Long overdue in the eyes of some, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents terminated UW-Madison medical physiology professor and convicted felon Roberto Coronado Friday.
In closed session, the regents unanimously voted to dismiss Coronado, who is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for child molestation.
"The Board takes very seriously its responsibility to its students, staff and the state's citizens and will continue to address such matters in an expeditious but fair manner," Regent President David Walsh said in a prepared statement. "Professor Coronado's egregious conduct and its effect upon the university and the community require that this action be taken."
The felonious actions of Coronado and two other UW-Madison professors have long been a source of embarrassment and ridicule for the UW System, as its inability to dismiss the professors in a timely manner has attracted national media attention.
Developed largely in response to this public backlash, the regents, in open session, unanimously voted to authorize the transmittal of a new academic-staff disciplinary process to shared-governance agencies.
Created by a special regent committee chaired by Regent Mike Spector over the past two months, the revised process will require a new chapter of the board's administrative rules.
According to a document Spector provided for the regents, the new rules would make three significant changes from current policy:
– The definition of "serious criminal misconduct," which would constitute just cause for dismissal. The misconduct must both constitute the commission of a felony and in some way impair the mission of the university or impair the duties of a faculty member or student.
– The expediting of time limits for conducting investigations, filing charges for dismissal, conducting hearings at the campus level and moving matters forward to the regents. The goal is to establish a process that could be completed within approximately 60 days.
– The clear provision for suspension without pay in situations where the employee has either been charged with serious criminal misconduct or is unable to report to work due to incarceration.
In presenting the draft to regents, Spector said he plans to have a finalized form of the new rules ready for approval at the board meeting in early May.
"What I am asking [today] is that you authorize transmittal … for their comments to our chancellors and faculty and academic staff governance leaders," Spector said. "That's the next step in the process and it's very important."
In anticipation of any due process or academic freedom concerns shared-governance groups may have about the new rules, UW System President Kevin Reilly reminded his employees of the regents' reasoning for rewriting the rules in the first place.
"The board members are very, very intent on preserving due-process rights and academic freedom while at the same time trying to handle really bad behavior by a really, really, really small number of our colleagues," Reilly said. "That's the spirit with which this is attempting to be done."
