Capping a summer of controversy unparalleled in recent memory, the University of Wisconsin released the much-awaited report by attorney Susan Steingass Thursday detailing the circumstances surrounding former UW administrator Paul Barrows' paid leave of absence from the university.

Steingass' 41-page report, culled from interviews of 27 people associated with the controversy, fills in the gaps in a story that, until now, had been fragmented and clouded in uncertainty. It describes the events leading up to and during the paid leave granted to Barrows, the school's vice chancellor for student affairs until his sudden departure in November 2004.

Her findings: five women claim to have been subjected to inappropriate conduct from Barrows, and, although he may not have broken any laws or official university policies, he did engage in "some behaviors which could reasonably be regarded as sexual harassment."

Making matters worse, UW Chancellor John Wiley made several errors in his handling of Barrows, including a failure to ascertain whether Barrows was eligible to receive the sick leave he was granted.

Having pored over the report for several weeks, UW Provost Peter Spear announced his intention not to fire Barrows but to retain the administrator in his backup position at a salary of $72,881.

Spear also sent Barrows a formal letter of reprimand indicating that similar inappropriate conduct in the future will be grounds for dismissal and ordered the embattled administrator to undergo sexual-harassment training.

In a letter dated Sept. 21, 2005, obtained by The Badger Herald, Spear informed Barrows his administrative leave will end today and he should return to work Monday. Barrows will be given the official job title of senior administrative program specialist.

Barrows and his attorney, Lester Pines, did not return calls Thursday. Barrows filed a lawsuit in Dane County Court Tuesday alleging Wiley deprived him of due-process rights in forcing the former vice chancellor to go on leave in November.

Origins of the controversy

Steingass' report confirms the existence of a 40-year-old graduate student — referred to as "Jane Doe" in the report — who had first been mentioned publicly by Wiley upon Barrows' return to the university in June.

After Jane Doe and Barrows broke off their relationship in June 2004, the student, distraught over the affair, told her story to two university employees who later contacted Casey Nagy, special assistant to the chancellor. With the chancellor's office aware of the matter, Barrows talked to Wiley in September, at which point the chancellor told his colleague the relationship, while not violating university policy, showed poor judgment.

"[Wiley] counseled Barrows to better consider whom he had relationships with in the future. Wiley says he asked whether there was anyone else, or any more to it, and Barrows said 'absolutely not,'" the report found.

Steingass' report mentions a strong friendship between Wiley and Barrows and speculated the bond played a role in the chancellor's reluctance to take action against his colleague. The friendship would continue to be a factor throughout the entire Barrows affair, the report said.

Such hesitancy would not be found, however, in then-UW Dean of Students Luoluo Hong, who met with Jane Doe Oct. 26, 2004. Hong, shocked at the student's story, wrote a scathing memo to Wiley that would set in motion Barrows' leave from the university Nov. 4, 2004.

Memo

Released publicly for the first time along with Steingass' report, Hong's eight-page memo to Wiley derides Barrows as a man lacking the integrity and ethics to lead the school's student-affairs office.

Describing extreme feelings of "dismay, disgust and disappointment," Hong in the memo disclosed to Wiley her detailed knowledge of the relationship between Barrows and the graduate student, whom Hong had known personally since November 2002.

The picture Hong painted of the relationship goes as such: the two did not go out in public together, and most encounters came via a drunken Barrows calling the student late at night, looking for sex. Feeling used, the student ended the relationship.

Steingass' research confirmed Hong's account.

"He would be loving when he wanted her to come over and when they got together," Steingass wrote in the report. "After, he would not return her calls or respond and would be cold when she did reach him. When he called, it was often late at night or in the early hours of the morning. He was often sexually explicit on the phone."

Barrows claimed this was false, and that in fact the pair had sex only a few times, with the student being the pursuer.

But Hong believed the student's version of the affair and decided that because of the inappropriate relationship and the fact that some encounters occurred on campus, Barrows should no longer work at the university.

Barrows' continued presence on campus would have a particularly toxic effect on the university's minority community, Hong wrote. Barrows, who is black, should be a positive influence on the small but close-knit community, but instead many viewed and perhaps admired Barrows for using his power to readily obtain sexual encounters, she said.

Hong concluded the memo by demanding the removal of Barrows from his position, or, failing that, stripping the administrator of various job responsibilities, including his role as intermediary between herself and Wiley.

"Our students deserve to have a Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs whose integrity is unquestionable and unimpeachable; I imagine that should information about the incidents described in this letter ever become widely public, Dr. Barrows' integrity would be regarded as neither," Hong wrote.

Wiley agreed that Barrows should be relieved of his duties as vice chancellor for student affairs. With Barrows' departure, the position was eliminated from UW's roster.

Barrows did not take the decision easily.

"Wiley reports that Barrows looked like he had been hit with a sledge, that he teared up and sagged. Barrows said, 'I don't know how much I can stand,'" Steingass wrote.

During the leave, effective Nov. 4, 2004, Barrows was to be paid with sick time until January 2005 as he searched for another job. Wiley expected Barrows to find such an offer, and the chancellor was listed as "Barrows' number one reference," Steingass' report found.

Meanwhile, the fallout of the Barrows situation would take such a toll on Hong that the dean of students went on doctor-advised sick leave from Feb. 25 to March 15, 2005. Hong officially left the university in August 2005 and now serves as dean of student affairs at Arizona State University-West Campus.

According to Steingass' evaluation, Hong left the university because she felt the school tried to protect Barrows at her expense.

Calls to Hong's office at ASU were not returned Thursday.

Leave

Barrows' job search did not meet initial expectations, and Barrows claimed he tried to return to UW numerous times in early 2005. Barrows asserted Wiley refused, citing political pressure, but Wiley contended Barrows never made such attempts to come back.

"Barrows says that between January and June 2005, when he discussed returning with Wiley, Wiley always told him that he was getting 'too much heat,' that it was not the right time, and that Barrows could not return yet. Wiley does not remember these conversations," Steingass wrote.

Barrows did receive a job offer from Hunter College in New York in April, but turned it down when Wiley offered him a UW position in Milwaukee for $150,000 per year contingent on his return.

Nonetheless, Barrows continued his job search — fruitless as before — before reporting for his new UW position on June 20, 2005. Prior to returning, Barrows assured Wiley and Nagy that he had not had any other inappropriate relationships during his time as vice chancellor of student affairs.

But the honeymoon would prove short-lived, as Hong presented Wiley with evidence of additional improper encounters. Wiley, believing Barrows had lied to him, demoted his colleague to his backup position at a salary of $72,881.

Concurrently, Wiley placed Barrrows on administrative leave.

Evaluation

The university came under intense scrutiny from the media and state Legislature during this time. In particular, many questioned why UW continued to pay Barrows his full salary — by means of sick leave and accrued vacation time — while on his initial leave.

Steingass — and later UW System President Kevin Reilly — reached several conclusions regarding Wiley's culpability in the scandal: he acted too slowly and did not look deeply enough into Barrows' use of sick leave.

On the latter charge, Steingass claims the use of sick leave was justified from his Nov. 4 departure through the first of the year in 2005. Thereafter, however, when Barrows could not provide proof of an actual medical condition, Wiley continued to sign off on the sick leave.

"Barrows said in a newspaper article that he was not sick when he used sick leave. He was not sick in a way that prevented him from working. … [H]e made several attempts to return to work and was clearly physically and emotionally able and willing to do so," Steingass found.

Only in June did Wiley ask for documentation, at which point Barrows produced an unsigned physician's note. The text of the doctor's note was redacted from Steingass' final report.

As for Barrows, Steingass says she more readily believed the claim of Jane Doe over that of the former administrator for several reasons. Jane Doe's account was in far more detail than Barrows' and matched the notes of Hong and others. In addition, Jane Doe was a secretary and kept a highly detailed calendar of events.

Still, Steingass concluded the relationship between Jane Doe and Barrows did not violate University Consensual Relationship Policy.

Reaction

State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said the report's findings and associated fallout confirmed prior accusations of gross mishandling of the entire affair by UW leaders. By failing to dismiss Barrows, Suder said, the university showed it still had not learned its lesson despite so much negative publicity.

"This is a classic case of UW rewarding bad behavior, which will only serve to encourage abuse in the future," said Suder, who has been an outspoken critic of UW employment policies in recent months.

Suder expressed particular disappointment in Wiley's failure to properly oversee Barrows' use of sick leave without a proven illness.

"You give an extended vacation knowing full well they're not sick, and turn a blind eye to serious accusations … that just signals it's more of an old boys' club at the UW than anyone realized," Suder said.

The Republican also expressed concern with how impartial Steingass, a UW law school lecturer, could be, considering her affiliation with the school. Not appointing a truly independent auditor damages UW's claims of wanting to enact true change, Suder said, likening it to disgraced energy giant Enron being in charge of its own investigation.

Associated Students of Madison Chair Eric Varney also had harsh words for UW's handling of the matter. He said Wiley may lose a degree of credibility in the wake of the report's release.

"[Students] might not trust Chancellor Wiley as much as they did or view him in the highest regard because they may feel a little cheated or lied to, which I think sort of was the case," Varney said.

But Varney offered praise for Hong, saying the former dean took it upon herself to out the "shady character" Barrows was.

"I think what she did was very noble and beneficial to the university and the administration," Varney said.

— Sundeep Malladi and John Potratz contributed to this article.