Judge tosses former Whitewater student’s harassment lawsuit

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has tossed out a former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student’s lawsuit that alleged UW System officials failed to prevent the school chancellor’s husband from sexually harassing her and other women.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller dismissed the case in March after the former student, Stephanie Goettl Vander Pas, and her attorney repeatedly failed to preserve and withheld records UW officials requested as part of the discovery process in the case, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday.

Vander Pas in 2018 publicly accused Alan Hill, husband of UW-Whitewater’s then-chancellor, Beverly Kopper, of sexual harassment. Ray Cross, who was the UW System president at the time, banned Hill from the Whitewater campus and stripped him of his job as Kopper’s associate in response to other allegations that Hill had sexually harassed several women dating back to 2015.

Kopper resigned in December 2018.

Vander Pas filed the lawsuit in 2021 arguing that UW-Whitewater violated Title IX, a federal law designed to protect students and employees from sexual misconduct on campus. The action sought unspecified damages.

The Journal Sentinel reported that Stadtmueller dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled.