Here is a picture, grabbed from the video below, of former Chancellor Shields as the word "tenure" passed through his lying lips.
He is saying that tenured faculty members, any tenured faculty member, can be fired if they cross some imaginary, non-specific, unwritten "line of trust" established by the Chancellor on the Chancellor's whim. But the chancellor can commit fraud and forgery without consequence. Is this the leadership we want in our universities? It is time for UW Platteville students, teachers, other employees, and rape victims to tell their stories. Comment below.
Shields is saying that faculty members who report sexual harassment and complain about retaliation (like Dr. Burton) have crossed some hidden line of trust. He trusts that we will keep violations of law to ourselves and watch silently as others are sacrificed to the greater good. In this case, the greater good was Chancellor Shields' career.
Ever wonder why you don't hear about them?
Chancellor Dennis J. Shields, covered up a case of sexual harassment by harassing and firing Dr. Burton after she reported a case of sexual harassment. He refused to follow the laws and policies pertaining to the matter. Imagine what he did to shut up victims of rape. There are many stories of rape, but this is about the mishandling of Dr. Burton's complaints, grievances, and her appeal hearing. We will some day expand this website to include stories of other victims of UW Platteville and other universities.
In the video below Shields addresses the biased, illegally formed, body of conflicted administrators, which called themselves a "faculty appeal panel," and gave them instructions to violate the law. Shields is a lawyer so he knows better.
The American Bar Assn. Rule 3.3 "Candor Toward Tribunal" applies to Shields because he is a lawyer.
In Judge Peterson’s decision of 3-18-16 he wrote that Dr. Burton “enjoyed substantial job security: tenure extends for an unlimited period, and tenured faculty can be dismissed only for just cause... See Wis. Admin. Code UWS § 4.01.”
The illegally formed and biased appeal panel acted on the Chancellor's directions. In their findings they wrote "Dr. Burton breached the trust of colleagues...candor cannot occur without trust...making those recordings available for dissemination in a public medium breaks that trust and discourages candid discussions in the future...Dr. Burton created an atmosphere of distrust."
The Board of Regents decision to fire Dr. Burton included these statements:
-"faculty members are expected to perform their duties in a manner that engenders trust...
-breach of trust and violated the reasonable expectations...
-constituted a breach of trust and violated the reasonable expectations...
-created an atmosphere of distrust...
-breached the trust and reasonable expectations."
So Dr. Burton was fired, not for something she did wrong, but for what some unnamed person did, they distrusted her. Who distrusted her? Well, the decisions are vague on that. But the people who distrusted her were the people violating her rights, like Chancellor Shields. They distrusted that she would shut the hell up about their corrupt actions.
The board's decision states "there is no assertion that Dr. Burton violated the law." Neither did she violate any express rule. So why was she fired, really? They fired her because she violated some vague, unwritten "reasonable expectation?" Really? They don't even say whose expectation was violated. Why wasn't she given a fair hearing? Well, the answer is obvious, some people did not like her complaining that they were violating her rights. Plain and simple. The chancellor's expectation was that she would shut the hell up about his violations of her rights. Is that reasonable? Maybe, if you are a corrupt administrator. But it is not what the law allows.
A tenured faculty member MUST have the right to speak up when she sees corruption. Otherwise we are living in a kingdom, not a democracy.
This highlights only one of the many violations of Dr. Burton's rights. I will try to highlight more in other posts. But you can see the story in the timeline.
Check out the bizarre things Shields did to Dr. Burton. Go to the Public Timeline and search for “Shields” to get his story. I plan to put more on this page as I am able.
If a link is broken let me know and I will look into fixing it.
As of Dec 1st, 2025, Dennis Shields was fired from his role as president of the Southern University System and chancellor of Southern University and A&M College. No reason was given for the decision by the board.
Shields plans join the faculty at Southern’s law school.
Anybody know why he was fired? I would like to know. My guess is that his illegal practices became a liability in today’s environment.
I look forward to responding to your comments. Ask me anything about the case in the comment section. If it is on topic I will answer your question.
Please make your questions specific so I can be specific, in my responses. Include hyperlinks or urls so I know where to go to get the info I need to respond.
Exercising my right to free speech by showing the world what I think of Former UW Platteville Chancellor Dennis J Shields. If he tries to run for government office please let me know so I can target his campaign with the evidence of his corruption that I have compiled. Let’s not let corrupt administrators advance any more. Let’s work together to get corruption out of high places.
Roger L. Burton
Former US Marine Major, Gulf War Veteran, and Harrier Pilot