A Letter of Introduction to Chancellor Gilliam

I decided it was time to introduce myself to the new chancellor and so I have written him a letter. I have sincere doubts that there will be any response, but one is not needed if actions indicate an understanding of the situation.

"Dear Chancellor Elect Gilliam:

I know we haven't been formally introduced, but I thought it was time to say hello. Your predecessor certainly knew me and the Acting Chancellor has made it clear she is familiar with my work as well. I have had high hopes for you as the first step in a new era at UNCG but am having a somewhat difficult time holding on to my optimism.

Serious damage was done to the UNCG community by Linda Brady and before those wounds can be healed, we are in need of some plain speaking honest dealings. The ugliest of the scars was created by the scandal of the UNCG3. That injury was exacerbated by the mountain of lies that followed it and the complete failure to acknowledge any error on the part of the university administration and board of trustees. Instead, we have seen how executives protect each other and we have been left twisting in the wind. 

Your tenure here has started in the midst of lies that you did not create. It is just this distance that should allow you to clear the stables and turn out the darkest pockets of failure and incompetence. Your administration can only ever hope to escape failure, rather than aspire to engender greatness, while truth continues to be ignored.

Your choice is between restoring faith and hope to the employees at UNCG or acting as a plaything for scoundrels.

Choose wisely. And remember, as always, the owl is watching.

Sophie"

Looks Like We've Been Zinked

I've just learned something that may explain the car.

Jeff Collins, a UNCG alum and former president of the Alumni Board builds reproduction Cobras and it is quite possible that he loaned this one to Gilliam either for just the photo or for the welcome events. I hope that is true and find it to be a relief, although it does point to another ongoing issue: Jan Zink's idea of the image required by the university.

Is the image we want portrayed that our chancellor can drive around in a half a million dollar car? Does that reflect who we are (and does it indicate we need big donor support?!?)

I learned about this through an inside source, but I doubt most of the community will ever know that this beautiful car isn't the way the chancellor gets to and from his outings.

Here are some other ideas that Zink might have had on her notepad while brainstorming a way to turn UNCG into an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians:

1. See if Paris Hilton can replace the spartan as our mascot
2. Have the chancellor drink champagne from a woman's shoe while fox hunting
3. Hire air force one to deliver Gilliam's off campus mail
4. mink office chair?
5. dress Chancellor & Mrs. Gilliam as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette for ticket only costume ball...arrive in carriage pulled by six white horses

I don't know, if she didn't think of those, they certainly seem right up her alley. How's Gilliam going to change his image if he still has Jan "Diamonds on Her Fingers" Zink kicking around his image and trying desperately to advance herself?

This image is wrong, wrong, wrong - accusations were already flying (unfounded or no) about the chancellor's first class flights, mansion upgrades, and staffing perks. Taking a picture in an expensive car while on the way to series of country club events doth not a chancellor of the people make; it's fuel to the fire.

Are we a fancy school where a highfalutin chancellor jets around on first class flights or in luxurious cars to elite events to rub elbows with wealth?

or

Are we a school for first generation students and veterans that prides itself on educating those who've worked hard (and continue to do so) to get here with a dedicated faculty and loyal, hard working staff creating the next generation of graduates who will do us proud?

I know where the Zink wants to take us...but she'll have to take me kicking and screaming.

Driving a Shelby Cobra to the Country Club

Call me old fashioned, but I've always thought that the French monarchy would have faired a lot better had they not been quite so ostentatious in their displays of wealth while the people in the street were starving.

I have to admit that I felt my heart sink when I saw the picture of Chancellor Gilliam and his wife in a Shelby Cobra on their way to their welcome reception at The Biltmore Forest Country Club. It's a bit different than when I took my Honda to Subway for lunch to celebrate the beginning of my employment at UNCG.

Appearances are important and first class flights, fancy cars, and country club receptions don't exactly demonstrate a presence in the trenches with the faculty and staff who are constantly being told to do more with less. I thought we were out of money? The old ball-and-chain Brady (who by the way we're paying for this year without requiring to do anything as lowly as working) was already making 11 times more than the maintenance and housekeeping staff, what are we spending now and why don't the economic hard times seem to hit those with the most cushion?

Faculty don't have phones in their offices because of budget cuts but the Chancellor is getting some extra staff for his residence. Say it isn't so. Even some symbolic cutting of luxury would go a long way toward sending the hopeful message: I am here because I want to be, not because it was the best way for me to get richer.

I've held my tongue, watched and waited, desperately optimistic, but it's getting hard to hang on to that. When I heard that Gilliam suggested it might be a good idea to reach out to the folks in Glenwood and get to know them, have a BBQ, I thought that was a good idea...or a good start (and something that has been a long time in the making). Now I wonder if he wouldn't mind taking a look at the UNCG community and recognizing that there's a lot there that could use some trust-building gestures.

Don't get me wrong, that's a sweet car, I'm not denying that, but I wonder if Gilliam has taken it by the staff food pantry recently.

A Student Has Questions for UNCG

After finding that, unfortunately, UNCG no longer ranks among the best value colleges (although three other NC universities do), students are asking questions about the difficulties they are having paying for this education. Coming it at #426, something we should find both tragic and shameful, all while raising the price of administrators and paying for a ridiculous rec center, means that students are wondering more loudly than ever: why am I paying so much and why don't I feel like UNCG is helping me get my degree?

As one student poignantly stated:

"It is so disheartening that The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), which is supposed to be giving students the opportunity to make their lives better, is so determined to implement rules and policies that make completion of a degree even more difficult than making passing grades. Not only are we forced to pay a 50% Tuition Surcharge, but we not charged said surcharge until MONTHS after they issue Financial Aid. Then, just before they drop the students' current classes, we are notified that any aid we are due in the coming weeks will not cover the previous semester's balance, so we have to come up with thousands of dollars - RIGHT NOW.

My questions for The University of North Carolina at Greensboro - UNCGare: How is this fair? How is this at all helpful to the student? How are these types of practices not a detriment to the existence and progression of "our" university? How are those of us paying for our college education independently (without the help of Mommy, Daddy, Grandparents, trusts, inheritances, and/or spousal support) ever supposed to attain the degrees we are working so tirelessly toward, if we are constantly being bombarded by financial, logistical, and administrative obstacles? Do you really care more about the date by which ONE of the MANY thousands of dollars you receive yearly is deposited into your vast bank account, than you do about allowing a student (who is not just surviving through, but THRIVING in college) to attain the degree they so desperately seek?

These questions, UNCG, are not rhetorical - I absolutely expect an answer. You do not have to answer them here, but you will hear from me in other forms and forums, so you WILL answer them at some point. You will see and hear from me very soon."

Whatever excuses the administration at UNCG wants to make (ranging from the 'everybody is doing it' model to the 'it's not our fault' version) there are things that are adding to the costs that we very clearly have the ability to control and the failure to do so is as damning as actively picking the pockets of students when they are walking to class. We continue to downgrade the quality of the institution when we drive away dedicated staff, revolt dedicated faculty, and squander our money on unnecessary bean counters with fancy titles but little to offer.

It appears, dear UNCG, that the owl may have a larger family than you expected. A response is in order - and look sharp about it.

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.