Susan Ladd's Open Letter

Reporter and UNCG faculty member Susan Ladd has written an excellent letter to the incoming Chancellor. I hope that he reads it. I hope that he does more than that, that he takes it to heart.

However, there is an issue that continues to slide out of the spotlight. Yes, Gilliam needs to be not Brady, something he has already given hints of being able to accomplish. A note from one of my sources indicates the direction of the wound:

"HR continues to be the arm for legal to protect the university from her employees. Where is the interest in finding a replacement for Edna Chun? Where are the forums to gather perspectives on how HR can be restructured in order to perform its essential roles? What are the essential roles?"

Benita Peace watched the meltdown and I don't just mean the UNCG3. She's been seeing the slide since well before that. What was her part? If she remains in de facto charge of human resources as the voice of past wisdom, what chance is there for future improvements? She has wrongfully rubbed so many lives, I'm told there will be a parade when she's finally forced out (or, as they say in the trade, 'leaves to pursue other opportunities.') 

She knew all about Paul Mason's past and yet that's how things were handled. She has repeatedly ensured staff that they are without protection and that any problems that exist at work lie wholly and fully with their own individual failure. In other words, she participates in bullying. She is not a 'resource' for 'humans' but rather a 'schill' for 'bullies.' While she must clearly have received some signals from the very public explosions at UNCG, I hate to rely on hints and the ability to read between the lines as a method for making profound change to an individual brought up in a structure of violence. If that worked, we could simply play episodes of 'Full House' on a non stop loop in America's prison and all problems would magically vanish.

Bonita: The first step toward change is admitting that you have a problem. If you don't want to take that step, I'd suggest your other option is to take your first step out the door.

Uptick in Retirements and Outsourcing Employment

You may or may not have noticed, but there has been a sharp uptick in the number of people electing to retire (in addition to all those ‘disappearing’ for other reasons). I would recommend everyone take cover in June because the stampede of people retiring may be somewhat akin to the buffalo thundering over the Great Plains. 

It’s gotten the point where it would be easier if Campus Weekly just printed a list of people who were still employed by UNCG.

The most recent person, but certainly not the last, that I have heard about is the director of undergraduate admissions. She’ll be leaving in June – seems like Bryan Terry’s aggressive charm may have been too much. Dr. Terry has terrorized his employees so much that even off the record, they are reluctant to talk about it. I can see why they would be less than enthusiastic about the possibility of turning to human resources for assistance…

What kind of impact has his presence had on enrollment? It’s hard to say, I’m sure there are some specifically worded questions that could be cagily answered that would address that. I do know that staff enrollment is declining – maybe we need a vice chancellor for employment enrollment. Oh, wait. Isn’t that what human resources was supposed to be? Fudge.

Here are some suggestions for administration on how to stanch the flow of faculty and staff to other institutions:

1. Tag and release. Implant a microchip in the back of the neck of each person working at UNCG. Then, when they ‘retire’ or ‘move on to better opportunities’ or ‘escape in the night taking all of their belongings with no notice’ we can learn where they are and send game trackers to bring them back to the flock.

2. Dogs. It works with sheep, plus we can have a vice chancellor of canines then.

3. Fencing. No, not the kind with swords, the kind with chain link, about 12’ high. Too bad we already built that tunnel under the tracks, so we’ll have to barricade that now as well. Set up a couple of check points, give the employees passports and make them check in. Of course, we’ll have to confiscate all 13’ ladders.

4. Leash laws. All employees found off leash will be subject to a fine.

5. Incentives. No, never mind, that one’s just crazy.

No matter. We’ll just outsource everything – we’ll become the first ever residential college with a solely online presence.

UNCG's Big Bang

If what Edna Chun says is true, that she was pressured into revealing names that should have been kept confidential and that she was working in a hostile work environment, doesn’t that demonstrate that A. there are significant problems in HR with confidentiality and B. She doesn’t know how to address the very situations for which she was hired? So, she has admitted failure (revealing names) and incompetence (inability to address a hostile work environment). I wouldn’t think she’d need a lot more than that to explain why she was fired.

And what about Benita Peace in all of this? It would seem to me that since Chun has been sent packing, Peace should be pushing things into a suitcase too. If Chun has been fired for the reasons that the university would like to provide as legal reasons for non-renewal (as opposed to because she was Asian and 68). After all, the main difference between Chun and Peace then seems to be age (Peace is 59, Chun 68) and race (Peace is African-American, Chun is Asian-American).

In which case, Chun is correct, she was treated differently and is being dismissed as a result of race and age.

I’m sorry, I think I just opened up a wormhole in the universe.

Let me see if this still makes sense:

Either, Chun was fired because of failure and incompetence which means that Peace should be fired too.

Or, she was fired because of her race and age, which would be demonstrated by Peace having not been fired.

So…UNCG should either fire Peace or admit to racism and ageism…which sounds like a HR problem…and should definitely lead to some lost jobs for their supervisors as the very things for which they were ostensibly fired (failure and incompetence.) Which might mean that Charlie Maimone should be fired (and he’s white, so that would truly demonstrate that the firings weren’t about race…I haven’t the foggiest idea how old he is). If he isn’t fired, it must be because Chun is lying…a perfectly good reason to fire her.

Ouch, my head hurts.

Add to that, though, the fact that when Chun was fired from her position in HR at Broward, she filed a grievance claiming discrimination AND she was fired because of claims of discrimination.

This is a twisted mess.

I wouldn’t be surprised if even Stephen Hawking wouldn’t be able to explain UNCG’s Big Bang.

Edna Chun’s Sad Tale or As the World Turns at UNCG

All right, I finally did it. I broke down and bought an ergonomic keyboard. I simply can’t keep up with the pace of the UNCG soap opera if they are going to keep churning out news at this rate. I really am going to have to ask for health insurance and a pension if they keep me working full time like this.

The News and Record reported yesterday that Chun has filed a grievance with UNCG.

The irony was not lost on me. I think it would have been considered heavy handed as a story line even in the world of daytime television, but this is reality where no such bars on the purest melodrama exist.

Chun’s angle is that she was fired because of her age (68) and her ethnicity (Asian). She certainly wasn’t fired because of her abilities (insignificant) or her strength of character (absent).

One of her primary complaints isn’t that she was innocent of royally screwing up but that she wasn’t extended the courtesy of being allowed to resign or retire rather than be fired.

Wait, I’m tearing up and I can’t see the screen clearly.

Okay.

In other words, she is the first one that has been dealt with appropriately. That has got to hurt.

Somebody more fluent than I in the subtleties of this system might need to fill us in, but I would imagine that if you retire or resign you get a different set of benefits than if you are fired. At the very least you get to save face.

Something that doesn’t happen, of course, if you are carted away in handcuffs and your mug shot is posted for all the world to see.

But I digress.

So, she wasn’t given the velvet handshake. Also, she says, she doesn’t know why she was fired. And she didn’t have anything to do with the UNCG3 anyway. And Paul Mason made her do it.

I’m having a hard time processing all of those different angles at the same time. She didn’t do it, except for that they made her do it, and she doesn’t know why they fired her, but she didn’t do it anyway, so it doesn’t matter. I think that’s the argument.

Pulling together all of his talents as a university spokesman and after a lengthy incantation to invoke the muses, Joe Gallehugh responded bravely on behalf of UNCG with words that are sure to echo through the ages much as the speeches recorded by Tacitus in his Histories that the university couldn’t comment.

Chun is showing some backbone in refusing to allow others off the hook and go silently. Of course, it would have been helpful earlier if she had brought it to the public’s attention that Paul Mason had demanded to know the names of those who had filed grievances against him and pressured her to dismiss the matter. Also, apparently her supervisor, Charles Maimone created a hostile work environment – something Chun suddenly seems to clearly understand.

But if she wants to call out the whole rat’s nest, I would advise everyone to put on goggles and gloves because it’s going to get dirty.

Maybe Lyda Carpen can offer Chun some pointers about going through the grievance process. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Carpen is too busy these days to have time to help.

Edna Chun Should Start Packing

When I was job-hopping through college and in the years after it, I remember hearing that it was important that I show people I could hold a job.

I’m now questioning that advice. It seems like the people who have been holding down the fort at UNCG for the longest are not the ones who are rising to the top. Instead we get people like Edna Chun and Paul Mason who seem to think that a two-year stint at a single employer is long enough.

No wonder they fire or drive away employees with 15, 20, 25 year histories with UNCG – it just seems suspicious to them that somebody would stay that long somewhere unless they were getting some illicit benefit. Having never worked anywhere long enough to become part of the community, they don’t trust that it is possible to become loyal to a place.

When Chun joined UNCG in 2011, they boasted of her past which included three years at SUNY Geneseo (2003 – 2006), one year at Brooklyn College of the City of NY (2002 – 2003), and two years at Kent State University (2000 – 2002). Her record holding length of employment was a five year period with Broward College where she served as vice president for human resources.

Unfortunately for Chun, it seems that the longer-term employment at Broward didn’t agree with her. In 2010, Chun was a finalist for the position of Chancellor of Peralta Community College district. That search was eventually restarted after all three of the finalists were rejected by a unanimous vote from the board.

This must have come as quite a blow to her since she had recently been fired by the Broward College President J. David Armstrong. The racial discrimination charges were brought to the administration by an employee and deemed sufficiently damning to lead to her dismissal with full and unanimous approval by the Broward College Board of Trustees.

And so UNCG continued in its new habit of taking in wayward administrators and added Chun to our ranks.

You would think Chun at least would have picked up a thing or two about dealing fairly and equitably with employees, but she seems to have remained confused about the relationship between race and the right to a healthy work environment when she told various UNCG employees that if they weren’t a member of a protected group, there just wasn’t a darn thing human resources could do about continued harassment.

This does raise the question: exactly what is the job of human resources, then?

And

Isn’t it about time that Chun moseyed on to her next short term bout of employment?

After all, if you stay in one place too long, your incompetence is bound to catch up to you.

The Chancellor Needs to Answer

Now there has been a settlement, the final admission by the university that it didn't have a leg to stand on. Not one, not a stump, not a lean-to, not a dream, not a prayer. There wasn't even a whimper despite the promised bang.

Where is the evidence of egregious wrong doing now?

The lies should stick in Linda Brady's throat.

And if the faculty had any guts at all, they would be at her office on Monday morning demanding that she answer for herself. She should beg our forgiveness and she should leave now. There isn't enough crow to serve her what she deserves.

This. Is. Unacceptable.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.
Expect us.

20 Money Saving Ideas for UNCG

Dear faculty, staff and students,

As we all struggle together to determine ways for UNCG to thrive in these times of continued budget shortfalls, my staff and I have worked hard to develop the following new policies.

1. Employees will be charged for units of heat absorbed by their bodies (or conversely for the units of air that have to be cooled given the heat they radiate) in any and all campus buildings they occupy during working hours. Just because you work here doesn't mean that the air temperature has to be modulated for free!

2. Henceforth all UNCG employees must supply their own toilet paper. After all, that's the most personal business that I can think of and, frankly, you should have thought of that before you left for work.

3. Departments will now need to pay for any capital letters they wish to use in printed materials as these letters require more ink and therefore cost the university money. This goes for any frivolous punctuation such as the semi-colon and the asterisk.*

4. Employees are not to use the letters U, N, C, or G after working hours, especially not for personal business which would be in direct conflict then to the interests of the university. That's our name, don't wear it out.

5. Electron offset forms must be filled out for any content sent via email that is not directly work related. Employee paychecks will be deducted for electron overage on a month to month basis.

6. No employee may use trash or recycling receptacles at work for personal refuse. Carry your lunch wrapper home with you. In fact, don't eat lunch unless you plan on deducting it from your vacation time.

7. Due to budget cuts, each department will now only be allowed one keyboard.

8. There will be no more self parking on campus. All parking will now be valet to be overseen by the new Vice Assistant Associate Chancellor of Parking. Remember to tip.

9. Should a member of the upper administration be confronted by a puddle or other daunting obstacle, the closest staff member should use their body as a bridge to shield the executive from the emotional stress of having to overcome the egregious difficulty.

10. All campus mail will be C.O.D.

11. No desk or work area may have more than one photo of a child or loved one. This will be overseen by the Director of Visual Representations, who is directly under the Vice Chancellor for Familial Management and External Relationships. And for God's sake, don't print the photo on the campus printer...which brings us to number 12...

12. Staff across campus will now share one printer. It is currently out of toner and you must supply your own paper and electrical current.

13. The Associate Sub Vice Chancellor for Writing Implements will be the primary billing agent for any pencil sharpening requests. Yes, you will be billed for the requests. There will be no actual pencil sharpening.

14. All requests for necessary office supplies must be filled out five years in advance via a form that is indicated by a broken link on the UNCG website.

15. Rather than offering all of these different 'sections' of 'courses' in 'majors' across campus, all students will now be enrolled in a single section offered once at the beginning of the semester. Faculty will be reduced to, approximately, one grossly underpaid adjunct.

16. Human Resources will be outsourced to Albania. All contact must be made by mail and will be returned unopened.

17. To reduce the costs associated with data management, all employee email will now be archived for no longer than 30 seconds.

18. Anyone with a last name longer than five letters will have an overage surcharge deducted from their pay.

19. Faculty and Staff senate meetings will be replaced with 'Donations Hour' allowing members who attend to leave the room only after emptying their pockets, wallets, and purses.

20. Christmas is cancelled.


Thank you for all you do for UNCG!

Sincerely,

Linda P. Brady

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*Administrative asterisks excepting.