Chancellor John Wiley addressed possibly the most prominent concerns on faculty's minds-sexual harassment, sick leave and vacation policy-in his State of the University address at Monday's Faculty Senate meeting.
After the recent case with former Special Assistant to the Chancellor Paul Barrows, who faces allegations of sexual harassment and took an extended sick leave without a proper doctor's excuse, UW System President Kevin Reilly wrote a letter Sept. 22 to Wiley. In it, Reilly made clear Wiley handled Barrows' sick leave improperly.
\I expect, John, that you will take immediate steps to ensure that UW-Madison has in place mechanisms for the proper documentation of, and accounting for the use of leave,"" Reilly wrote.
Chancellor Wiley said he was unsure of what those changes would be.
""I'm not prepared now to say exactly what those would be, but they will go well beyond what we have imposed in the past,"" he said.
With the Barrows case, Wiley faced heightened frustration with the allegations of sexual harassment.
""Many allegations were made and there were great expectations for me to do something about it, but they were made by people who said 'I will not file a complaint, I will not testify, and I won't put my name to it.' I can't do anything with that,"" he said.
In dealing with sexual harassment, a new policy has been added. There will be mandatory sexual harassment training for those that are appointed to limited terms, he said.
In reference to sick leave, Wiley said, ""There is no way that I can verify what people are doing on every one of these days.""
Wiley said the university needs to watch for patterns with those taking leave and make sure that each one is justifiable. Tighter and stricter rules will also be enforced for leave accounting, he said.
Along with these new policies, Wiley encouraged faculty and staff to voice their opinions and suggestions on how UW-Madison should handle these new issues.
""One of the worst consequences of this ... has been the damage that has occurred to the reputation of the university in the minds of the general public,"" faculty member Jim Donnelly said.
Wiley acknowledged shortcomings in the current UW-Madison sick leave and vacation policies. ""We need to look at our rules,"" he said.
Wiley spoke briefly about victims of Hurricane Katrina, who are currently taking classes at UW-Madison.
""I think we did a remarkable job on welcoming them,"" he said.
