UI WASTES MONEY ON "CHIEF INSPIRATION OFFICER"

By Nick Gier

Over the past year the UI Provost Douglas Baker has hired a Minnesota

consultant Magaly Rodriguez to mediate problems in various departments. Some

of the faculty involved were not satisfied with her work, and they also assumed

that Rodriguez's visits were one-time affairs.

In a superb piece of investigative journalism Halley Griffin, a reporter for

the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, obtained copies of Rodriguez's contract and

other vital information. Even though she sometimes does not come to campus

during any particular month, Rodriguez's retainer is $12,500 a month. One-time

workshops she conducted before 2008 have cost the UI $10,000-15,500.

In a phone interview with Griffin Rodriguez's declared that her general goal

is to build "global peacemaking communities." Provost Baker calls her his "Chief

Inspiration Officer."

Rodriguez also claims that she coined the word "peacemaking." She should

have checked the Oxford English Dictionary before making such a rash claim. The

first use of the word "peacemaking" was in 1563 and it has appeared in print in

every century since then.

In her interviews with faculty and administration Griffin found that the latter

thought that Rodriguez was worth every penny, but the former believed that it was

a waste of time and money.

As a part of its efforts to reduce the budget, the UI administration called for

the elimination of at least two dozen degree programs. The physics department

was shocked to see that their undergraduate program was on the chopping block.

Some of the faculty called for a no confidence vote of the dean of the

College of Science and the administration backed off. Provost Baker arranged a

one day workshop with Rodriguez as an attempt to calm tempers and consider

options.

In an e-mail physics professor Francesca Sammarruca explained her

expectations for the workshop: "When I heard of a workshop with a professional

facilitator, I was expecting a roundtable with a neutral moderator, who is

knowledgeable in physics, science, and institutional planning."

Sammarruca said that the problem was not about personal conflicts; rather, it

was a hasty and ill-conceived decision by the dean. The negative effects were not

just internal to the UI. Once again, Idaho had become a laughingstock, this time

among the national and international science community.

Sammarruca also said that Rodriguez's retainer "is quite outrageous. That

kind of money can support 7 graduate students each month." Or it could have

saved the jobs of six instructors whom the UI math department let go this spring.

Early in 2008 Rodriguez conduced a two-day workshop with the computer

science faculty. One faculty member described it as follows: "The workshop

reminded me of the 'I'm OK, you're OK,' workshops back in the 1970's. It focuses

on improved relations, rather than solving problems. The department members get

along better, but we still have the same fundamental problems because all we do is

agree to disagree rather than move in one direction for the good of the department."

In my 36 years of handling grievances on Idaho's campuses I have found

that the best way to solve disputes is to have all the parties in the same room. Only

if there is no progress should the administration bring in a mediator experienced in

academic affairs.

In one recent case with which I'm familiar the Minnesota therapist did not

bring the parties together; rather, she met alone with the faculty assuming that the

problem was their fault and that they needed to work out their feelings.

Without exception faculty described Rodriguez as a nice person with good

skills, but they all agree that she is the wrong person for the problems that they

faced in their departments.

Even when the administration has brought in academic consultants and

mediators, the results have been very disappointing. In a column for this paper

(January, 2008), I wrote about the Yardley Report, which criticized programs

unfairly and insulted faculty with incredible charges. The bill was $130,338.

In the last five years a San Francisco attorney was hired to investigate at

least two grievances at the UI. The people involved told me that the reports, one

costing $250,000, were white washes. This is not surprising because the attorney's

day job was to represent his own university.

Recently I got a call from a professor who has been threatened with

probation. She has not had an opportunity to clear her name, and her dean has

failed to follow the correct procedures.

For years the faculty union has made the simple request that Idaho's college

administrators make sure that their deans and department chairs know the Faculty-

Staff Handbook. We have also recommended that they receive conflict resolution

and personnel management training.

The people of Idaho pay campus administrators big bucks to do their jobs,

but many of them are shirking their responsibilities by hiring outside consultants to

do what they and their assistants should be doing.

Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. He is

also President of the Higher Education Council of the Idaho Federation of

Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO.