While professors Roberto Coronado, Lewis Keith Cohen and associate professor Steven Clark all share the honor of being members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, they now share the dubious distinction of being convicted felons. Once-distinguished professors will replace the standard professorial suit and tie with orange prison jumpsuits. Rather than holding court in front of hundreds of eager, highly motivated students, they will be just another number, another inmate in the Wisconsin prison system.
While you were gone, Mr. Coronado, who earns nearly $140,000 per year, was sentenced to eight years in prison and 10 years of supervision after being convicted of sexually assaulting three young girls over the past 10 years. Mr. Cohen, who earns more than $70,000 per year, was arrested in a sting operation and sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years’ probation after having sexually explicit Internet conversations with a 14-year-old and sending nude photographs of himself and other males to the boy. To complete the trifecta, Mr. Clark, earning just under $70,000 per year, began serving a one-year sentence in June for stalking a former girlfriend.
Professors convicted of such heinous crimes in a court of law should be immediately dismissed. Yet, shockingly, none of the professors was fired. Perhaps even more outrageous is that the university kept Mr. Coronado and Mr. Clark on the payroll even after they were convicted and became members of the prison system. This decision, in accordance with a set of ludicrous bylaws, is reprehensible.
According to existing university policy, a professor cannot be fired solely because he or she has been convicted of a crime; the university must first conduct its own investigation to determine whether grounds for dismissal exist. The professors maintain the right to appeal a dismissal through the university system and the state court, a process that could extend for years. While the university maintains that these policies guarantee professors “due process,” the three felonious professors have already been granted due process by a court of law and judged by a jury of their peers. Another investigation conducted by the university is superfluous and spits in the face of our judicial system. Luckily, nine republican legislators in the Capitol agree.
UW System President Kevin Reilly received a letter Aug. 11 from a group of state legislators demanding to know how many professors, instructors or teaching assistants had been convicted of a felony, the type of felony committed and how the university responded. Reilly resisted, saying the cost would be prohibitive and would only result in energy wasted. Dissatisfied and persistent, the legislators called for an official audit of the UW System Aug. 19. Their dismay with Reilly’s initial decision and persistent demands did not go unheeded.
Reilly agreed four days later to allow an independent audit bureau to assess the university’s hiring practices. In essence, lawmakers will be given the ability to conduct their own review of the university’s hiring policy. This change of heart was absolutely necessary to convince the public that the university system and its policies are not above the law and that the university does not go out of its way to protect its own.
It is extremely unfortunate and disturbing that Mr. Coronado, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Clark remain on the UW faculty. It is unfathomable as to how Mr. Coronado and Mr. Clark have been paid by the university after being convicted of sexual assault and stalking. State lawmakers should demand the university to abolish existing policies regarding professors convicted of felonious crimes. Mr. Coronado, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Clark have been found guilty in Wisconsin courts. Students, their parents and the public don’t need the university to tell them what they all know.
Josh Moskowitz ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and journalism.
