14 responses so far ↓

• 1 Flag // Mar 26, 2011 at 11:55 am

  Not sure where your new respect for U of L comes from since the same players continue to play the same games (they get away with everything, remember?). I can assure you, however, that there are bigger stories to be told involving the same folks and a few new ones. The reason people don’t go on the record so easily is simply that they all know the administration will crush them and ruin their careers. The expenses of mounting a legal challenge after being slandered and damaged are more than most of us can bear. I do applaud you for taking on any of these stories, but I think you are only scratching the surface. Good luck with the open records approach. Since Morrison left the University Archives role (or was he forced out?), seeking open records is extraordinarily ineffective. Now, the University Counsel is in charge of all that and the flow of information is pathetic – she defends the university of course. Until there is an independent watchdog appointed to oversee information availability to the public within the three-day window of the law (any legislators listening?), chances are not too great that you will ever get to the bottom of any significant story again at U of L by seeking open records. Even appeals to the AG only result in an opinion, then it is on to court and $$$.

• 2 Flag // Mar 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm

  I should have noted that at U of L “internal investigation” is usually defined to be “cover up”.

• 3 jake // Mar 26, 2011 at 4:03 pm

  I’ve detailed time and again why UofL is making strides.

  I mean, you can continue to believe EVERYTHING at UofL is some cover-up or conspiracy and that every last thing is bad news bears.

  I know you’re bitter over the Felner Scandal and the shit that went down surrounding that mess. But you need to get a reality check sometime soon.

  If you have evidence of wrongdoing? Pony up.

  How do you think I get to the bottom of things at UofL? I fuck shit up til I get it. I go around the administration. I’ve cultivated dozens of sources you’d never be able to pinpoint.

  Jesus.

  REALITY CHECK. Get one. Soon.

  UofL’s turd burglars are not the Yakuza.

• 4 HarryFTP // Mar 26, 2011 at 9:09 pm

  Jake, if you’re not willing to face up to the truth about UofL, I’ll start my own blog where I will tell it like it is. And you might want to get your own reality check – NOW.

  I happen to know that Flag spent over 50K on an internal UofL grievance, not against Felner, but another dean (who in my opinion would make a fine used car salesman, if only they made plaid suits for dwarfs). Flag was advised by his attorneys that he had to exhaust all his administrative remedies before pursuing the matter in court. So, he went through the charade that is the UofL grievance system over a period of almost 1.5 years, before Willinghanz ruled against the decision of the faculty grievance panel, and suggested that the Dean should apologize (he has yet to do so, by the way). This, despite having previously obtained an e-mail, via an open records request, in which Koshewa advised Willinghanz and Ramsey, in reference to the faculty grievance panel, to “let them opine all they want – then it will come to you, and you will set them straight”. This, in 2009, at the very time the university went through the motions of cleaning up the grievance process.

  When Flag mentions Morisson, it’s because he was mysteriously “retired” and replaced by Koshewa and her assistants, immediately after having released the aforementioned and other juicy e-mails – which Koshewa would no doubt have withheld.

  Flag’s reality, and my associated wrath, have NOTHING to do with Felner. It has to do with ongoing managerial incompetence, faculty and staff abuse, a complete absence of academic integrity, misappropriation of funds, scientific misconduct in clinical trials – and so on and so on.

  You’re not the only person on this planet who knows how to file an open records request, Jake – and when Flag says it costs money to appeal, and that even when you win and appeal, and the AG determines that UofL has violated the Open Records Act, UofL will STILL refuse to hand over the documents, appeal, take it to circuit court and attempt to run you out of time and money, it’s because he just won a decision last week, and FULLY expects UofL to appeal it, in an attempt to drag the whole thing out further, and make it as difficult as possible for him to obtain supporting documentation for his pending lawsuit (which, so far, has cost an additional $30K, by the way, on top of the 50K down the drain on the internal grievance).

  So, for those of you who want to know what’s REALLY going on behind the scenes at UofL, look for my new blog soon – it will be hosted off-shore to avoid any legal posturing from UofL, and tentatively will be operating under the byline “Shhh … it’s happening here”.

• 5 jake // Mar 27, 2011 at 12:20 pm

  Here’s the deal: You likely don’t have a clue what’s going on at UofL and your comment proves that to me.

  Bill retired because his wife got fucked by UofL and was forced to work hundreds of miles away. He stuck it out as long as he could. I know this because he proved it to me during the Felner saga. So quit with the conspiracies.

  “Flag” may have spent money on a grievance but “Flag” has never provided any shred of evidence to me. Ever. And I’ve asked for it repeatedly. An internal email that they know is going to be public record isn’t enough to go on.

  Angela hasn’t withheld anything. She may very well be incompetent, but – as I said years ago – she was put into place to keep Ramsey informed of what people like me are getting their hands on. Again, she hasn’t withheld anything. I’d be dragging her over the coals in the press if that were the case. She is, in my opinion, one of the reasons UofL gets its ass handed to it in suit after suit. I think she likely just plays pat-a-cake and wouldn’t know how to hide something if her life depended on it. Typical Ramsey lackey.

  No one disputes there are problems at UofL. But you folks NEVER, EVER bring me the fucking proof. I will not go on a wild goose chase because you’re bitter or have your feelings hurt.

  Do you want to know what I’ve spent digging and researching at UofL? It trumps the figures you’ve mentioned.

  Please. You’ve opined for YEARS and have never produced a single shred of evidence beyond complaining and getting nasty when I press you to pony up.

• 6 HarryFTP // Mar 27, 2011 at 8:18 pm

  I did just “pony up” to say that Koshewa DID withhold information with respect to an open records request recently, at least in the opinion of Attorney General Jack Conway as outlined in his decision of March 18th – and that’s just one case. Wouldn’t have thought I’d have to send you the link, but here it is:

  http://www.ag.ky.gov/civil/orom/list.htm

  Case 11ORD039.doc

  Nothing juicy here, but it does prove that documents are regularly withheld and that there are NO consequences to violating the Kentucky Open Records Act – so why would UofL comply? And, btw, with respect to this particular open records request, Flag decided to pursue mediation with the Acting Chair of his department re: the matter described, independent of the pending lawsuit I mentioned previously, and 15 months later mediation has yet to take place – so you tell me that the mediation/grievance process has changed since the Felner era.

  How do you know that Koshewa hasn’t withheld information from you?? Having her involved in open records requests is like having the fox guard the hen house. The e-mail I mentioned would have been withheld by Koshewa, because the strategy is to claim attorney/client privilege if her name is mentioned in any e-mail – regardless of her role in that particular communication – so the e-mail I mentioned that Morisson released is one example of something Koshewa would never have let go. Maybe Morisson’s retirement was just a convenient coincidence for UofL – but I’m not convinced.

  People on here have been lobbing you soft pitches for years – for Christ’s sake, you had Avital Schurr on here, who literally wrote the book on scientific misconduct at UofL – did you follow up with him about what he knows? If you do bother to read his book re: what happened in the Gupta/Roisen affair over 10 years ago, you will realize that the situations he describes in terms of retaliation against him and others for filing a grievance read like a script for anyone who has filed a grievance recently.

  If you want to know what’s going on at UofL then follow the MONEY – and most of the money resides on the Health Sciences Campus, controlled by the multiple millionaire MDs at its helm.

  You regularly make statements on here without any evidence to back them up – what is your basis for saying that UofL is making strides – which I believe is exactly what Flag was questioning. When somebody experiences, first-hand, a different reality than that you describe, why are you so reluctant to take what they say at face value.

  Oh, and if you spent > $80 K on research regarding UofL, as you claim, I doubt that your motivation was because YOUR OWN CAREER has been screwed by that institution. Flag wasn’t engaged in investigative reporting when he spent that amount, he was trying to salvage what’s left of his career – and I doubt that many junior faculty members would even have that option available to them because of the expense involved.

• 7 jake // Mar 27, 2011 at 8:35 pm

  Like I insinuated, you folks are bent out of shape over promotions and trivial bullshit that doesn’t impact the university as a whole and has little impact on the community at large. I couldn’t give two flips who gets fired or hosed or whatever at UofL because that happens everywhere. This is not a sounding board for personal issues because such-n-such got a better job than you and you can’t deal with reality.

  How do I know Angela hasn’t withheld information from me? Because there are people who watch her and report nearly everything she says and does.

  It’s no accident that I’m on UofL’s campus on a regular basis.

  No accident that countless UofL folks continue to give me documents.

  The reality here is that you don’t know what Bill would or would not have released. Most of the documents I published on this website and The ‘Ville Voice were never received via open records requests. They came from UofL employees bucking the system to give me the dirty goods.

  Really? I have no evidence to back up what I’m saying? You’re not paying attention. I’ve watched the assholes at UofL turn their ship around and have first-hand experience dealing with many of the people I have ridden hard for years.

  You can continue with your claims of horrible behavior. But, really, pony up. So Angela withheld some information about someone’s job. Where’s the evidence of corruption that will bring down the entire cabal? You don’t have it.

  Complaining about UofL spending money won’t get you anywhere. No one cares.

  Full Signal Media Group, LLC spent more than $100,000 on the Robert Felner mess, thank you very much. And, no, it wasn’t because I’m bitter about being fucked over.

  Again, I don’t give two shits about a single person’s job or career. Who cares? NO ONE. No one wants to read about someone losing their job and trying to get back at some assholes who should be shipped off to some secretarial holding spot. No one. Take it elsewhere.

  I’m only interested in real and tangible corruption that costs this Commonwealth money.

• 8 Novena // Mar 28, 2011 at 8:53 am

  “Voices in the Belknap Wilderness”

  Jake, Flag, Harry,
  You all have legitimate concerns. I (and many others) have applauded Jake’s vigilant watch over UofL. It is indeed horrible that Flag felt forced to spend all that money against a corrupt administration. And Harry makes some good points as well. It is not just Felner. It is symbolized by at least one dean who is still at Belknap who admits he “loves’ to go to court. Because UofL honchos have the metal and wind at their back financially, they have the power to push the envelope–and go to court countless times on state money. Faculty and staff have to pay their own way. So this is not just about some individual’ job; it is about the political and monetary power of a university that spends state money in hideous, whimsical fashion.

• 9 jake // Mar 28, 2011 at 8:58 am

  They have legitimate concerns.

  But individual grievances that relate to their specific circumstances and not those of the university as a whole (not discounting that there are problems – but you folks can’t sit around foaming at the mouth from across the country without recent first-hand experiences) don’t hold the weight the Felner scandal holds. Or the weight Jim Ramsey’s horse shit behavior in front of cameras for two years held.

• 10 keatssycamore // Mar 28, 2011 at 10:30 am

  Because UofL honchos have the metal and wind at their back financially, they have the power to push the envelope–and go to court countless times on state money. Faculty and staff have to pay their own way. So this is not just about some individual’ job; it is about the political and monetary power of a university that spends state money in hideous, whimsical fashion.

  Seems like a legit summary of the way things work at UofL.

• 11 Le Gardien de But // Mar 28, 2011 at 11:51 am

  from one of the comments above: Koshewa advised Willinghanz and Ramsey, in reference to the faculty grievance panel, to “let them opine all they want – then it will come to you, and you will set them straight”……

  I was on the grievance committee & have always felt that honorable people served on that committee. However, I believed that SW & JR just blew off our recommendations! Now I know for certain they did. There was very little given to us in the way of guidelines. Just a few workshops with a MINIMUM of written info. So basically it was develop a process on the fly. But as I said, JR & SW made a mockery of the grievance process.

• 12 Novena // Mar 28, 2011 at 2:31 pm

  “Le Gardien Adds Some Weight”

  Yes, indeed he does. His summary of the grievance process is dead on. Honchos tend to tailor the interpretations toward their own direction no matter what the “Redbook” says (since things are often up for interpretation, guess who wins most all the time?). For example (I apologize for bringing up the embalmed ex-dean Felner), could he have been right some 32 times and the faculty & staff wrong all the time? The Psycho Dean used to brag that he won ALL his grievances, nodding that the administration always backed him.

• 13 marie // Mar 29, 2011 at 2:00 am

  What they do is illegal. People make things up,
  state things as fact that would become, in my case, an entire annual review. The fact that the review is a drastic departure from the previous
  year’s/s is not a concern when the university
  green lights it. Statistics, and all evidence
  of good work is ignored.

  Everything they do every single day,
  from attitude to decisions, goes against
  the best interests of the place. You can voice
  concerns formally (one and a half years) with
  no investigation or honest attempt at resolution.

  This has nothing to do with promotions or being fired. You function in a fraught, anything-goes atmosphere where there is no oversight or accountability. Management’s behavior is irresponsible, cavalier, wreckless. I’ve detailed my story here over the past two and a half years…
  I guess much gets lost in translation.

  After my experience at U of L, do you think I can work again in my field? I arrived with ten years experience in libraries and Interlibrary Loan, and was treated as if I knew nothing. Everyday.
  This treatment grew worse with time. I worked hard and loved my job, as well as the library field.

  You are right, Jake. This is a growing trend.
  But it doesn’t help to blame the people who in all good faith went to work and lost their jobs and careers due to abuse, gossip, and slander.

• 14 Novena // Mar 29, 2011 at 8:01 am

  “Amen, Marie”

  I knew many good people who fled UofL because of some of the things you mention. Some of it was Felner issues; but it was also because the central administration had neither the eyes or guts to can the psycho man. They protected him (despite tons of clear signs of insane behavior) rather than innocent folks who were bludgeoned. I know, Jake, this is all past–but it costs lives and careers that can never be redone. Marie is a prime example.

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