Joe Gallehugh Doesn't Want To Communicate

Don’t even ask.

No, it doesn’t matter what. The point is you shouldn’t ask.

Joe Gallehugh has nothing to say on behalf of UNCG. This shouldn’t be too surprising since he doesn’t work here. He is, somehow, however in charge of communications. Didn’t we once have a bunch of people doing that? I feel like I remember a whole department worth of people who were dedicated to it…I don’t know, must have been a dream.

Joe has decided that to build on the atmosphere of trust and transparency he will pre-emptively tell journalists that whatever the question they had and to whomever it was directed there is simply nobody anywhere who has anything to say in response to it.

Margaret Moffet received just such an unsolicited refusal to comment after leaving messages with several UNCG administrators. Rather than discover pesky details such as what the questions were that she wanted to ask, Gallehugh demonstrated his leaderesque excellence quality by bestowing on the literary world the following bit of Shakespearean prose:

"No one from UNCG has a comment for your story scheduled for this weekend’s News & Record.”

Look at that quality!

It has quite a ring to it, doesn’t it? As if the bard himself were now in charge of screwing our courage to the sticking place.

Or, at least, something is being screwed.

A quick call to his “office” was answered by the following message:

“Due to privacy, I cannot disclose the number which you have dialed. However, in the unfortunate likelihood that you are calling to ask a question, please press three and your call will be immediately directed to the back of my hand because UNCG has nothing to say to you.”

Portrait of Joe Gallehugh

I wonder if there will be answers to questions posed for weekday editions of the News & Record? Maybe this is really just a statement on the oppressive presence of work even during days that should be given wholly to rest and renewal. Maybe he meant that the answers were so complex he wished to schedule an in depth conversation in order to fully explain the nuances and ensure complete understanding. Maybe he meant that there are people who don’t work for UNCG who could better answer any questions. Maybe he meant that next weekend would work better.

Somehow, I doubt it.

Instead, I think what he meant was: 

“Out, damned spot! Out, I say! … What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?”