Skip to main content

Category: Crime and safety

Independent investigation into sexual harassment at Rochester provides little closure

Inside Higher Ed

Seth Pollak, a distinguished professor of psychology and professor of anthropology, pediatrics, psychiatry and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who signed the open letter against advising students to work or study at Rochester, said Thursday that he hoped Seligman’s resignation was a step in the right direction for the campus. But the report itself was unsatisfying, he said, as Jaeger was found not to have harassed women to a “pervasive” or “severe” degree, even though multiple women testified about harassment.

Moped parking restrictions in Madison take effect Jan. 1

Wisconsin State Journal

Beginning Monday Jan. 1, Madison’s new ordinance banning mopeds from being parked on public sidewalks and terraces takes effect. No respite will be found for moped drivers hoping to continue this practice as a provision in the law allowing property owners to set up designated parking areas on terraces has drawn little interest.

No reliable data on hate crimes

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

There are no reliable data on the number or rate of hate crimes in the United States, according to the investigative news nonprofit ProPublica. The organization has collected several dozen self-reports of alleged incidents of hate and bias in Wisconsin — most of them unconfirmed — since November 2016 when it began soliciting tips as part of its Documenting Hate project. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is among more than 100 news outlets and other groups participating in the project.

Judges grant motion to move trials for ex-UW student out of Dane County

Wisconsin State Journal

Two Dane County judges, deciding together, ruled Friday that former UW-Madison student Alec Cook, who is accused of sexual assault and harassment of female students, will be tried outside of Dane County, citing intense media coverage and publicity that the case has received that would make it too difficult to find impartial jurors in Dane County.

Sexual Harassment On College Campuses

Wisconsin Public Radio

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UW-Madison got a lot of attention over the weekend. The Wisconsin State Journal published an article about the department’s struggle with sexual harassment surrounding one prominent professor, Harvey Jacobs. The article says Jacobs’ alleged conduct had long been known in the so-called “whisper network” of women in the department. A survey on sexual misconduct at UW-Madison in 2015 revealed that about half of the responding female graduate students had experienced sexual harassment during their time at the university. About one in five of those who experienced harassment said a faculty member was responsible for the misconduct. We talk to an expert about sexual harassment on college campuses.

December trial against former UW-Madison student postponed after lawyers file motions

Wisconsin State Journal

The first trial of former UW-Madison student Alec Cook, accused of sexual assault and harassment of female students, scheduled to happen in December, was pushed back Wednesday after Cook’s lawyers filed motions to have the case heard by a jury from outside Dane County, and to suppress some evidence taken by police during a search of Cook’s apartment.