Category: State news

27 News has uncovered UW-Madison literature professor Lewis Cohen, a convicted sex offender, works on campus as part of a state work release program and has access to student records.

“To give this person, who’s been convicted of a serious crime against children, access to student records, simply doesn’t make sense,” Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford)

University administrators, analysts and scholars gathered on the UW-Madison campus Tuesday to debate the future of the university as a public institution as it battles growing budget cuts that limit public funding.

State lawmakers grilled UW- System President Kevin Reilly on employment practices and policies Tuesday at a public hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.

A prominent anti-war speaker is testing the mettle of the University of Wisconsin�s dedication to a free marketplace of ideas.

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly testified before the Joint Legislative Audit Committee regarding the university�s employment policies at the State Capitol Tuesday. The meeting marked the first stage of a nonpartisan audit Reilly requested Aug. 23 to coincide with the system�s internal investigation of its personnel practices.

Thank you. Good morning. I want to thank the Committee Co-Chairs, Senator Roessler and Representative Jeskewitz, and all members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, for the opportunity to continue the dialogue on the important issues before us.

Some state lawmakers angered that three jailed professors remain university employees, turned up the heat on U-W System administrators.

Members of the Legislative Audit Committee complained that it takes far too long for the U-W System to fire convicted felons.

Steve Bablitch will succeed Marc Marotta as the new secretary of the state Department of Administration. Flanked by Bablitch and Marotta, Gov. Jim Doyle announced the changing of the guard at a news conference Monday.

Doyle called Bablitch, the former secretary of the Department of Corrections and CEO of the Cobalt Corp., “one of Wisconsin’s great success stories.”

(Bablitch received his undergraduate and law degrees from UW-Madison.)

Gov. Jim Doyle on Monday named Stephen Bablitch, a close friend who once ran the state’s prison system, to lead the powerful Department of Administration.

The UW System Board of Regents voted Friday to change its employment policies to address criticisms regarding backup jobs and felons, but some state legislators remained skeptical of the proposed changes.

State Department of Administration Secretary Mark Marotta planned to resign Monday afternoon, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle said.

Doyle’s office issued an announcement that the governor planned to appoint a new Cabinet-level secretary at an afternoon press conference

Marotta has served as the governor’s administration secretary since Doyle took office in 2002.

(9/12/05 Capital Times print edition)

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents passed a resolution Friday mandating that the system administration establish policies to assure the public and Legislature that any employee charged with a felony is immediately investigated and that disciplinary action, if any, be determined in a timely manner.

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents set in motion a variety of reforms Friday to curb backup appointments and paid leaves given to university administrators and to speed up the removal of employees convicted of felonies.

West Bend – The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents pledged Thursday to rein in backup appointments and paid leaves granted to university administrators as early as today, saying recent news reports highlighting the perks showed that change was needed.

Following criticism of the UW System for holding “backup” jobs for some UW administrators, a committee of the UW System Board of Regents agreed in West Bend, Wis., Thursday to draft immediate and long-term changes for UW employment practices.

After being ââ?¬Å?blastedââ?¬Â by Fox News Channel program ââ?¬Å?The Oââ?¬â?¢Reilly Factor,ââ?¬Â the University of Wisconsin released an official status report Thursday concerning university employees convicted of felonies.

State legislators are considering a bill that would modify state regulations regarding service dogs used by handicapped people so the rules conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The bill, proposed by Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, would extend the public accommodations law to cover any type of service animal, not just guide dogs. It also would eliminate requirements that a guide dog accompanying a person with a disability must wear a harness or leash and that the person with the animal must present credentials issued by a guide dog training school.

UW-Madison’s 3,000 teaching and project assistants hope upcoming mediation sessions will break the stalemate between their union and state labor negotiating officials.
But before those meetings are held, TAA leaders want to talk to their members, many of whom have just returned from being away for the summer. The meeting with members is slated for late September.

As part of a much-publicized system audit, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly disclosed the number of UW System employees who are provided with back-up appointments and acknowledged the completion of the Paul Barrows report during a Tuesday teleconference.

Top University of Wisconsin officials were grilled by state legislators Tuesday regarding the cost and management of developing a new payroll system that is not usable.

The Appointment, Payroll and Benefits System for the 26-campus university system has already cost $25 million over a five-year period. And UW System President Kevin Reilly and Executive Senior Vice President Don Mash told the Assembly’s Colleges and Universities Committee that they could not at present say how much more it will cost because there are too many unknowns.

MADISON, Wis. — In July, News 3 reported that after spending $25 million tax dollars, the UW System’s Appointment, Payroll and Benefits System is mired in problems and delays. ( Read Original I-Team Report )

On Tuesday, the state Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities started asking questions, but got few definitive answers. Rep. Robin Kreibich, R-Eau Claire and chairman of the committee, asked UW officials, “What would you tell the taxpayers of this state?”

Tuesday morning, Kevin Reilly, UW President and Don Mash, UW Sr. Vice President went before the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities.

They told the committee the reason the new system is behind schedule, is because there wasn’t anyone in charge of keeping the project on track or on budget. Reilly and Mash said more money is needed to complete the transition. But committee members were not convinced.

The University of Wisconsin System came under fire Tuesday for spending $25 million in taxpayer and tuition dollars on a payroll system that may never materialize. Speaking at a state Assembly hearing, UW System leaders said they had taken steps to get an overhaul of the payroll system back on track after five years of mismanagement and $5 million in excess spending. They insisted that even “with its fits and starts,” the project “wasn’t too far off the mark in terms of time and cost.”

A rush of help for hurricane victims has jammed telephone lines at Red Cross offices in Madison and across the country and prompted relief efforts by local groups ranging from Methodists to pagans to Hindus.
“This is a huge, huge outpouring of support,” said Jane Richardson, director of community development for the Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross.

UW-Madison students and professors return to school this year to find the university squirming under a level of state scrutiny not seen since the 1960s, when the flagship campus was ripped apart by war protest and civil unrest.

Almost 1,100 administrators in the University of Wisconsin System have backup positions waiting for them in case they resign or are fired, UW System President Kevin Reilly said Friday.

On August 30, Judge Susan Steingass delivered her final report to UW System President Kevin Reilly and UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear concerning the Paul Barrows investigation. (Under Top Stories tab.)

The president of the University of Wisconsin System released on Friday the first official numbers on back-up appointments – a university perk that has inspired much controversy this summer, saying the release was part of an ongoing commitment to university transparency. Nearly 80% of university administrators – 1,092 employees – have been guaranteed fallback jobs should they decide to step down from their current jobs, according to data compiled by the system. Many work at UW-Madison.

Wisconsin has been adding jobs better than most of its neighbors have. But income and wages are sagging, medical benefits are waning and racial inequality continues to mount – all of which helps explain why the state’s poverty rate has grown more than anywhere else, according to a new report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Like the Watergate scandal, it wasn�t the crime, but the cover-up.

In a controversy that has drawn national attention, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly requested the State Legislature�s Joint Audit Committee assess the UW System�s employment policies and practices last week.

MADISON � A state lawmaker complained Wednesday that a planned speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by an anti-war member of the British parliament and activist Jane Fonda was in poor taste.

UW officials defended the appearance by George Galloway as a matter of free speech, consistent with the university�s mission as a marketplace of ideas.

As legislators are criticizing the University of Wisconsin System for giving paid leave to outgoing administrators, the provost at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Peter D. Spear, says he will not consult for the university after retiring — as he had intended to do — to avoid the controversy. (Second item.)

UW-Madison is offering enrollment in its undergraduate programs to Wisconsin residents whom it has previously accepted. Freshmen and upperclassmen not previously accepted to UW-Madison can continue their education through the university’s Division of Continuing Studies.