You are right, and you should take legal action if you feel it will do any good at all. The only point I was trying to make is that I let this man take over my life for a long time – I sought legal action – and was discouraged – so, I got a new job and turned to therapy. Believe me, I’m rooting for all of you to find some justice and make what you worked so hard to achieve both successful and peaceful. I apoligize if I made this sound like it should just be “forgive and forget” – I know that’s not possible. Yet, I hope that 10 years from now – you will rarely think of RF.

I am so grateful for this blog and for all your work, concern, and effort, Jake. I can’t express the difference it’s made for me without some trace of melodrama. I feel safer and less alone.
It’s a life-saver.

Your story does sound horribly familiar. And reaffirms what I have observed many times — administrators in higher education do not possess the leadership or management skills to be in the positions they are in. For example, it would be unheard for an excellent scientist at GE who had invented and designed all the latest and greatest features on a new diswasher to become the CEO or CFO or COO of the dishwasher division unless that scientist also happened to possess some training, education, and experience in business, finance, human resource management, operations mangaement, and leadership. But it appears to become a Dean and in effect the CEO of a multi-million dollar division of an institution of higher education, one can be an Educational Pyschologist with experience in writing grants, and a huge ego — and be deemed qualified to manage and lead a workforce of 100′s. Clearly, this idea that success as an academic equates to the needed credentials to be an effective administrator in higher education, must be re-examined throughout higher education administration. You know they actually have a degree program to for people who want to be higher education administrators. Amazing.

Not that I’m feeling litigious, I would rather see in-depth coverage of this mess, but everyone hurt at the CEHD would hopefully have some safety in numbers. But as for what is or isn’t a suable offense, again, as Give us a break put it: allowing people to exist in an environment that caused PTSD; somehow this can’t be okay. Everyone knew – all up and down the chain.

And trying to minimize it by quantifying it… that’s precisely the argument they use to dispute your claims of working in a hostile environment. If you weren’t yelled at that day, it can’t be that bad.
But it’s everything taken together over time, and ultimately, the stomach-churning anticipation of yet another “meeting” with no other purpose except to confuse and intimidate.
It is also policy changes/ policy made up on the spot, rules applied differently, withholding information, permanent assignments of time-consuming daily tasks that could be given to student workers and delay/prevent real work being done. It is having students do the opposite of priority work, getting anyone who is willing to drag their feet. My boss’s best friend was the director’s secretary and life was all the more hellish for that. My supervisor never disciplined the students, made me do it; she befriended them, and exchanged CDs. Very professional.

I saved selected emails with meeting notes or trainings to refer to when writing something for my review. Three months of those disappeared.
OLT restored them for me. Nobody remembered anything like that ever happening
before.

But the worst thing, and it shouldn’t be legal, is to go from getting ‘superior’ reviews to an ‘unsatisfactory,’ without having been written up once, in my ninth year, an entirely negative review necessitating for the first time in 20 years
an employee being put on the Performance Improvement Plan at Kornhauser Health Sciences Library.

This set off no bells or red flags. I, too, received a dismissive response from University Attorney Angela Koshewa. So with no severance, or unemployment benefits, or reference, I left.
Much like many in the CEHD, I imagine.

The director had all along insisted that the matter remain “internal” and that there be no mediation.

It was the strangest and worst time I’ve ever lived through. There are some great people there. But an awful lot of work doesn’t get done.
No fire in the belly!

What?!

Huh!?

It was bad, it is still bad, but huh?

Hey Blowin’ — Maybe Yale, Auburn, Illinois, and Rhode Island would very much LIKE the story to go to the CHE.