Paul Barrows, the former University of Wisconsin vice chancellor for student affairs, will return to work this morning, the attorney for the embattled administrator confirmed Sunday.
Lester Pines said Barrows, whose administrative leave ended Friday, is looking forward to returning to the university. Barrows will be working in the Office of the Provost as a senior administrative program specialist at a salary of $72,881.
"It is important to [Paul] that he is employed," Pines said. "So under the circumstances, while not the circumstances that he would like, he will do the best job possible."
First up for Barrows, who has twice in the last year gone on administrative leave due to allegations of sexual harassment, will be a 9:00 a.m. meeting with UW Provost Peter Spear.
The provost Sunday acknowledged he has been in contact with Barrows in recent days but said he could not comment further on the former vice chancellor's return.
In his new capacity, Barrows will be responsible for a wide range of duties related to academic affairs, according to an e-mail Spear addressed to the incoming program specialist Sept. 21. Among Barrows' likely responsibilities: coordinating and evaluating diversity and teaching initiatives, overseeing fellowship and award-selection processes for students and university personnel and crafting transfer agreements between UW-Madison and technical colleges.
Barrows' return comes on the heels of Thursday's release of attorney Susan Steingass' 41-page report detailing accounts of multiple inappropriate sexual relationships Barrows engaged in during his time as vice chancellor.
Pines said he is confident his client can work effectively despite the allegations contained in the report now brought fully to light.
"For one, the people are completely professional working in Bascom Hall," Pines said. "And two, if one actually reads Steingass' report, the allegations made against Paul are quite shallow."
UW came under intense media scrutiny this summer when it was revealed that Barrows received his full salary for more than seven months after UW Chancellor John Wiley put his colleague on administrative leave Nov. 4, 2004. Steingass' report, culled from interviews of 27 people associated with the controversy, shed light on the events leading up to and during Barrows' paid leave and the university's handling of the matter.
Steingass found five women claimed to have been subject to inappropriate sexual conduct from Barrows, and decided 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."
The report also included an eight-page memo written by former UW Dean of Students Luoluo Hong in October that led to Wiley's decision to put Barrows on leave. In the memo, Hong described extreme feelings of "dismay, disgust and disappointment" upon learning of a sexual relationship between Barrows and a 40-year old graduate student for whom the vice chancellor had served as a professional mentor.
In a lawsuit filed in Dane County Court Tuesday, Barrows claimed Hong's accusations were unfounded and said Wiley deprived him of due process rights by forcing him to go on leave in November.
"There is absolutely no question that Dean Hong's purpose was to drive Paul out of the university," Pines said.
In her report, Steingass also faulted Wiley for allowing Barrows to use paid sick leave without any proof of an actual medical affliction. Wiley waited until June to demand medical documentation, at which point Barrows produced an unsigned physician's note.
UW System President Kevin Reilly wrote a letter to Wiley Thursday demanding changes in the way UW-Madison handles its leave policies.
"[Y]ou and your administrative team should have been aware of the requirement that an employee must be ill in order to charge an absence of sick leave, and should have acted promptly either to obtain the appropriate documentation on Dr. Barrows' situation, or to require his return to work," wrote Reilly, who also criticized Wiley's reluctance to decide on Barrows' fate while on leave.
Barrows' return has drawn the ire of several state lawmakers who say the beleaguered administrator's actions demanded termination.
"I have lost all faith in both the president (Reilly) as well as the chancellor," state Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said. "They should have fired Paul Barrows and severely reprimanded Chancellor Wiley, but neither of those actions have been taken."
