When applying to be Vice President of Student Life at the University of Toledo, former University of Wisconsin Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows asserted in writing that he planned on returning to UW in the capacity of Vice Chancellor April 1, 2005. Barrows also discussed with school officials personal medical issues and cited his physician as recommending a change in lifestyle, according to Dawn Rhodes, chair of the Toledo search committee.
A copy of Dr. Barrows' résumé obtained by The Badger Herald reveals that he listed "Vice Chancellor, University of Wisconsin Madison, Effective April 1, 2005" as his future position. This entry comes in addition to a later line on the document listing his most recent experience at UW, "Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs … July 1999 to November 2004."
Though The Badger Herald cannot confirm Barrows' expectations at the time of the résumé's drafting, he did not return until June 20 and when he did so it was not in the capacity of Vice Chancellor.
UW officials would not immediately comment on this matter and Dr. Barrows could not be reached for comment at the time of this article's publication.
In his résumé, the now-embattled administrator makes reference to his leave from UW. "Upon returning from my family/personal leave of absence (November thru March), I will assume responsibility for the following," he writes before listing various job duties.
Nowhere in the document does Barrows reference his leave as being medically related, though he did allegedly discuss such issues with Toledo officials when interviewing to be Vice President of Student Life.
"[H]e mentioned … that there were things that had happened with siblings and the doctor told him he needed to change his lifestyle," Rhodes said. "He didn't necessarily say that the doctor said 'take the leave.' What I understood was the doctor told him he had to change some things in his life."
As first reported by The Badger Herald Tuesday, Barrows made similar comments to University of Texas at Austin officials when applying to be that school's Vice President for Student Affairs, according to Marilyn Kameen, chair of UT's search committee.
"[H]e told us he was on a medical leave, that he was going through a real messy divorce after being married for a long time, he was under a lot of stress, he came from a family where siblings had died of early heart disease young, so his doctor had said 'take a couple months off and deal with the stress,'" Kameen said Tuesday.
These remarks stand in apparent contrast to comments recently made by Barrows.
"I was not sick during the time that I was gone," he told the Wisconsin State Journal. "[My leave] was never approved by my physician, not to this day … The chancellor (in early June) asked me to get my doctor to approve a leave that was never medically authorized. My doctor and I would not agree to do it."
UW officials maintain that the embattled administrator's now-contentious seven-month leave was medically grounded via a letter signed by Barrows' physician.
"I want to assure you, and Wisconsin taxpayers, that Barrows' sick leave was physician-authorized," Chancellor John Wiley wrote in a letter to various state representatives, including Rob Kreibich, who has called for Dr. Barrows' termination.
Wiley's office claims it cannot release the written physician approval without permission from Barrow's attorney.
"We have repeatedly requested from Lester Pines, Dr. Barrows' attorney, for permission to release the letter," UW spokesman John Lucas said Tuesday. "And they have declined to give us that permission."
Barrows served under Wiley as Vice Chancellor until November when he abruptly took leave from UW. It has since been revealed that this departure came on the heels of accusations of an affair with a graduate student.
"A significant factor in Dr. Barrows' leave of absence was a relationship, which had just then been reported to me, between Dr. Barrows and an adult graduate student," Wiley wrote in a press release on June 23. "Dr. Barrows acknowledged the relationship and contended that it was fully consensual and not a violation of any law or university policy."
Though he now contends his leave was not physician-authorized, Barrows reportedly took 588 hours of sick leave in addition to accrued vacation time.
After nearly seven months away from UW, Barrows returned to work on Monday, June 20. Within a matter of days, however, he would come under intense scrutiny from area and state leaders, questioning the legitimacy of his receiving full pay — nearly $200,000 a year — during his time away from UW. Since the job of vice chancellor had been abolished since Barrows' leave commenced, he was given a modified administrative post upon his return and a new salary of $150,000.
On June 23 — less than a week after Barrows' return to UW — Wiley placed the former vice chancellor on administrative leave, announcing an investigation into what the chancellor called in a release "additional reports of improper conduct." At this point, Barrows was demoted to a backup position at a further reduced salary.
"As a result, we are required to place him in his indefinite backup position, established as senior administrative program specialist, in the Office of the Provost, at a salary of $72,881," Wiley noted in the same release.
