A sad time for UW

As promised, here are some links to the Herald articles on the Paul Barrows affair: our first news story tackles the Steingass report and Luoluo Hong’s once-confidential letter to John Wiley; our second one discusses the fallout and assorted other documents; and, finally, our editorial comes down on the administration for the cover-up that has rocked Madison.

To put the enormity of this story – and the sheer magnitude of relevant documents – in perspective, an average news piece in the Herald runs in the neighborhood of 500-600 words. An average editorial is approximately 350 words. The lead news story today flirts with the 2000 word mark, the second news piece comes in just shy of 1000 words and the editorial is in the neighborhood of 800 words. Excessive? The Wisconsin State Journal is also leading with a 2000 word piece, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – an out of town newspaper – has more than 1,000 words, and the Daily Cardinal also ponied up a duo of stories in addition to an editorial.

In fact, in an effort to illustrate the sheer size of the documents that were all simultaneously released today, the Herald is also including a full page spread in tomorrow’s paper with selective excerpts from the report.

News coverage aside, a few thoughts on the actual scandal and what has been learned with the release of these documents: the University of Wisconsin is in a lot of trouble. Professor Clark, who feloniously stalked an ex-girlfriend, is bad news for the school. Professor Coronado, who molested three young women, is even worse news. And Lewis Keith Cohen, who attempted to solicit sex from a young boy over the Internet and then was found to be serving his prison sentence through a work release on campus, may be the worst news of all three. But Mr, Barrows brings an entirely different element to the table. While his crimes – if there are any at all – may not rise to the level of Messrs. Clark, Cohen and Coronado, his seniority is damning unto itself. Few people on campus were more powerful than him. That almost every one of those people is now involved in the story, either by assisting in the orchestration of the ensuing cover up or via other means, merely worsens the entire situation.

Two and a half weeks ago, I went on cable television to defend the chancellor in wake of Mr. Coronado’s wrongdoings hitting the national news circuit. Today, I found myself on the phone with a national newspaper discussing the Barrows affair, among other things. The spotlight is firmly on Madison – by the time news outlets are interviewing student newspaper editors, you know they are wed to the story – and the school has rarely looked worse than it does now.

With all of the once-concealed documents apparently now released, might this story just go away? Ordinarily, the answer would be yes. With openness and full disclosure from the wrong-doing parties, stories rarely have legs. But in an irony entirely fitting this bizarre circumstance, Mr. Barrows’ lawsuit filed against Mr. Wiley and Ms. Hong looks to be the thing that might well keep UW in the headlines for a little while longer.