UW-Milwaukee released sexual assault and sexual harassment complaints against faculty and staff from 2013 to present, with cases running the gamut from a teaching assistant allegedly giving students nicknames such as “nipples” and “blondie” to a sexual assault case where the office was not able to find evidence of investigatory findings.
However, the university withheld some complaints because it is sending the respondents named in them legal notices that give them a chance to seek a court order to stop release to the public.
In the aforementioned sexual assault case, an UWM official whose name is redacted asked for UW-Milwaukee’s Office of Equity and Diversity Services’ assistance in investigating a sexual assault allegation which was made against a professor by a student at a different university. The student alleged the misconduct occurred during a research project, documents show. The other university is not named.
The request for an investigation was made in 2013, but the files released by UWM contain a 2018 letter from Jamie Cimpl-Wiemer, interim director for EDS, that indicates that a review showed “the file… does not contain a report or memorandum indicating the disposition of this matter, which you requested that EDS investigate via a letter to former EDS Director Francene Botts-Butler dated May 16, 2013.”
The letter then states that a review of the file was conducted in 2018 and Cimpl-Wiemer “concluded that there is insufficient evidence of a connection between the alleged incident which prompted your investigation request and (redacted) work (i.e., his teaching and research) at UWM to permit further investigation as EDS does not investigate conduct which is unrelated to a faculty member’s work at UWM. Thus, EDS is closing its investigation of this matter.”
Asked whether that case was ever investigated in 2013, UWM’s spokeswoman Michelle Johnson told Media Milwaukee: “I do not have any information other than what was in the file given to you. However, I would note that the letter from the interim director of EDS says that ‘I have conducted a review of all the materials contained within the physical file which EDS maintained regarding this matter. From that review, I have concluded that there is insufficient evidence of a connection between the alleged incident which prompted your investigation request and work (i.e., his teaching and research) at UWM to permit further investigation as EDS does not investigate conduct which is unrelated to a faculty member’s work at UWM. Thus, EDS is closing its investigation of this matter.’ That indicates that some investigation was done to determine jurisdiction.”
You can see those documents in this batch of 2013 files released by UWM (the other years’ documents can be reviewed later in this story):
Read the most recent documents here:
In one instance, a professor was accused of having sexual intercourse after a night of drinking with a student from another university who was considering applying to UWM. “A UWM professor using a professional conference to engage in a sexual relationship with an undergraduate student is troubling behavior,” the provost determined, but the university found there was insufficient evidence that the conduct was non-consensual or that sexual harassment or assault occurred. “The Student readily acknowledged that she could not recall whether she ultimately consented to sexual intercourse with the Respondent and admitted that she may have said yes,” EDS documents allege.
In another complaint, allegations were made against a direct supervisor alleging that the person told rude jokes, showed the complainant pictures of women he found attractive and responded to her rejection by removing her work duties and reassigning them. However, the respondent alleged that the complainant was using the complaint to have her duties reinstated. EDS found there was insufficient evidence to support her complaint, and the provost upheld this decision.
In some cases, EDS found some wrongdoing but no sexual harassment finding, such as when the office noted in a 2016 decision: “EDS next considers whether the one-time act of touching a female employee on the leg, while making a sexually suggestive comment, rises to the level of sexual harassment contemplated by law. EDS finds that while such behavior is inappropriate in the workplace, it does not rise to the level of sexual harassment as contemplated by the law. Nonetheless, the conduct is unacceptable in the workplace….Although the singular incident does not rise to the level of sexual harassment, it is unacceptable and should be subject to disciplinary action.”
That decision came despite, as EDS noted in the decision, “the Respondent was previously the subject of disciplinary action as a result of inappropriately touching employees, and was put on notice that such behavior would not be tolerated.”
In another case where EDS found insufficient evidence of sexual harassment, the provost noted in his decision: “However, I am still concerned that the Respondent’s behavior may be inconsistent with our legitimate workplace expectations. In particular, EDS found that the Respondent subjected a UWM undergraduate student to inappropriate physical contact, including purposefully touching her arm and thigh during, and giving her an unsolicited hug following, a meeting at to discuss her mid-term performance.”
The provost, Johannes Britz, continued: “While the Respondent denied touching or hugging her, he explained to EDS ‘I do not know how much you get out into the world … but a parting hug today after a meeting is a lot more common than in [sic] used to be. No longer is it strictly a handshake.’ This has not been my experience with the world, nor is unsolicited and unwanted touching or hugging consistent with my expectation for our academic environment.”
Here are the complaints and decisions for the year 2014:
The number of sexual harassment and sexual assault complaints against faculty and staff was a story that first broke in a Media Milwaukee investigation in late December which discovered at least 37 complaints had been made against UWM faculty and staff since 2013. Media Milwaukee journalists began pursuing the individual complaints and decisions.
According to Public Records Custodian Julie Kipp, the request for these detailed complaints, which has been pending, in one form, since Nov. 17, was fulfilled after consideration of the larger public context, such as media interest swirling around #MeToo and other movements.
Read 2016 documents here:
“In light of various media requests concerning this topic, there is a broad public interest in these records,” Kipp wrote in the letter. However, the university also indicated that, in some cases, it was giving employees notice that they could object to the release in court, a process commonly referred to as Woznicki.
UW-Milwaukee’s release comes on the heels of UW-Madison, which previously released its documents after receiving a request in February. Both UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison’s documents contained redactions of identifying respondent and complainant information, as well as work locations.
In her letter, Kipp noted that records were only being released for sexual harassment and assault cases “handled centrally by UWM’s Office of Equity and Diversity.”
Read the 2015 complaints and decisions here:
A Media Milwaukee student journalist also has two pending actions for separate documents relating to a UWM professor. In one instance, the student journalist, acting in her individual capacity, filed an action against UWM asking a judge to review a document that the university has refused to release due to attorney-client privilege. In the second instance, the student journalist filed a complaint with the state Attorney General’s office seeking a ruling on the Milwaukee Police Department’s refusal to release a report into the same professor that was described by police as involving alleged sexual assault records. Those actions are pending.
The university provided Media Milwaukee with a link to the complaints, EDS decisions, and provost decisions since 2013 in the late evening of April 24, 2018. In another complaint released by the university, a complainant reportedly refused to cooperate with the EDS investigation after a third-party complaint was filed after the complainant said she received explicit text messages and messages with the respondent’s genitals, was lured her to his house for a sexual overture and fired for rejecting his advances. The respondent denied the accusations and although he admitted such messages might exist, he claimed they were likely given to the complainant by his former girlfriend, documents alleged.
Other complaints alleged things like unwanted touching or texts that allegedly stated “I want you so bad.” Respondents denied the conduct in some of the cases.