court appearance Tuesday for charges on the possession of child pornography.

Kuckkahn said even though Foret's additional hearing was held Tuesday, the preliminary hearing will not occur until June 7.

According to Kuckkahn, Foret is currently suspended with pay and banned from the UW-Stevens Point campus.

"[Foret's] courses have been picked up by other professors so the students' coursework will not be distracted," Kuckkahn said, adding the substitutes have helped put his students at ease.

According to UW-Stevens Point students, the incident concerning Bell has not been highly publicized to students on campus.

Katie Paul, a UW-Stevens Point sophomore, the university did not send a mass e-mail to the students about Bell as they did with Foret.

Paul said the e-mail informed students of Foret's arrest for possession of child pornography and his ban from the campus.

"I'm glad I was not in any of Foret's classes because this has really affected the students," Paul said. "I have friends in his class, and since they did not have a TA, a guest professor had to come in and lecture."

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Anonymous (May 3, 2007 @ 9:19am):

this goof ball gets paid by the state, which means he gets paid by me, which means I have a right to see what is in this mans work record.
As as far as "releasing the records would unjustly harm his reputation", it's not the releasing of the records that would harm his reputation, it's the thing he did that will ruin his reputation. When did people start to think that the releasing information on the bad things they've done is the problem, and not the actual act?

Anonymous (May 5, 2007 @ 6:24pm):

I go to UWSP, and just heard about this news today- when I came home and my mother told me about there being a blurb in the paper. Why weren't the students told anything? I think we have a right to know, even if the names on the records are kept anon.

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