Academic incompetence

Dr. Kricos,

It is with much regret that I write this to you.

As I mentioned on Friday, Friday’s meeting did not go as I had expected.  Many of the items or “conclusions” that were discussed in our meeting on Thursday in your Dauer Hall office were contradicted in Friday’s group meeting at the Center.  In fact, I found most of your responses to be the exact opposite of what we had discussed less than 24 hours earlier.

Thursday, you seemed entirely supportive of me having a key to the Center; in fact, you asked for “justifications” that you could give Betty in order to facilitate this.  I gave you several suggestions, e.g., during the times Betty is absent from the office, I will be able to run errands without leaving the Center door unlocked. 

Second, I explained why “so many” copies were made this past month, offering several concrete examples, e.g., course flyer forms. I believed this explanation was satisfactory to you.  In addition, I explained that, in fact, the number of copies for this month was not out of the ordinary for any given month, and I further explained that I had not received any notification from Betty, either written or verbal, that restrictions were placed on using the copier. 

After so many years of service, I am deeply saddened that Betty was unwilling to discuss the copies with me; instead, she chose to consult with the OIR staff and then change the locks. 

At some point after this Betty informed you of problems she was having with me.  You can imagine the amount of distrust this has instilled in me.  Further, coupling this with the complete turn around of our recent meetings together, I have lost trust and faith in you.  I can not and will not work in an environment where I am not trusted and where the meeting outcomes, no matter how tentative, change so dramatically within such a short period of time.  In addition, I had suggested you contact Dr. West regarding, not only my past performance, but to obtain an impartial perspective on these issues.  I suggested this because Dr. West has worked extensively with Betty both as Director and previously as Associate Director, but you chose not to do this. 

I can appreciate the difficulty of the situation.  Sorting out who said what and who did what and to whom is no easy task. This is not a case of who you might or might not have “sided” with in today’s meeting, but rather an issue of you trusting what I have told you, accepting or not accepting of the concrete evidence that I presented to you, and lastly and really the crux here, trusting that what we talk about in one meeting will carry over to other meetings without being completely contradicted. 

I am having a hard time reconciling last semester’s glowing graduate assistant evaluation you wrote for me, and the fact that you have “had no problems with my performance” to date with the end result of Friday’s meeting.

Because of these many issues discussed above, I will be unable to continue my employment at the Center, effective immediately.