A former University of Wisconsin professor who was previously convicted of child enticement admitted to violating the terms of his probation by using a UW computer on campus, according to a state Department of Corrections official.

Lewis Keith Cohen — who was formally dismissed by the UW System Board of Regents April 7 — also admitted to using both marijuana and crack cocaine, Department of Corrections spokesperson John Dipko said. He added, sexually explicit materials and drug paraphernalia were found in Cohen's residence, and Cohen also confessed to having contact with adults that was not permitted by his probation agent.

Dipko said Cohen admitted to violating his probation after Cohen was confronted by his agent on allegations he had been partaking in "improper activities." Cohen was immediately taken into custody April 7 when he came clean about his illegal actions.

"He said he used a computer on three occasions to look for jobs — Internet research for jobs," Dipko said, noting the use of computers and the Internet was a direct breach of Cohen's probation. "He admitted to using public computers at a UW-Madison library and a public library in Madison."

Dipko said Cohen will be held in a Dane County correctional facility until he receives a hearing, which is scheduled to take place in early June. If the court decides to revoke Cohen's probation, he will face up to a year in prison and an additional year on extended supervision.

"We hold offenders accountable to their rules of supervision," Dipko said. "And if we receive information about possible violations we will follow-up, like we did in this case."

Cohen, who once chaired the comparative literature department at UW, served a 30-day sentence in jail after he was convicted of child enticement and attempting to send explicit materials to a child over the Internet; he was also sentenced to eight years probation.

Controversy flared on the UW campus over the summer when it was revealed that Cohen and two other UW faculty members were convicted of felonies. Following public and legislative backlash, both external and internal investigations were launched to assess how many felons were employed by the UW system.

The situation further deepened when Cohen returned to campus for the fall semester; however, he was asked to leave his position in mid-September and was placed on paid administrative leave.

But several months of heated debate between state lawmakers and UW administrators ensued as UW and the Legislature dueled over issues of due process and faculty rights.

UW Chancellor John Wiley made the recommendation to the regents to terminate Cohen's employment, and upon the April 7 decision to remove Cohen from UW payroll, Provost Patrick Farrell released a statement saying the university "reached closure" on the issue.

"The university community shares in the anger over the crimes committed by these people and we regret the impact they had on some individuals personally and on campus morale in general," Farrell said in the release.

Though the UW System Board of Regents drafted a proposed policy outlining how the System should handle cases of UW employees convicted of felonies, the UW Faculty Senate rejected the proposal in a March meeting. A UW committee has since written an amended version of the proposal that will be considered in the senate's upcoming May 1 meeting.

UW professors David Musolf and Donald Downs, both members of Faculty Senate, said they feel the new developments in Cohen's case will have little affect, if any, on Monday's meeting.

"It might come up, but … the fact is we've had very few felons over the years and we want to come up with a proposal that acknowledges the regents' and public's concern about criminal misconduct on campus," Downs said.

In addition, another resolution that the Faculty Senate will consider in Monday's meeting is a motion to criticize Wiley for recommending the dismissal of Cohen. The resolution's author — mathematics professor Anatole Beck — said in the resolution that he is not advocating for Cohen, but instead to prevent the "pernicious effect" such dismissals could have UW faculty.

However, Downs said the resolution will likely not fair well in Faculty Senate as it "doesn't hold much water."