Once Upon a Time: A Tale of Faculty Bullying

In light of the recent faculty satisfaction survey and the lack of an accompanying staff satisfaction survey, I wanted to paint a picture of some of the things that staff experience while working here at UNCG. It is unfortunate, but bullying is not confined to the upper administration and if we are looking to recreate UNCG as a positive working environment we can neither assume inherent and homogenous benevolence on the part of one part of our community nor complete and unanimous wrong doing on another.

Too many people assumed that by removing Linda Brady, all that had gone wrong at UNCG would disappear. However, there has still been absolutely no acknowledgement by either those who have managed to cling to power or by those who have come to assume it of the wrongs that were done. The absence of any such profession of truth has left some of these bullies with the feeling that their particular brand of abuse is sanctioned and that they enjoy absolute immunity to continue unchecked.

Let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time, in a department not far away there was an administrative assistant named Cordelia*. Cordelia had graciously served the department and was a dedicated and hard working member of the community known as Uncglandia. She made phone calls, scheduled appointments, supervised a band of student workers, and generally made herself most useful. She was pleasant and polite and her value was obvious to all. Well, to nearly all...

You see, in this otherwise idyllic department in Uncglandia there was a creature who could only raise herself up by pushing others down. On the outside, this creature looked very much like any one else, but all those who had come into contact with her over the years had found themselves in a desperate struggle to maintain their sanity in the face of her unpredictable and irrational assaults. Unfortunately, this creature had imbibed of the potion known as 'tenure' and it had caused her become nearly invincible and to further swell with pride.

Innocent Cordelia had come to this department unsuspecting of the nature of this creature. Many of those who had been given this same potion had used its protective power to fight valiantly, to explore bravely, or to create beauty. And so, Cordelia was surprised to find herself the object of its wrath. She began to be ever more fearful as the slightest wind could blow the creature in to breathe fire down her throat, leaving her in tears and the recipient of sympathy from kind, but equally powerless, graduate students.

Whenever Cordelia tried to answer the creature's questions or respond to its baseless accusations, the creature put out her hand and silenced her with a gesture born of her power. The vile words and unreasonable demands could be heard echoing through the hallways, infecting everyone with their poison. It was clear that no matter where this creature resided, it would bring naught but terror, trial, and confusion.

One day, after a particularly bad bout of burning had been visited on Cordelia, a young and noble graduate student dared to comfort Cordelia in her sorrow.

"Is there nothing that can be done to stop these outrages? This abuse of your goodness surely cannot go unchecked!" The graduate student declared.

"Alas," sighed Cordelia, "I believe I must resign myself to my lot as the creature has imbibed from the fountain of tenure. Sadly, there is nothing to be done except for me to contemplate my escape to somewhere more peaceful."

Turning away, she remembered all of the others who had been lost in this same way. Uncglandia was growing weaker as vibrant and vital members of its community were driven to flee from the onslaught of this creature and others like her. Some had appealed to the grand high Vice Chancellor's for help but it had been discovered that they were nothing if not the very source of the corruption in the land. They sanctioned evil actions and punished those who dared cry out and they remained afoot, despite the mysterious disappearances that had troubled their ranks.

I ask you, dear reader, what is to be done? Is Cordelia to be allowed to suffer? Is there no power that can rise and speak the magic incantation that will either banish or cure these terrible creatures?

To be continued...

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*names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Officially Discovering What We Already Knew

There's nothing like a blinding flash of the obvious.

Last year, UNCG administered a survey known as the COACHE survey in order to make an effort to measure faculty satisfaction. Just on the off chance that outbursts, protests, letters, the AAUP survey, position statements, and general conversation didn't REALLY represent what faculty were feeling.
If there's one thing I always say about the faculty is that they are uncommunicative; it's just so hard to get them to really open up and talk...

In any case, Provost Dunn created a PowerPoint that summarizes the findings from this survey. Here are the absolutely unsurprising results:

It turns out, faculty are generally satisfied with each other and their departmental leaders (although that falls off a bit at full professor - probably not difficult to understand why that might be). Faculty are generally satisfied with tenure and promotion policies and procedures.

This next one, and this is the doozy, so let me say it clearly: FACULTY ARE OVERWHELMINGLY DISSATISFIED WITH SENION LEADERSHIP AT UNCG.

I'll give you a moment to get over your lack of surprise.

So, Brady is gone, although threatens to return to the classroom to bring her trademark wit, warmth, and wisdom. Imogene Cathey is gone, Paul Mason is gone, Edna Chun is gone, etc. etc. However, there are still plenty of sharks left over and it seems to me like it might be time to take a real long, hard look at them.

I'd say it's probably high time that anybody in executive administration didn't just get to continue to coast. The default assumption shouldn't be that they are doing fine. Instead, they should have to prove themselves, reapply for their position, demonstrate that their overwhelming failure to gain the confidence of the entire faculty isn't just something that can be brushed off as if unimportant.

And it would be difficult to imagine that a staff satisfaction survey (which was never administered) would show anything except for another section of our community that finds senior leadership to have performed well below expectations.

If an academic department, or heaven forbid a center, were to receive this kind of feedback, the entire area would be under review with the threat of closure/dismissal/defunding - why should senior leadership get a pass? That's the fat at the university and yet we act as if they are indispensable and absolutely immune.

If Gilliam wants to start from anywhere but in a hole, he's going to have to clean up this mess that was left behind before him. The message is clear.

Now, I'm just going to wait for the survey to determine if it's a nice day outside, so I can have my fill of finding out what I already know.

I'm All Ears

April 22 was the last I heard of Edna Chun's grievance. Has she been healed? Has she been kidnapped by aliens? Both? I don't know, but any information anybody has would be most helpful (said while batting my long lashes and in my best southern belle voice).

People are marking their calendars for the new chancellor as if we should start counting from the year 0 again. You don't make it this far if you won't play ball though...as Tom Ross unceremoniously discovered (and he actually thought he was playing ball to, so you can imagine the surprise!) I have to admit that despite my initial, possibly espresso fueled, optimism, the more I think about it, the more I can't help but wonder how somebody who is everything that the little people are hoping for have been the person chosen for the position. Is it because Fennebresque couldn't lead the show on his own as he has always has done in his past? Is it because the trade off for getting this chancellor would make some different choice for another position more palatable?

Is this a give away because Gilliam will appear a gift while someone like Art Pope becomes president of the system?

Has some other mechanism for converting Greensboro's real estate into privately held, publicly funded projects?

Will any of this make any difference in the daily lives of the staff? Or is it the same sh*$ different day?

There are some deep, core issues here that will most likely escape the view of the new chancellor as he continues to negotiate himself into power. Maybe we can help keep those before him. We brought down Brady and a number of her creatures, but our work isn't over. Let me help in whatever way I can - I'm not only watching, I'm also listening.

uncgcleanhouse@yahoo.com - to send an email
or you can leave an anonymous comment on my blog which then comes directly to me for moderation (let me know if you don't want it published) but doesn't require an email address or name to be attached.

Keep in touch.

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.

When It's All Said and Done

Remember the good old days when we used to be reassured that if we knew everything, we'd be outraged about the heinous crimes of the UNCG3?

I've finally had a chance to see the final report on their nefarious activities and I can testify that it contains not one new piece of information, not one twist, variation, shift, or enhanced explanation. It turns out, we did know everything that the Board of Trustees knew.

Well, with the exception of one thing:

The Board of Trustees didn't know that we knew.

I don't mean 'we' in the sense of the royal we, but rather 'we' in the sense of every member of the campus community. All the while that they were pretending they were right, we all knew they were wrong. Some of us chose to believe that the powerful have the right to be wrong...or at least that if we ignore their wrong, they might shower us with benefits.

So now what? The Board gets to have led us down this disastrous road, shepherded us toward the scandal and acted in every possible way to obfuscate the truth and cover up the lies.

Is it really possible that this group of people should be the ones our new chancellor must work with so closely? They clearly have only their own interests at heart (with the exception of Linda Carlisle who couldn't stomach being part of the whole mudslide). If we are hoping for the spring sunshine, the cobwebs still need to be cleared away.

The absolute refusal to be accountable for their actions and failures does not set the tone for the new administration. Their incredible (by which I mean unbelievable in the true sense of that word) belief that they are immune from the requirement to be responsive to the rest of us is not only disgusting but demands address.

These are not gods, but men and women who hold us in contempt. It's time to for a change.

It's not too late for spring cleaning.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

So, Brady is gone, right? Members of the university community should be linking arms and singing! Birds should be landing on our shoulders! And yet, the best we can see right now is the hope that we can be optimistic. Why is that? I think that Richard Levy has said it brilliantly, and so I share his thoughts with you below:

"Chancellor Brady is gone.  A cancer, nearly universally disliked and disrespected, has been ignominiously removed from the UNCG body.

     Yet one senses little joy as a new Chancellor will soon come on board.  Why?  Four reasons come to mind.

     --No apology has been forthcoming for the actions causing "Firegate".

     --Neither Dr. Brady nor those who chose or defended her have acknowledged what a huge

       mistake her hiring was.

     --There is no provision for rectifying the error when a bad choice is made.

     --Dr. Brady embodied many larger problems in modern university conception and

       management, none of which has been addressed.

     Dr. Brady has continued to defend her lies and inept handling of the firings that brought her down, disrupted several lives, and brought decimated UNCG's reputation.

     Her total lack of introspection is unsurprising.  But the silence of the UNCG Trustee Board and Chapel Hill higher-ups creates the scary impression that they either agree with her or just don't get it.  Either way, the continued input of these people and their future monitoring of the new Chancellor does not engender confidence.

Dr. Brady's unsuitability for the position was clear years ago.  She was temperamentally wrong.  She made no effort even to learn the names of faculty or even major financial contributors.  She ignored input and tried to rule by fiat.  She made poor personnel decisions.  She gutted academics while substantially increasing administrative and, especially, athletic budgets.

     Dr. Brady's style was already well-established.  A reasonable investigation of her time at NC State or the University of Oregon would have uncovered it.  (And perhaps it did.  Perhaps those choosing and monitoring Dr. Brady actually liked her style.). Whatever reasons allowed her to continue are scary; these folks might do it again.

     But people do make poor personnel decisions.  The question is:  How long do you go before you admit the mistake and correct it?  There was a large and growing disenchantment with Dr. Brady almost immediately.  Yet no one at the local or Chapel Hill level took action until her mishandling of "Firegate" forced Chapel Hill to force her retirement.

     These matters are all serious.  But they pale compared to the last item.  UNCG is particularly poorly run (according to a study undertaken by the NC Legislature).  But it is hardly unique.  Indeed, it is typical of public universities and colleges.  Several examples:

     --Administrative budgets, already outrageously high, continue to expand dramatically, until

       they are often equal to the educational budget, which meanwhile stagnates or is even

       reduced.

     --Athletic budgets proliferate, even as they lose more-and-more money, and at schools like

       schools like UNCG have no chance of becoming profitable and provide few measurable

       benefits.

     --A race to build silly amenities increases student fees substantially, even for those students

       who can scarcely afford it and who will seldom or never use the new facilities.  Little attempt

       is made to find out if the students even want them.

     --State universities are vastly overbuilt, under-utilized, and poorly maintained.  Most schools

       have no idea what their building utilization even is.  (Hint:  at most it is below 25 per cent if

       You count 8 AM-10PM Monday through Friday, plus summers.)

     --Universities are being re-defined so only research or majors with short-term practical

       payoffs really count.  The very real benefits of other academic disciplines are ignored.

     --Professors are asked to spend substantial amounts of time evaluating rather than teaching.

     In other words, public universities are being poorly run and dumbed down (even while their

heads claim they are being run the way a private company would operate, which is very unfunny joke).  But not a word from Chapel Hill or individual trustee boards suggests that these truly important questions are even being thought about, much less acted upon.

     That, more than anything else, explains why university communities are dispirited, and why Dr. Brady's eclipse, welcome though it is, does not lead to a re-set of confidence and optimism."

Hope may have feathers, but it will take much more to grow the wings we need to use them.

Dear Chancellor Gilliam

We have high hopes for you.

That's what I'm hearing from people all over campus. Remember what we have been through, remember to be one of us, remember to listen and to speak frankly, remember to seek wise counsel and heartfelt advice, and remember that disagreement doesn't equal enmity.

We are ready for a new era, but we still haven't put the past behind us and that will be your very first task. We can't just let it drop into the depths of our memories to fester; truth and reconciliation can move us all forward. It's the best way for you to understand where we have been and where we would like to go.

Brady was only one person, part of a structure, and that structure needs to be removed, cleared out and redesigned. We are not afraid of hard work, of careful study, of deep communication. I hope that you can be brave, courageous enough to lead us through this because the other side is a better place.

We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

The Excitement is Palpable

If you liked that cliche, get ready for many more because in about thirty minutes, the long awaited announcement of the identity of the new chancellor will be revealed. I am hoping it involves a smoke machine and laser lights at the very least.

Obviously, this will all be done via the typical democratic process of deciding in secret and then unveiling their identity in another city.

I may or may not be at the reception this afternoon, but I will be tweeting the livestream announcement of our fearless leader's unmasking...because if it can't be summed up in 140 characters, it's still at least more in depth coverage than that provided in the peppering of 'no comments' we get from Joe Gallehugh.

I'm @uncgcleanhouse on twitter if you want to follow me during this epic event of the century. If you can't I'll post the transcripts here later.

Just be prepared: mixed metaphors and sports analogies will be thick on the ground.

How to Reform a Wayward Executive

I’m getting reports that Bryan Terry has been quieter recently. It seems like many on campus are in a holding pattern, just waiting to see the new chancellor.

Our new chancellor has an excellent opportunity to come in and turn this institution around. I’m not talking about massive infusions of funds (although that’s there too), I’m talking about setting an example for the way in which administration, staff, faculty, students, alumni, and community members should be working together. If Brady created (or exaggerated) this culture of bullying, it’s clear that the next person has the chance to create an atmosphere befitting of an academic institution. The fact that people are waiting for the new chancellor before they show their cards again means that the time is ripe for leading them in a new direction.

I wish her/him all the best in this. I think the lessons learned are clear and anybody with half a brain doesn’t have to read my blog in order to have understood them. There are a lot of positions to be filled and the choices made will have a profound impact on UNCG.

In case some people need a little extra assistance, I’ve put together some suggestions for helping transition the folks in upper administration who haven’t been able to ‘move on to better opportunities.’

Bryan Terry’s contract will include mandatory anger management classes as well as a slow and detailed explanation of the difference between a compliment and an insult.

Kim Record’s salary will now be calculated as a percentage of the profit from ticket sales to sporting events. She will be assigned a board of advisors to assist her in all decision-making. This board will be made up entirely of members of the former wrestling team.

Kim Record's Board of Advisors

Bonita Brown will be required to join the Girl Scouts and earn a badge in ‘plays well with others.’

Benita Peace will complete a spiritual journey under the guidance of the Dali Lama until she can find her center by reciting ‘hostile work environment’ in the lotus position.

Jan Zink will serve in the peace corps digging ditches and building water filtration systems until such time as she understand that the word ‘authentic’ can be used in other ways than to distinguish fake and real fur coats. Or until the earth crashes into the sun, whichever comes first.

There. That’s a good start. 

Tune in tomorrow when I’ll provide some application and interview tips that could help us weed out the a$$holes before they are hired.

It's a Legacy...but Is It a Good One?

The News & Record has run its obligatory whitewash of Brady’s ‘legacy’ at UNCG. I was disappointed to read it, but maybe John Newsome had to write it…and anybody who knows the story at all can understand the lack of effusive praise exactly as it’s meant to read. As a blogger, however, I’m not beholden the politics of the city newspaper.

I think we can all definitely agree that Brady’s legacy has profoundly impacted Lee street. It’s whether or not that legacy requires a positive or a negative qualifier that matters. After all, the mere acknowledgement of an impact should be the very lowest bar to set on any human existence. Basically, Newsome has acknowledged that Brady existed. I don’t disagree.

While it is a tradition to name campus buildings after their leaders, I think Newsome’s suggestion that should the Board of Trustees ever consider such an act (doubtful at best) they would be well served to name something off campus since her ‘legacy’ at UNCG is one that, at best, we will shake off, at worst, has damaged us for years to come.

Some faculty are critical of Newsome’s piece, and I understand why (and will address those points in more detail in another post), however, what comes through loud and clear, through nothing more than a recitation of the facts, is the lackluster quality of Brady’s unfortunate tenure at UNCG. Many things were in the works before she got here, some things were accomplished because of others, and everything that she directly initiated resulted in gridlock at best (fill in your own at worst).

It was also interesting to note that she has clearly not learned anything about communication from any part of her experience at UNCG as her only response to the N&R request was another highly polished ‘no comment’ delivered by Joe ‘tight lips’ Gallehugh. 

Susan Safran, the equally unresponsive – thought uncommunicative – chairperson of the Board of Trustees said (and I am not making this up):

“We wouldn’t be in the shape we are in without Linda Brady.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Arming UNCG Police

We've seen signs of the militarization of the campus atmosphere, no surprise since our egregious leader for the last seven years comes from a military background and has the paranoia of a central American dictator. There have been canine units at tunnel openings, uniformed officers at silent vigils, and obvious police presence at board of trustees and faculty senate meetings.

The UNCG police arrested three of our fellow employees after an investigation that made the LA police/Simpson case look positively subtle. The UNCG police drew guns and assaulted a student trying to hang a banner. The UNCG police have a history of racial disparity in their traffic stops.

But never fear: now we're heavily arming them.

Recently, our little university police department was the recipient of six 5.56 millimeter rifles as part of a pentagon surplus program.

Six.

UNCG Police purchased 6 of these
5.56 millimeter rifles

I'm having a hard time imagining any situation that could be improved by this kind of firepower in the hands of a university police department. Who do they think our population is? Students, staff, and faculty are not an invading army, we are the body of the university.

I find it interesting that I am accused of potentially inciting violence but no mention has been made nor alarm raised about the possession of semi-automatic weapons capable of holding a 30 round detachable magazine whose major bragging point is "lower recoil and better accuracy providing higher 2nd shot hit probability."

When did these become necessary items to have lying around a university police department?

I mean, sure, they were a bargain at $2,994 and it is hard to resist a sale, but isn't there ANYTHING better on which that money could be spent? You mean to tell me that we were willing to pay $3,000 on semi-automatic weapons but we couldn't scrape it together to offer another section of freshman English (and at a savings!)

Wait, we spent more money on high powered rifles than the UNCG3 allegedly stole.

Faculty in departments across campus are having the phone lines cut off in their offices...but we have this money to buy assault weapons?

Everybody on campus can imagine something that desperately needed fixing, upgrading, or purchase - and now everybody on campus can know that the decision was made, instead, to buy big guns for our little police department.

I know the new chancellor is getting a significant pay raise and some nicer digs, but I didn't realize that s/he was going to need this kind of protection from the unwashed masses.

Do you think it's too late to send these back for a refund?

SuperChancellor and The Zink Take On: Timmy or Something (Episode 420,092b)

(crowd gathers and then begins pointing upwards and murmuring. Finally, a little boy yells out)

Look! Up in the sky!

It’s a bird!

It’s a plane!!

It’s a secret chancellor candidate!!!

(*cue theme music*)

I guess since it has been said that the faculty and staff at UNCG are looking for a superhero in the next chancellor that it only makes sense that they have a secret alter ego. Maybe they come to UNCG in the uniform of a groundskeeper but then, the call goes out, (alarm blaring: woooooohaaa woooooohaaaa)

Could groundskeeper Willie be our
next leader??

It’s an…emergency executive brunch!

Suddenly, the mild mannered, glasses wearing groundskeeper dashes into the handicapped stall and changes into:

The Chancellor (dynamic music).

Who is it? It could be anybody! Well, not really anybody. I mean, they probably won’t ever have been connected with UNCG before. And they will surely have done something magnificent to deserve the $100k raise over Brady’s pay. And they can fly.

But most importantly, they have courage! The courage to hide their identity …and…and…

Did I mention they can fly?

Never fear! Surely, by doing exactly the same thing that we did last time, we will have completely different results this time. I don’t see why we wouldn’t. Isn’t that one of the primary things that faculty have learned from doing research? Same method = different results. Or something like that, I wasn’t really paying attention the last time they explained it to me. It’s hard to listen when they keep going on and on and on about ‘transparency’ and ‘deep wounds to the UNCG community’. I mean, really.

Where was I?

Oh yes – With the speed of an interoffice memo requiring three levels of signatures for approval, The Secret Chancellor is on the scene. And little Timmy is rescued from the well.

Unfortunately, the budget was also cut by 4%...but Timmy, look! He’s out of the well.

Oh no.

Oops.

The Chancellor’s Sidekick “The Zink” has mistaken Timmy for an enemy because of his grubby face and ‘urban’ clothing and is pelting him with gift baskets.

Oh well. They tried and that’s what really counts right? Besides, Timmy was asking for it. And they didn’t do it. And it wasn’t their fault.

And so, another peaceful day on UNCG’s campus draws to a close as The Chancellor once again dons the uniform of an ordinary groundskeeper and The Zink wanders off, looking confused, to hand address envelopes.

All is quiet once again. Or is it?? (ominous music leading to credits)

Stay tuned folks, next week we’ll watch The Chancellor handle the thin line between technically correct and The Outright Lie!

(all resemblances to people living or dead is simply bizarre.)