Monday, December 22, 2014

I Was Going to Wait Until Tomorrow...But: REALLY?!?

I thought I was done for the night, but I just can’t walk away from this…this pathetic attempt at a response. Linda Brady should be laughed out of the city. Is she really Andy Kauffman? Surely there is a hidden camera somewhere just waiting to leap out and yell “surprise!”

I’m referring to the latest salvo limply tossed by UNCG in the ‘moonlighting’ debacle that Mason engineered.

Brady has now complained that the use of personal equipment by the employees in order to do their job was actually not them attempting to do what they needed to do for the betterment of UNCG but actually a problem because:

 “such use of the employee’s personal equipment was inappropriate and could have resulted in the university being liable for the repair or replacement of equipment which it did not own.”

Stop whining.

When Wilson and English covered the ground breaking work that was being done by professor Robert Anemone, Mason refused to allow the employees to invest in the equipment that would be necessary to properly perform their work for the university (this despite the savings that must have landed some extra money for the department budget since the staff was disappearing like chocolate at a Halloween party). Wilson and English, out of dedication to UNCG, purchased the necessary equipment out of their own funds.

How dare they!

This story made the UNCG Now feature, was featured on the Anthropology Department’s website, as well as a number of other high publicity locations and yet, rather than rewarding the staff’s efforts to carry on (as we were all supposed to be doing these difficult economic times…) it has now come back as a complaint against them.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Brady noted that officials found at least 30,000 pictures and 100 invoices for $258,000 worth of work for Artisan. Wonderful, let’s take a look at that.

1) How much of that was work related to Carpen? Why does she keep having to respond to the charges of all three each time the issue is addressed? Is she also David Wilson and Chris English? Has she been wearing a mask? Is she able to change height? That’s something that UNCG might want to capitalize on then.

2) How many of the 100 invoices were for work that was done on UNCG’s ‘time’? What’s that? None? Oh. Okay.

3) That $258,000 is gross, right? That means that their expenses could have been, let’s say, $249,000? So…they made $9,000 in that case. Between 3 people.

4) 30,000 images. I’m not impressed. A single wedding shoot, for example, could be 4,000 images.  But again, how many of those 30,000 were Carpen’s? Why do we keep lumping the three together? Is it because taken individually the case seems even more pathetic than it already is?

UNCG employees were told by Edna Chun and Charlie Maimone at a presentation specifically called to address the confusion and fear that these arrests caused that they should “use common sense” to determine if their activities constituted an ethical violation.

Carpen did more than that, she got the approval of not just one but two of her supervisors. I don’t know from which set of social mores Brady and Mason derive their common sense, but let’s suffice it to say that I’m surprised they can cross the street because simply looking both ways and having a walk/do not walk sign might still not be enough evidence that crossing was permissible. Maybe that’s why Brady’s parking space is so close to her office.

Brady stated: 

“I do not find your belief reasonable that your after-hours use of university-owned equipment was permissible because it did not occur during work hours.”

I wonder how many people find it believable that she is retiring because of a plan she made seven years ago?

Leaving that aside, though. Wasn’t Carpen fired because she signed off on time sheets that were incorrect? If anything else was lodged against her it was that she was doing work using university equipment on university time. Brady was specific in her statement to the faculty and the email transcript. It turns out now that it wasn’t on university time. I wonder if there are any other details that may be, shall we say, less than accurate.

Her final argument is that they could fire anybody they wanted to whenever they wanted to anyway. Well, if that is true, it’s the only part of the argument that stands. There was no reason to fire these 3, no reason to arrest them, and no reason why either Brady or Mason should still be employed except possibly in picking up trash off the side of the highway.

I’m remind of the time that a friend of mine’s daughter was reprimanded for hitting her brother. Her response:

“I didn’t. And I was done anyway.”


Maybe she should be the next chancellor at UNCG.

Visit www.facebook.com/uncgcleanhouse and show your support for transparency and justice at UNCG.

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