A Plea to Victims of the UK System

from one of our readers . . .

As I sit here working on my computer I am haunted by the faces of UK employees that are having there lives turned upside down. I am at a loss as how to help UK employees that are victims of harassment and bullying by supervisors or administrators at UK. I feel so helpless to help good people who mistakenly have involved HR to help with the situation only to find out that HR is there only to protect the interest of the University. HR will only help a victim when it involves breaking of a law only because they are there to protect the interests of UK. I am writing on this blog because there is no other forum to speak. If you were a victim of harassment or bullying at UK you know the utter helpless feeling. I am asking for input from prior victims on how to help others that are in the process of being victims of the UK system. What can be done to stop this abuse?

Todd Resigns (but not just yet)

his official notice to the UK community:

To all our loyal alumni and friends:

I held a press conference today announcing that June 30, 2011 will be my last day as President of the University of Kentucky.

This is a very difficult decision for Patsy and me. This University is the love of our lives, from the time we were undergraduates here and later during my time on the faculty. It has been an unbelievable honor to serve as President for the last 10 years. As I have said many times, this University is the essential institution to the future of our state, having the greatest capacity to improve the lives of Kentuckians, the strength of our communities, and the condition of Kentucky.

But 10 years is a long time. And the constant pressure and grind of a job that really is 24/7 has begun to take its toll. Our University needs and demands from its President a consistently high level of energy. To continue in this job without being able to give that level of effort would be a disservice to the institution I care about so much. So this is the right decision at the right moment.

I am proud of the accomplishments of this University over the last 10 years. We've made enormous progress - more Kentuckians enrolled, more research aimed at the tough problems facing our state, and greater outreach to touch the lives of every family and every community across our Commonwealth. And we've done it in spite of bad budgets and difficult challenges because of the faith and determination of students, faculty, and staff who have learned and worked and served here.

It's no secret that I've been frustrated with the economic and budget conditions that surround the University. But I have never been more confident in this University's ability to meet whatever challenges lie ahead and continue to make progress. The people of this University have the talent and energy to push our University - and therefore push our state - to new heights. Our alumni continue to support that mission. Together we've changed the way Kentuckians think about their state, their flagship university, and their future. We have helped them see what's possible. And we have helped them understand that the future of this University - their University - and the future of this state are one and the same.

Now, more than ever, we must continue to serve as a beacon of hope in a troubled time. There is much work still to do. That's what makes this decision very difficult. I want nothing more than for this University to continue to move forward and to continue to be a part of that. But the time has come for new leadership and energy and vision.

Patsy and I thank you for the privilege of leading this wonderful and essential institution.

Lee T. Todd, Jr.
President

The Real-Life Value of Sacrifice

So how are things in your area, your college, your department? Got enough faculty? Need more staff assistants? Running out of toner?

Tell us what you've had to give up due to the current financial restraints.

Then tell us how the amounts you've saved have been used/wasted by those who don't have to stick to budgets.

UK a Little Top Heavy?

This came in as a comment to another post, but it's so good we're going to give it its own entry.

"Let's change the topic/entry to one about yet ANOTHER new assistant provost in undergraduate education, this one for Gen Ed oversight. A full professor with no doubt some sort of salary enhancement, while the rest of us aren't making SQUAT and haven't since the SALARY FREEZES went into effect."

Wasn't it Todd who said the university was too top heavy when he took over? Just before he started adding layer after layer of overpaid administrators, right?

Another Day, Another Lawsuit

Yet another former UK employee has had to resort to legal action in order to address UK's flagrant discrimination.

Jeanne Suchanek is not the first woman fired for having breast cancer at UK or the first employee to be fired for a serious illness, and, unfortunately, she probably won't be the last.

We have heard horror stories like hers from all areas of the university -- supervisors and deans making their own rules, employees forced to lie on evalutions, and more. Of course these things are against the policies of UK but in the everyday real life of far too many UK employees the official policies don't mean a thing.

Our question is why aren't more employees speaking up?

Tuition Increase and No Raise for the Third Straight Year

According to Lee Todd's e-mail to UK folks today, UK "will not be able to provide across-the-board salary increases to faculty and staff."

Todd did acknowledge that "because hospital operations are generating sufficient revenue, the senior leadership of UK HealthCare continues to analyze whether they have the capacity to give a salary increase to their employees."

This story has been repeated so many times no one seems the least bit surprised.

Lest the students feel left out, Todd also announced a six-percent increase in tuition.

However, Todd did express some regret at being unable to give raises. "He said he would like to give the university's lowest-paid employees a raise of some kind — perhaps a one-time payment or permanent salary adjustment — but is not sure how to pay for it."

There now -- don't we all feel better?

Yes, You Can Buy Anything at UK

The Gatton College of Business Economics just sent out their invitation to the induction into 2010 Alumni Hall of Fame.

Guess who one of the inductees is? Yes, it is the same old Mr. Coal Lodge himself, Mr. Joseph Craft III.

I guess you can buy your way into anything, even the Gatton College Alumni Hall of Fame.

The irony is that the College just started a Center for Green Manufacturing!

(We wish we could say we were surprised.)

Morale Might Suffer?

Today's Lexington Herald-Leader quotes Lee Todd as saying "The biggest impact would be to the morale," in response to a question about consequences to a possible cut to funding. There is a possibility that state colleges and universities will suffer more cuts to their budgets in the next two years.

Morale might suffer? Evidently Todd's been on vacation for the last 18 months if he thinks morale isn't already suffering.

Let's see -- Todd has "flattened" the organization of the university by hiring more and more administrators. Staff have been without raises for two years. Jobs continue to be cut, forcing the remaining staff and faculty to take up the slack. The Board of Trustees continues to trust Todd to keep them safe from unpopular issues by not allowing visitors to speak to them (this also helps the Board work more diligently on finding ways to pay Todd even more). Todd and the Board were thrilled to accept coal money for a new building required to be named after a fossil, guaranteeing Kentucky being showcased on Leno and David Letterman.

Morale might suffer? God help us all.

UK Continues to Value Its Staff

The Kentucky Kernel brings us the latest example of UK's sensitive and caring handling of an employee matter -- that of an employee having a gun locked in his glove compartment.

UK does not allow firearms of any kind on its property, unless they're carried by law officers. Evidently this includes firearms kept in complete compliance with the laws of Kentucky (section 8). In other words, UK doesn't appear to pay much attention to the law.

UK fired this employee, termination of employment always the easiest way to deal with personnel problems.

The employee is suing, of course. He and his attorney tried to work things out without an expensive, drawn-out lawsuit, but UK's said to have nearly all the attorneys in the area on retainer, so why should they care about lawsuits?

Besides, all publicity is good publicity, right?

Why Indeed

One of our readers asks:

Why in the world did the Assoc. Provost appoint 2 new Asst. Provosts in this budget climate 2 days after faculty and staff received a message from the President basically telling us to be ready for even worse layoffs, furloughs, and program reductions?

Unofficial Wage Policy?

An interesting post from one of our readers . . . .

Is it true that HR said that there were over 3000 UK employees that were not being paid according to UKs unofficial wage policy? Is it true that the Staff Senate is attemping to right this wrong by making this unofficial policy official and mantory for all Depts? Why has UK held back wages for so many for so long? What can staff do to correct this injustice to long time employees?

We don't have the answers, but we sure would like to know, too.

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't

James Paxton, a UK baseball player, filed suit against UK for demanding that he "answer questions" from the NCAA or face possible expulsion from the team -- without allowing Paxton to know why or what the NCAA was looking for. " 'University officials allegedly have threatened to remove Paxton's eligibility if he continues to decline NCAA interviews, and such a threat violates the UK code of student conduct,' Paxton's attorneys say."

Yes, well, UK would never let a little thing like the UK Code of Student Conduct bother them, would they?

Our favorite part is Paxton's allegation that UK compliance director Sandy Bell told him "not to tell anyone — including his parents or his attorney — about the interview or (UK's) instruction to participate."

Fortunately Paxton wasn't quite the stooge UK Athletics assumed. He filed suit against UK, resulting in a nice article on the front page of the Herald-Leader. He talked.

Later this evening Kentucky.com reported that Paxton will be allowed to stay on the team and receive his scholarship "without the threat that it will change."

James Paxton, we applaud you and wish you great success in your pursuit of justice for student athletics.

It's Always Worked Before . . . .

It's nice to hear that UK won't consider changing the speaking rules for the Board of Trustees.

The Board has basically operated in secret behind the scenes for over 30 years -- why change now?

Another Day, Another Insult to Our Intelligence

Too many people complaining about naming a building after a fossil fuel? Just hold a big ole seminar and "educate" 'em about it. That'll make it all okay!

Coal conference at UK

Cuts in Benefits and More for Todd

from another one of our alert readers . . . .

"The same day the administration decided to defer vesting the university contribution for new faculty and staff for 5 years to save money, they are considering ways to increase Lee Todd's pay. That certainly will help us attract the best new faculty and staff."

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/994111.html

Name Your New Buildings Here!

Think you can top the Wildcat Coal Lodge? Well, here's your chance.

What creative names can you come up with for new buildings?

King Coal!

The following e-mail has been circulating among staff and faculty today . . .

KING COAL

Old King Coal was a monied old soul


And a monied old soul was he;


He called for his cash, and he called up his Pres


who gathered his lackey trustees.


Three of the board had some spine,


But they had very little say;


And when there’s only a few who dare (or even care),


Old King Coal will have his way.

To no one’s surprise, the UK Board of Trustees took the low road and accepted $7 million to fund the new Wildcat Coal Lodge, beginning a new error, I mean era, in UK traditions by naming a building after an industry rather than a person. The Trustees took the coal money; we got the shaft (again).

In response to numerous complaints, President Todd (might have) said, “Look, Coach Cal has successfully recruited rock star players, so it is only fitting that we name the Wildcat Lodge after a rock, right? In fact, we in the UK Administration have had rocks on our mind (and in our head) ever since the Top 20 program ended up on the rocks. So, it’s time for the entire UK community to come together and support this decision by following the example of Billy G by having a few on the rocks.”

President Todd (probably didn’t) continue his justification for the decision by noting: ”It’s important to realize that in the race to the bottom, our lead over the University of Louisville was in danger. Not long ago, we were way ahead; but that all changed with the exposure of Pitino’s poor table manners and the under-the-radar (table?) pension payoff to President Ramsey. But now we are again safely ahead and working on padding our lead.”

COAL WINS. SO, LIKE IT OR LUMP IT.

Well, I guess we have to just think of this as yet another lump of coal in our collective stocking. Even so, we have to move on and continue to make regress in our path to the Top 20. Perhaps the failure to stop the insertion of Coal into the name of the Wildcat Lodge occurred because faculty, students, and staff members did not object early enough; although to be fair, we have no evidence that the UK administration and Board of Trustees have ever listened to students, faculty, or staff complaints.

Even so, we must start now to protect the names of our next new buildings. The current top three building priorities on the UK list are:

1. New wing on the administration building

2. Board of Trustees annex to the Patterson Office Tower

3. Research—Ultra Science (R-US) building

The UK Administration and Board of Trustees have been working hard to find donors for these worthy projects. The Trustees Annex is particularly crucial because it will have a sauna and a state of the art exercise facility. This is a priority because the Trustees have not been getting enough exercise; after all, when is the last time the Trustees exercised good judgment? In addition, they have agreed to allow President Todd to have an honorary membership because he, too, has not been getting much exercise lately. When asked, he explained that he no longer takes walks since he now has two university cars and would feel guilty wasting university resources by letting them just sit in his driveway. In fact, since he is such an environmental advocate and strongly supports the UK green initiatives, he no longer drives his Jeep Grand Cherokee 4X4 Hemi, but instead tows it behind his Avalon wherever he goes.

You are all aware that these are tough financial times. It is hard to raise money for worthy causes like hiring and compensating faculty and staff, or providing more scholarships to students. Still, our leaders have been able to find potential donors for our high priority buildings by focusing on industries that have been doing well during the recession and financial crisis. One potential donor, Joe Morally, President of the Association of Bankruptcy Lawyers, has done quite well helping the government take over bankrupt businesses. Another group that has profited from the current economic downturn is the American Association of Auctioneers and Liquidators. Finally, Kentucky’s agricultural industry remains recession-proof (at least the marijuana growing sector has).

At the next UK Board of Trustees meeting, the Trustees will be voting on accepting the donations from these groups. The only conditions imposed by the donors are that the building names include Bankrupt, Morally, Sell Out, and Dope. So, we’ll soon have the Board of Trustees Sell Out Annex, the Morally Bankrupt Administration Building, and the Dopes R-US Building. The only saving grace is that unlike the name “Wildcat Coal Lodge” (which suggests that the occupants are lumps of coal), these names don’t misrepresent the occupants. But, as President Todd (never actually) said, “That’s the way it is, so you can just like it or lump it.“

We'd All Like to Know

One of our readers wants to know how much money UK Human Resources spent sending ANOTHER letter out about the potential savings of Express Scripts, including to people who'd already called up and declined to use Express Scripts (because, you know, you like talking to a real person when getting your meds), a letter telling us that now we don't need to do anything if we want to opt out, etc. And finally, I'd like to just know when UK is going to force us all to use Express Scripts because it saves them money somehow.

UK's First Step in Taking Over City

One of our astute readers brought this to our attention last month, and now it's official.

First the sidewalks in front of UK buildings, then what? Neighboring buildings? Roadways What's next?

Performance Evaluation of UK Administrators

In an interview to the UK student Newspaper, President Todd emphasized that he earned a 96 on his performance evaluation. It is not clear who evaluated him. Most of the faculty never got a chance to evaluate his performance. Even when faculty are asked to turn in adminstrator evaluations, faculty are not provided the results. Recent evaluations of the Provost and several Deans are a case in point. The performance evaluation data has never been made public and requests for such data have been denied. Makes one wonder why they do not disclose this information.