Total $591,050 paid to settle UW-Madison sexual harassment cases in past decade

Undergraduate female students lodged seven sexual harassment complaints against University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, academic staffers and graduate students over the past decade, including one that resulted in a firing.

That's according to hundreds of pages of heavily redacted documents from a total of 20 sexual harassment cases since 2008 that were released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other news outlets this week.

Six cases filed by female employees since 2008 led to settlements totaling $591,050. Of that amount, $100,000 came from the UW Hospital and Clinic Authority, while the rest came from state funds.

Three settlements were for six-figure amounts of $250,000, $200,000, and $119,000.

The latter two cases involved employees of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

In one student case last fall, an unidentified academic staffer in an unnamed department was fired after a university investigation found he exploited "uneven power dynamics" with a female undergraduate.

The staffer pursued a sexual relationship with the student via texting and social media, frequently called her into his office, and sexually assaulted her several times after she made it clear she did not want to engage in sexual activity with him, according to the documents.

The staffer first met the student on a bus on the way to the first Badgers home football game. She initially participated in "friendly, if not flirtatious messaging" with him, according to the university's investigation.

While she made it clear she did not want to engage in sexual activity with him in his office, he "more likely than not" proceeded anyway, the investigation concluded.

The female student told university investigators that on her first official day at work, the staffer came into her office area and flirted with her. He asked her to come to his office when her shift ended. When she did, he closed the door behind her and wheeled his office chair over to block the door.

According to the student, the staffer told her he wanted to "service" her, and "take care of her needs." She said she responded: "You're married."

When he tried to touch her, she attempted to leave, but he held her between his legs while still sitting in his chair. He told her he wanted to "change her mind" and that she could not leave until she laid on the floor under his desk. When she did, he removed her pants and continued sexual activity despite her protests, according to the student.

Documents released to news outlets were redacted by the university. Officials said they redacted graduate student cases because students are protected by federal law. Any words that could lead to identifying women who complained they were sexually harassed also were redacted, university officials said.

RELATED: UW students accuse teachers of sexual harassment in more than half of all campus cases

Eleven of the 20 sexual harassment cases against UW-Madison employees since 2008 were formally investigated by the university, and seven went straight to court. Two additional cases were handled through an alternative resolution process.

In six of the 11 cases formally investigated by the university, employees were found to be responsible for sexual harassment. Evidence in the other five was deemed insufficient.

Of the seven cases involving undergraduate female students, three of the accused were graduate students, two were unidentified faculty members, one was a visiting instructor in the international division and the seventh was the academic staffer who was fired.

Five of the seven employees accused of sexually harassing students no longer work at the university, including the visiting instructor who was not invited back.

One unnamed faculty member still employed by the university was notified that his conduct involving an undergraduate student who worked in his lab was inappropriate and unprofessional.

The faculty member allegedly asked the student to create invitations for his child's birthday party, invited her to the party, invited her to a social event at a sports bar, and sent a late-night text on the date of the social event, asking whether she had arrived.

A clinical faculty member accused of sexual harassment of a student is still employed by the College of Pharmacy, but was removed from a teaching position and directorship. He also was notified that his conduct was inappropriate and unprofessional

All told, four faculty members and four academic staffers were accused of sexual harassment in university-investigated cases.

Two academic staffers named in cases are still employed by the university. One in the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences was accused of gender discrimination and creating a hostile workplace, and the other in the College of Letters & Science was given a written warning about his actions.

A sociology graduate student still at the university was re-assigned to a non-teaching role after he was accused of inappropriate sexual advances on students in his class, and of sexually assaulting one student. He is leaving at the end of the semester, according to UW-Madison spokeswoman Meredith McGlone.

The largest lawsuit settlement — for $250,000 — was in 2008, and involved accusations against three male employees in Facilities Planning and Management, including two supervisors.

One of the supervisors made unwelcome and unsolicited sexual advances, according to the female accuser.

She said he asked her to have sex with him.

When she rejected his advances, he retaliated with unwarranted discipline and unfavorable working conditions that were not similarly imposed on male co-workers, according to the lawsuit she filed against the university.

The female employee said she refused an attempt to transfer her to a different position because she considered it retaliation for filing three formal discrimination complaints. She eventually resigned.

At the time she was hired, she was the only female employee at the location (the location was redacted by UW-Madison) and there were no female restrooms at her work site, according to the lawsuit she filed against the university.

She was forced to share a locker room and bathroom with male co-workers for almost two years until an equivalent female facility was created.

She also claimed she was repeatedly subjected to verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature, and to discrimination and retaliation by male co-workers and supervisors.

The $200,000 settlement involved a lesbian building trades employee in the School of Medicine and Public Health. She alleged a pattern of discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and her severe asthma.

She filed her complaint after she was passed over for a job in favor of a male employee.

Among other things, the female employee alleged that pictures of undressed women and various lewd pictures and comments were left on her work cart.

The settlement for $119,000 involved a female employee in the UW Medical School's department of OB/Gyn and two male supervisors. She said she was subjected to a work environment of inappropriate, crude and offensive language on a daily basis.

Among the examples she cited:

One supervisor sent an email to several female employees with a photo of a male cow humping a female cow while she was pinned with her head to the ground under a fence. He routinely emailed similar "cartoons" to female staff, she alleged.

When she went to the Human Resources office to file a complaint, the employee said she was handed a performance evaluation that she didn't know existed. A female HR employee threatened to fire her, and told her to quit if she didn't like the behavior of her male supervisors, according to her complaint.

Two sexual harassment complaints involved graduate students in the Department of Sociology who allegedly pressured undergraduate females for out-of-class contact, including sex.

A third case in an undisclosed department in 2012 involved a graduate student making comments in class that upset female students, including references to pole dancing and sugar daddies that were irrelevant to what was being discussed.

He also singled out a female student in a class, and inappropriately texted her, asking what she was doing that day, if she was going out, and what year she was born. He got her cell number after sending her an email that she assumed her classmates also received, but did not. She ended up dropping the class.

Female students in previous classes raised additional concerns when interviewed by a university investigator. One said that during a discussion in his office, he asked if she had a boyfriend, and told her she and he were alike because they both wanted people they can't have, and for him "sometimes it's students."

The student who filed the complaint told a Journal Sentinel reporter: "The classroom is not this guy's dating pool."

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank issued a statement Monday on her blog, Blank's Slate, about the records released to the Journal Sentinel and other news organizations that requested them in December.

The records requests were filed as workplace sexual harassment cases across the country garnered big headlines as part of a #MeToo protest. Several high-profile men in Hollywood and elsewhere were fired for their behavior.

"I understand the interest in how our university has responded to this issue. It’s part of a broad national movement that is rightly challenging institutions, public and private, to do better," Blank wrote.

Previous open records requests filed by the Journal Sentinel revealed in January that among all 13 four-year campuses and 13 two-year colleges in the UW System, some 100 complaints of employee sexual misconduct — either harassment and/or assault — were formally investigated since 2014.

Those cases specifically involved teaching, supervisory and advising staff — not all university staff.

"Every person on this campus – whether a student, staff member or faculty member – deserves a learning and working environment that is free from harassment," Blank blogged Monday.

"The attention being paid to sexual harassment and misconduct has given us a unique opportunity to raise awareness about our campus policies, resources and reporting options," she said.

Blank noted that complaints arose in units across campus, both academic and non-academic, involving faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students.

Departments and units took steps such as additional training for faculty, staff and students or forming climate committees to address these concerns more systemically, she said.

The university has begun emphasizing centralized reporting to ensure complaints are handled consistently and patterns of problems are identified because historically, much of the reporting of and response to sexual harassment happened at the departmental level.

"We are now requiring that all such complaints have to be reported to the campus Title IX Coordinator, so all complaints are centrally known and appropriately addressed," Blank said in her blog post Monday.

Blank said departments are reaching out earlier and with greater frequency in response to recent training efforts. She said the university would provide additional mandatory training this summer.

As a result of those efforts, the chancellor predicted the number of sexual harassment complaints and investigations likely will increase.

"If so, that’s not cause for discouragement," she said. "We know that most incidents of sexual harassment, like sexual assault, go unreported but that as awareness increases, more people feel able to come forward."

The university also is adding investigative staff within the Office of Compliance to help respond to sexual harassment complaints, according to the chancellor.

"As always, I want to emphasize that help is available, including confidential support, for anyone encountering sexual harassment or misconduct so they can choose a resource that is most comfortable for them," she said.

"Here at UW, our efforts to combat sexual harassment began before the issue made headlines and I assure you they will continue."