Has Ramsey's Post-Felner PR Campaign Resorted to Lies?

The allegation being made over at Page One Kentucky is that UofL President James Ramsey "lied his rear end off" in a radio interview this week on WFPL's "State of Affairs."

When the interviewer asked Ramsey about the "damage to trust" due to numerous faculty grievances that were swept under the rug at UofL's College of Education, and whether those concerns were "heard and responded to" Ramsey responded that his trust was violated by former Dean Robert Felner.

To a degree, that must surely be true.

But still surprisingly, he treated the whole matter as if the only problem was a failure of the process - that Felner, not being from Louisville, did not follow the process. But Ramsey seemed to wash his hands of the process saying,

"I'm not involved in it, and really, the Provost is not involved in it." ...

"There were four grievances filed, against the former dean and none of them really made it to my desk as a problem."

Really? ...as a problem?

So is Ramsey suggesting that he was unaware that there were real problems? This, despite as many as 33 grievances consultations for sexual harassment and intimidation, four of which lead to formal grievances being filed under UofL's process, but most of which did not due an acknowledged fear that complaints would only lead faculty to be retaliated against.

And if Ramsey didn't see any real problems, why not?

As PageOne Kentucky reported, in 2005 the College of Education and Human Development was responsible for 42% (13) of faculty grievance consultations campus-wide. The 2006 report from Faculty Grievance Officer Suzanne Meeks showed that 15 (56%) of the 27 grievance consultations that took place were from the CEHD. Meeks confirmed in her letter that the Provost was very well aware of the problems.

Due to the number of consultations from CEHD, and the level of negative affect associated with those consultations, I have worked with the Provost’s office to recommend that they use administrative mechanisms to restore morale, faculty governance, and collegial interaction there. Although I believe interventions have been attempted, it is not be sense that they have yet been effective.

Again in 2007 more than 33% of the grievance consultations on campus came from the College of Education.

No problem?

Meeks reported to the Faculty Senate,

As with previous years, a disproportionate number of consultations have related to the College of Education and Human Development (one-third). Over the three years of my tenure as FGO, I have consulted with at least one-third of the CEHD faculty. Throughout this time, I have heard talk of retaliation against faculty members who file grievances or requests for mediation. The majority of those I have spoken with are not willing to file grievances because of this fear of retaliation, which extends to those who testify at grievance hearings as well. This situation demonstrates a significant weakness in the grievance system, in that there is no way to prevent such retaliation when one files a complaint against someone who has the power to determine work load agreements and salary increases, approve expenditures, and allocate resources.

Is Ramsey suggesting he and Provost Shirley Willihnganz were unaware of faculty senate proceedings? Both admitted they discounted the rare "no confidence" taken against Felner.

More likely, they didn't want to see the complaints as "a problem" - therefore, they weren't. In their minds Felner deserved credit for raising CEHD's ranking in US News and World Report. In his now famously unfortunate quip, Ramsey reduced such complaints to "anonymous crap." Calling faculty who were afraid to put their names on such complaints “cheap,” Ramsey credited Felner with “bringing about change that needed to be made.”

Willihnganz acknowledged that "the heat on this one is on us."

Now Ramsey says, "We're taking this very seriously," and called the whole episode "an opportunity to improve."

In an August letter, Ramsey assured the university community that an audit would take place. Now, the quality of that audit is being called into question. Page One Kentucky now reports,

Thanks to open records requests, we have been able to determine that there isn’t an audit per se. ...What is available, however, is a PowerPoint presentation from [Cotton + Allen] given to the Board of Trustees. It’s ‘Grants Management Internal Control - Preliminary Report to the Board of Trustees.’

See it here.

Ramsey called for a review of the grievance process and the entire shared governance model but the faculty committee that undertook the review was not charged with exploring infractions at the university, so it didn't.

Meanwhile, WLKY reports, a federal judge will hear arguments on March 25th about whether to suppress evidence in Felner's fraud case. Judge Charles R. Simpson also ruled against a separate motion asking him to suppress evidence taken from Felner's new office at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Felner: Piled Higher and Deeper

Guilty or innocent - one thing is becoming clear. Robert Felner made an impression on the people he came into contact with - and much of it was not good. Described to KSN&C as a "New York street fighter," it's becoming easier to see how he might have earned the moniker.

Jacob Payne continues to peel the onion at Page One Kentucky. Last week he noted that Felner had been targeted for ....what ....vandalism? ....revenge?

...we uncovered police reports that reveal that Felner has done some things so wrong (or right) that people were driven to vandalize his convertible BMW. On more than one occasion.

Sweet ride.

This week Jake picks up where he left off...digging his way through what he describes as hundreds of documents. Among them are grievances filed by U of L faculty. Apparently some Page One commenters had suggested that Felner was the most grieved individual on campus and the College of Education and Human Development led the university when it came to keeping the Faculty Grievance Officer busy.

In 2005 (PDF link) the College of Education and Human Development was responsible for 42% (13) of faculty grievance consultations. That’s six more than the School of Medicine at 23%.

Fine and dandy, right? Maybe. Until one examines the 2006 (PDF link) report from the Faculty Grievance Officer. That year 15 (56%) of the 27 grievance consultations that took place were within the CEHD.

Quite a number. So many, in fact, that that grievance officer Suzanne Meeks had this to add: "Due to the number of consultations from CEHD, and the level of negative affect associated with those consultations, I have worked with the Provost’s office to recommend that they use administrative mechanisms to restore morale, faculty governance, and collegial interaction there. Although I believe interventions have been attempted ....they have yet been effective."

Then there was this from Meeks:

Over the three years of my tenure as FGO, I have consulted with at least one-third of the CEHD faculty. Throughout this time, I have heard talk of retaliation against faculty members who file grievances or requests for mediation. The majority of those I have spoken with are not willing to file grievances because of this fear of retaliation, which extends to those who testify at grievance hearings as well. This situation demonstrates a significant weakness in the grievance system, in that there is no way to prevent such retaliation when one files a complaint against someone who has the power to determine work load agreements and salary increases, approve expenditures, and allocate resources.

Out in the world the Felner investigation has been expanded yet again. Gary Kunich of the Kenosha News revealed new information last Friday (print edition only) that federal "agents returned Thursday to the University of Rhode Island for more interviews, but declined to say if they took any paperwork with them."

Federal investigators have also begun to examine Felner’s non-profit organization at the University of Rhode Island.

The Kenosha News has learned that investigators are looking at millions of dollars in grants that Felner brought in while working at various universities throughout the United States, as well as a defunct non-profit that no longer exists in Rock Island, Ill.

Keep on keeping on, Jake.