Edward E. White, Lawrence
To the editor:
District Attorney Suzanne Valdez has been placed on leave from her job as a KU clinical law professor. She is accused of improperly withholding her students’ final grades as leverage in a $7,500 pay dispute. Valdez’s explanation for withholding the grades is “This was a teaching moment … sometimes you have innocent parties who are caught up.” The students were not “caught up”; Valdez intentionally used them. Valdez’s misconduct is amplified by her inability to appreciate that she is grossly overpaid.
According to openpayroll.com Valdez made about $170,000 in 2019 as an untenured clinical law professor. (The Kansas governor and attorney general make around $100,000.) Her husband, U.S. Attorney Steve McCallister, was the law school dean.
photo by: Meeting screenshot/CJCC
New Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez speaks to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021.
Douglas County’s new law enforcement leaders shared their to-do list with other local criminal justice officials on Tuesday, and they’re envisioning new diversion programs for defendants, making better use of space in the county jail and a variety of other criminal justice reforms.
District Attorney Suzanne Valdez and Sheriff Jay Armbrister were both sworn in on Monday after being elected in November. Both had already been in talks with the staff of the offices they were going to lead before they were sworn in, and on Tuesday they shared with the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council the first projects that they would be working on.
Story updated at 6:06 p.m. Monday:
Douglas County’s new district attorney has been placed on leave and may be fired from her teaching job at the University of Kansas’ law school, after the university criticized her for improperly withholding the final grades of students as leverage in a pay dispute she has with KU.
Suzanne Valdez who was sworn in as the county’s district attorney on Monday morning counters that KU is discriminating against her for past comments that have been critical of how the university conducts its business, especially on matters of equity and investigation of sexual assault cases.
Staff Report
photo by: Orlin Wagner
Big Jay shows off his face mask during the Jayhawks football game against Oklahoma State on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
2020 will always be remembered as the year of the coronavirus pandemic, which, to date, has infected nearly 20 million Americans and killed more than 340,000, including more than 2,500 Kansans.
It will be the story of 2021 as well, and for many of us, the story of our lifetimes. The deadly virus not only relentlessly dominated headlines for 10 months of the year but also affected virtually every aspect of our community and the way we live our daily lives how we interact socially, how we work and attend school, how we entertain ourselves, how our local governments operate and how our businesses and the economy function.
photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World File Photo
Lawrence Police Department vehicles are pictured during the University of Kansas Homecoming Parade in this file photo from Sept. 27, 2018.
Story updated at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday:
The Lawrence Police Department is rolling out its Special Victims Unit, or SVU, that will focus primarily on cases of physical abuse specifically, crimes against children, crimes of a sexual nature and domestic violence, according to a news release.
“LKPD has deliberately focused on the development of the SVU for over a year, and its implementation is a testament to the department’s commitment to a survivor-focused philosophy,” according to the news release from the department on Tuesday.