The Milwaukee Police Department will not release what they call “sexual assault records” involving a prominent professor to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student journalist Talis Shelbourne, and she has now filed an open records complaint with the state Attorney General seeking their release.
In addition, Shelbourne filed a second open records complaint, this one against UWM, with Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun in early February. UWM is refusing to release another document pertaining to the professor by claiming attorney-client privilege, and Shelbourne is asking the Corporation Counsel to review the university’s decision.
MPD’s denial of Shelbourne’s open records request states that police conducted the “required balancing test” and “determined that the public disclosure of the responsive sexual assault records would constitute an invasion of the right of privacy of the victim or the victim’s family members, and would cause further emotional and mental distress, as well as representing a potential outrage to the community’s notion of decency.”
Shelbourne told MPD she would be willing to accept the police reports with the complainant information redacted.
The professor has a role in shaping UWM’s sexual harassment policy, and he also has frequent contact with students.
Media Milwaukee will not name the professor until more details are available to the student journalists.
“I filed a complaint because I believe there needs to be a second pair of eyes to examine their reasoning for denying my request,” said Shelbourne of both MPD and UWM. “Students invest a lot of time and money into this university, and they deserve to know whether their professor is being investigated.”
MPD stated in its denial that there are “sexual assault records” involving the professor, but they also said, in connection with a second denial years ago to the UWM Post, that the matter did not result in arrest or charges and was unfounded, but they did not say why. The MPD letter denying the records to Shelbourne was signed by then-Chief Edward Flynn and Sgt. Vickie Gagliano.
At one point in the denial, they referenced more than one alleged “victim.”
“Please note, however, that we may be able to release a copy of these sensitive records if you are able to inform the MPD Open Records Section that the victims involved in this incident consent to the release of the responsive record,” MPD wrote. That’s despite the fact that Shelbourne was willing to take the records with the names and identifying information of any complainants redacted.
Shelbourne filed both complaints after a Media Milwaukee investigation that she helped lead discovered 37 sexual misconduct complaints for alleged sexual harassment and sexual assault that have been filed against UWM staff from 2013-2017. UWM has yet to release those complaints and has indicated the university may be legally obligated to send notices to the staff members, giving them a chance to ask a judge to block release of the complaints and decisions.
The MPD document is from before that time frame, dating to at least 2009. The date of the UWM document is not clear because UWM has not yet provided any details on it.
Shelbourne also contacted the professor. When asked about the allegations, he said he wasn’t at liberty to say.
The professor’s lawyer then contacted the student journalist. “If you want to play cat and mouse, you do that. If you think you’re somehow involved in the media…” attorney Bob LeBell told the student journalist, claiming that her questions to the professor amounted to a “threat,” and adding, “and that’s a problem for you.”
Before the lawyer contacted her, Shelbourne says she sent a detailed email to the professor explaining everything, yet when his lawyer called he asked her questions she had already clearly answered in the email to the professor.
Shelbourne then asked the professor and his lawyer to voluntarily release the police documents; they did not respond to that request. The lawyer is a well-known criminal defense lawyer in Milwaukee.
Listen to Shelbourne talking about her open records efforts below:
Under Wisconsin open record laws, journalists and citizens can appeal denials of open records requests to the attorney general, the Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel or go to court. Shelbourne filed the appeal against UWM with the Corporation Counsel because the attorney general sometimes defends UWM, a state agency, in court.
Shelbourne sent her complaint against MPD to Wisconsin Director of Communications and Public Affairs Johnny Koremenos and Wisconsin Attorney Brad Schimel. The office is reviewing the matter.
When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sued the same police department previously, seeking, in part, “incident reports for all sexual assaults during the 2009 calendar year,” the state Supreme Court ruled that “there is no dispute that the records requested fall within the statutory definition of a record to be released,” adding, “Wisconsin’s commitment to open, transparent government rings loud and clear in the Public Records Law. The Law reaffirms that the people have not only the opportunity but also the right to know what the government is doing and to monitor the government.”
As for the UWM document, UWM Public Records Custodian Julie Kipp initially asked Shelbourne if she only wanted formal documents related to the professor and, when Shelbourne said yes, she said there was were no responsive documents. Shelbourne then asked for informal documents as well, and was told one document does exist, but the file could not be released due to attorney-client privilege.
“With regard to your follow up question, there is one responsive document to your request for ‘a report, complaint, investigation and/or discipline/decision into (the professor) into sexual assault or sexual harassment on any level, whether formal or informal,’” said Kipp.
It’s unclear why UWM would have an informal document but no formal documents (such as a complaint or decision), since Title IX requires universities to conduct thorough investigations. “Regardless of whether the victim files a formal complaint or requests action, the school must conduct a prompt, impartial, and thorough investigation to determine what happened and must take appropriate steps to resolve the situation,” reads a 2008 letter from the U.S. Department of Education. The same letter explains, “A federal law, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 …prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment, in education programs and activities. All public and private education institutions that receive any federal funds must comply with Title IX.”
Shelbourne later asked for a redacted version of the document as well to get clues as to what it entails.
On Feb. 16, Deputy Corporation Counsel Paul D. Kuglitsch responded to Shelbourne’s complaint against UWM, writing: “Yesterday, I spoke with Ms. Julie Kipp, the Public Records Custodian in the Office of the Vice Chancellor. She informed me that although she denied your initial request based upon attorney-client privilege, you made a subsequent request for the same records in a redacted format . . . Therefore, the initial denial is moot as the records custodian is seeking to provide the records in the requested redacted format.”
However, Shelbourne does not consider the request moot because her complaint to the Counsel is seeking the full document – not the redacted document. When she reiterated this point to Kuglitsch, he responded, “To recap, your initial request was denied. Subsequently, you made a second request seeking the same documents but in a redacted format. UWM is currently evaluating this request and intends to respond. If UWM does not respond, or if it denies your subsequent request, or if its response is not satisfactory, please reach out to my office and we may reconsider our position. However, we will not be initiating an action at this time.”
Shelbourne asked for a redacted document in the meantime simply to get more information on the document while seeking its full release. Shelbourne intends to reassert her request with Kuglitsch for the full document after Kipp provides or denies the redacted document request because either one won’t satisfy Shelbourne’s belief that students should be able to see the full document.
Former executive director of the Student Press Law Center of Arlington, VA., Frank LoMonte, has been following Media Milwaukee’s series on sexual assault and harassment allegations, and he agrees with Shelbourne that transparency is in the public interest.
“There is no more important issue on college campus today than the way administration responds to sexual harassment,” said LoMonte.
This is the second time a UWM student journalist tried to access the same records involving the prominent professor. A former editor of the UWM Post, Jonathan Anderson, filed a 2009 open records request with MPD and was denied.
Anderson now works for the USA Today network in Wisconsin.
“We’re really just looking for truth and the police department is preventing that,” Anderson said. “We know there’s a police report.”
Anderson’s 2009 request asked for all complaints made by individuals against the professor, all records of any investigations into the professor and for all records of calls to the professor’s home address.
In a 2009 email to then-MPD-spokeswoman Anne Schwartz, the UWM Post’s Kevin Lessmiller, who was working on the story with Anderson, recounted receiving a response from Deputy Inspector Mary Hoerig which stated, “The only record that is responsive to your request is an MPD incident report consisting of unfounded, uncharged allegations of a sensitive nature. There was no arrest and no prosecution based upon the allegations in the record that is responsive to your request.”
Lessmiller, now a PhD student in Tennessee, asked Schwartz, “Can you give more detail as to why the allegations in this incident were determined to be unfounded and uncharged?”
Schwartz responded, “I read the response from Deputy Inspector Hoerig and I found it to be a complete answer to your question and within the guidelines of what State of Wisconsin law states we are able to release. We have nothing further to share at this time.”
It’s not clear whether the UWM and MPD documents are related or why MPD is couching its recent denial in victims’ rights when it previously stated the allegations were “unfounded.” Asked whether UWM knew about the Milwaukee police report involving the professor, Michelle Johnson, Sr. Director of Integrated Marketing & Communications at UWM, responded, “At this point, I’m not sure who might have known about the allegations since this took place long before I started work here.”
“First, as you noted, no arrest was made, and no charges were filed in this case,” she added. “Basically, the police determined that either a crime was not committed or the available evidence didn’t support an arrest. I think it’s important to restate this because we know that not all allegations are true and investigations are important in determining what is true. Quick judgements can, upon investigation, turn out to be unfair.”
She further concluded, “There is no record of the Milwaukee police informing UWM police about the investigation. My understanding is that the relationship between MPD and UWM PD wasn’t as established or as extensive in 2009, so the information likely wasn’t shared at that time.”