As Adele Says: Rumor Has It

Word on the street is that Sherri MacCheyne is looking for a new job. She just graduated with some sort of degree, so maybe it’s time for her to move on. Or, maybe it’s just difficult for her to walk around a campus filled with people who know that she would sell them out sooner than look at them. I’ve always believed in the possibility of a fresh start. I’m sure there are any number of people who would be willing to give her a recommendation – I would hope after all she’s done for Paul Mason he at least has the dignity to serve as a reference.

It is going to have an impact on the shape of leadership at UNCG, however because Sherri was selected to participate in UNCG’s LeadershipInstitute, something others had wanted to have the benefit of but were told they couldn’t because of their SPA status, and now, she might not even be around to finish it. Sherri is an SPA employee as well, but, as we all know by now, she’s special.

Brady’s take on the Leadership Institute is that its purpose is, “to promote a culture of excellence and inclusion.” I think we can all get behind those values and I’d suggest that maybe Brady should consider going through the program during her year off with full pay. I don’t think she’ll be doing any more leading anytime soon, but it might help her to understand so much of what she has been experiencing over the last six years at UNCG. Her final project could be a letter of apology.

It’s not all bad news though, Brady has promised that there will be a letter indicating that no further property acquisition outside of the boundaries outlined in the 2010 Revised Vision Plan.

Although I know it can be a bit difficult to get excited about the promise of a forthcoming letter indicating that UNCG might not do any more damage than it already planned to do, but we have to consider how low the bar has been set. Brady also will most likely not kill or eat anybody prior to her retirement either. So, there’s that.

On another note, I sent my previous post regarding Funk’s contact with two hiring scandals on to his offices. Several hours later a comment appeared suggesting that I had mischaracterized the issue at FSU and that the piece I wrote did not constitute particularly stellar journalism. So as to not misrepresent what the commenter wrote, I reproduce it here in its entirety:

As far as the FSU search, a pretty gross mischaracterization. Funk emailed the board warning them they were conducting a "sham" search and urged them to vote yes or no on Thrasher without the façade of a search. And to compare the impact of a firm that just placed the President at Ohio State to that of Katrina..... Frankly it makes me curious to know whether your efforts are directed at riling up a faculty and poisoning the well or even anything close to a legitimate effort at journalism of any sort. Solid selective headline reading research, though! 
Hopefully this isn't representative of all your work.

I do respect the sarcasm (there’s everything but a smiley face emoticon at the end of the first paragraph!) A closer reading of my post would reveal that I had not compared the firm to Katrina but rather had suggested that vague language such as “enormous impact” does not necessarily indicated “positive impact.”

I also do have to admit that I did not read every single article ever written about both searches. Instead, I read many of them, found that after a while apparently different sources simply reprint verbatim what was written elsewhere, and so spoke directly to the people who I know at FSU and WVU about the circumstances and drew my conclusions. I have known about both of these issues, since they occurred and the only surprise to me when I first started investigating R. William Funk was that his was the firm that brought the universities these treasures.

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge that I am not a journalist. If I were, this would be a newspaper or some other form of news media. This is a blog and I am an advocate. I have a great deal of respect for journalists and do not want it to be thought that because I write a blog I fancy myself to be among them. That being said, I will issue one amendment to my previous post. I should have indicated that it was possible that Funk’s firm wasn’t guilty of back room dealings in bringing Thrasher to FSU, he might also have simply been a tool.

I’ll leave it up to him to decide which characterization he prefers and hope that he can prove himself to be neither in the search for UNCG’s new chancellor.

UNCG Leadership Search: Funk and Scandal

President Tom Ross spoke to the faculty senate and attendees regarding the upcoming search to replace UNCG’s disgraced chancellor. He stated that he was hoping for someone with integrity, courage, charisma, and vision. I think that’s a good start – it would certainly be a change. Unfortunately, he, and most members of the Board of Trustees believe the best way to get that is by conducting a search where the candidates don’t have to reveal who they are. That is exactly how we received Linda Brady, despite her history of scandal at NCSU (in fact, faculty from NCSU actually contacted faculty at UNCG to warn them of what they were going to be getting) and at Oregon State.

Add to this the fact that the search committee hired to perform this ‘service’ has its own history of scandal. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill “I used a work laptop for personal business after hours with permission of my supervisors” type of scandal. During his time as headhunter for the Florida State University presidential search R. William Funk ignored faculty input and the public advice of the university’s presidential search committee or made backroom deals that left John Thrasher, chairman of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s reelection campaign, as the only candidate.

And so, Funk received a vote of no confidence by the Florida State University’s faculty senate.

Maybe it’s time we stop taking Florida State University’s rejects. They let go Kim Record and we snatched her up…are we planning on learning from our mistakes?

However, instead of seeing the ‘egregious’ nature of this history as a hindrance, the UNCG website reads:

“During the past two decades, no higher education search firm has had a greater impact on college and university leadership nationally than RWFA and its consultants.”

I would also suggest that it would be nice to know if that impact had been positive – its simply quantity is less than reassuring as Hurricane Katrina could also be said to have had an enormous ‘impact.’

Funk was also responsible for the 2007 West Virginia University search that led to the hiring of Michael Garrison former governor’s lobbyist who, up until the announcement of the presidential candidate finalists was the chairman of the Higher Education Policy Commission – the body responsible for final say on who becomes the president of WVU. Garrison went on to ‘an early retirement’ in disgrace after less than a year because of a degree he was involved in awarding to a non-graduate who was…the then-governor’s daughter. Faculty had given a vote of no confidence in the search that netted Garrison. Do you see a pattern here?

I couldn’t make this stuff up. Well, I could, but the people would be smarter about it.

And yet, our administration, the Board of Trustees, Board of Governors, and Tom Ross seem to think that the greatest conflict of interest to have ever occurred is the occasional freelance work done by Lyda Carpen on behalf of two of her colleagues. I think we have an issue of proportion to address here.

While we’re talking about West Virginia University, another similarity existed in the rumors that ex-President Garrison would step into a teaching position after his resignation. There are similar rumors pertaining to Linda Brady who has been inquiring into the possibilities for teaching a course in the Education department. Let’s hope that we can follow WVU by rejecting such a horrifying prospect. In fact, here’s something else we might take to heart from WVU in this report from Inside Higher Ed:

Boyd Edwards, who headed a group called Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility, which pressured Garrison to resign, said he’s concerned the university’s recent history will deter strong candidates. That said, Edwards said he thinks members of the Board of Governors may have been sufficiently shamed into providing a fair process that will garner faculty support.

“If I were applying at West Virginia University, I would need assurances of some kind that the search would be open and transparent, but I believe that there is hope even in that,” he said. “I think the Board of Governors has learned some lessons, and I trust them not to try any tricks on this next presidential search.”

The board has an opportunity to send a message, starting with the selection of an interim president that could have a calming affect on campus, according to James Ferrare, president of Academic Search, a firm that specializes in hiring university presidents. Governing boards also have to take steps to assure candidates that the process will be fair.  He added.

“Let’s face it, everyone has their chin on the ground right now there,” he said. “And I think the faculty, and staff and students are looking for someone to carry the flag and say ‘hey, let’s show everyone who we really are.’“

Since the UNC system and the Board of Trustees seems to believe that the firing and arrest of Carpen was justified based on even the worst case scenario of what she has been absolved of committing, then if I were R. William Funk, I’d think several times before I’d set foot in the state of North Carolina.