Former University of Wisconsin Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows filed suit against UW Chancellor John Wiley Tuesday for allegedly asking Barrows to use accrued sick leave and vacation time without due process.

Barrows listed as co-defendant former UW Dean of Students Luoluo Hong, who negatively interfered with Barrows' position at the university, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges Hong sent a "secret" eight-page memo to Wiley on Nov. 1, 2004, claiming misconduct during a consensual relationship Barrows had with a 40-year-old graduate student. In addition, the memo said there were additional acts of "improper conduct" and demanded the vice chancellor's firing.

The lawsuit states Wiley acted on Hong's evidence and directed Barrows to use sick leave and vacation pay as compensation for his leave. However, the move forced Barrows to sacrifice personal "assets" in the form of his aforementioned accrued paid leave time.

According to Lester Pines, Barrows' attorney, Hong's action was unfair and improper.

"LuoLuo Hong resigned as the dean on June 13, but she deliberately injected herself into the matters, she injected into the process of Paul Barrows returning to the university [and] into the employment he had been offered."

During Barrows' leave, the lawsuit states he was offered a position at Hunter College for $150,000 but declined because Wiley countered by offering a new special assistant to the chancellor position paying $150,000.

In the final weeks before Barrows' June return, the lawsuit claims Hong met with Wiley, unhappy with the prospect Barrows would return, and alleged there were "scores of women" Barrows had sexually harassed, though she refused to disclose any names. Again on June 22, the suit claims, Hong met with Wiley and gave the name of one woman who was allegedly sexually harassed five to six years earlier. However, the memo states Hong had not verified any of the evidence against Barrows.

"The truth is that the woman to whom Hong referred when Hong talked to Wiley had been in a consensual relationship with Barrows at a time when she was neither a student nor an employee of the University," the lawsuit states.

On June 19, Wiley again acted on Hong's information, claiming Barrows had lied about the other women with whom he had been involved. The lawsuit finally claims that as a punitive act, Wiley declined Barrows the special assistant position and placed him in a "back-up" position.

With UW's investigation into the affair set to be released this week, Pines acknowledged the lawsuit does come with some thought of timing.

"I anticipate that the university is going to release all of the reports this week," Pines said. "We have done our own review of the publicly available information and decided on the basis of the information, not related to the Steingass report, we should make our claim now so our claims are in the midst of discussion."

Further, Pines noted many have completely forgotten Barrows' previous record at the university.

"No one has ever suggested Paul Barrows has done anything but an outstanding job," Pines said. "That's a fact that gets lost in the shuffle."

Others agreed not all the evidence against Barrows was concrete.

"The big question throughout this affair has been did Barrows break any rules," UW political science professor Donald Downs said. "Up until now based on everything I've seen and read, it is not at all clear to me that he has."

The suit follows in a chain of events that began last November when Wiley unexpectedly placed Barrows on leave. During that period, which lasted until June, Barrows was paid his full salary of $191,794.

While gone, Barrows' position and department were both eliminated from the UW roster. In order to compensate the lost position, Wiley organized a new consultant position for a diversity program in Milwaukee where Barrows would receive $150,000 per year.

Before Barrows' June 20 return to UW, questions surfaced when it was revealed Barrows had been a final candidate at the University of Texas for a vice president of student affairs position. Many, including state legislators, wondered how Barrows was able to apply for another position if he was on sick leave.

On June 23 Wiley confirmed Barrows had engaged in a brief romantic relationship with a 40-year-old graduate student. Additionally, Wiley said new claims of misconduct had emerged and had Barrows moved into a "back-up" position as a senior administrative program specialist in the Office of the Provost. The position dropped Barrows' salary to $72,881. Concurrently, Barrows was placed on paid administrative leave.

Since then, legislators and other public officials have eagerly awaited the report of attorney, former judge and UW law professor Susan Steingass, set to be released this Friday.

However, according to Downs, Barrows' viewpoint must also be respected.

"Given the case has been awash in political pressures from a variety of directions, as well as some public hysteria, and in that context, we have to be especially careful to give Barrows his appropriate legal protection," Downs said.