… that the whole Marla Ahlgrimm thing (background here) is nothing, don’t mean a thing, fuck off.

Sandy Wilcox, president of the UW Foundation confirmed Ahlgrimm is currently serving on the UW Foundation’s Board of Directors, and said whether she maintains her seat is up to the rest of the board.

Wilcox said the board does not meet in the near future, and only the board members have influence in her status on the board.

Ahlgrimm’s arrest is a separate issue, not relating to her involvement on the board, Wilcox said.

“Her arrest has nothing to do with what she’s done in the past and the fact of the matter is she hasn’t been convicted of anything,” he said.

There’s everything wrong with this response. Let us count the ways.

1.) Whether she stays on the board is not exclusively up to the board. If she’s convicted of running a pill mill (extremely likely), and the board, for whatever reason, cleaveth to her nonetheless, the university will certainly step in and rip her muy embarrassing name off of this page.

2.) The arrest has everything to do with her involvement on the board. If I were a potential donor to the university, and the first name I saw on the list of 2010-2011 board members was a drug pusher, I’d say Hm. Should I give my money to UW, or should I give it to my coke dealer? … Coke dealer.

3.) Her arrest has everything to do with what she’s done in the past. What she’s done in the past is sit on a university board with extremely serious fiscal and ethical responsibilities, while at the same time apparently pack illegal, expensive, and dangerous drugs for delivery to people all over the world.

4.) No, she hasn’t been convicted of anything. But if the University of Wisconsin Foundation’s only basis for dismissing a member of the board jailed for something this serious is the absence of a conviction, it’s got a big problem.