Jean,

Thank you for your comment.  I'm sorry you found what I had to say
distasteful.  You should know that any disagreement I expressed was NOT with
Richard Brown, but with the NUMBERS he presented.  I thought I was clear
about that, but if not, let me reiterate the point by saying that the
messenger is not the same as the message and should not necessarily be held
responsible for it.  If Chuck Cantrell were to issue a press release citing
the same numbers to say how well UTC pays its employees, I would criticize
the numbers in the same way, but that would be no reflection on Chuck.  Dr
Brown is just doing his job, which, in part, is to put a happy face on
matters he deals with.  If that means spinning the numbers a little, I'm
sure it's nothing personal--it's just business.  I would hope that he and
you and everyone else will take my comments the same way--nothing personal,
just business.  

Dr Brown may have been operating as a cat's paw for others in issuing his
report.  That's why I suggested several reasons for the difference between
his figures and mine.  Often it is the provost who is the point man or woman
for bad news with the budget.  I have had numerous disagreements with both
Dr Friedl and Dr Burhenn over numbers, but I have been able to work very
well with them at the same time.  I believe we always understood one
another's position and had the same goals at heart.  I'm he same is true for
Dr Brown.  

There has been a lot of talk about transparency in he budget process this
year.  I took the chancellor and the provost at their word on that, and made
an effort to attend the budget hearings as much as I could.  I kept quiet
until the last day when Chancellor Brown noted that few faculty had been in
attendance, a point to which I responded.  You can imagine my disappointment
when I saw the numbers in a report that seemed to threaten the integrity of
the hearings by presenting data that seemed less than transparent.

IMHO, the main source of any decline in civility in recent times has been
President Petersen.  The statements he made to the Nashville Tennessean two
years ago about not caring if he offends some people and not caring what
they think of him, together with his willingness to treat some UT employees
as the least valued of any state workers and his unwillingness to meet with
an organized group of those employees set a tone of disrespect that has not
been broken.

Again, I'm not saying Richard Brown is wrong, just the NUMBERS.

Fritz.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Jean Howard-Hill
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 9:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] {UTCINFO} correction to UTC budget

Fritz:

I rather would not have this kind of e-mail sent to me.

I am a firm believer that when you have a problem with someone, you need to
first go to that person and give them the opportunity to either explain or
justify the basis for their actions.  You have not done this with Vice
Chancellor Brown, and I think this is very distasteful.

I have known Dr. Brown for longer than I would like to admit, for fear it
would reveal my actual age, and during that entire time, I have found him to
be a man of honesty and integrity when it comes to financial dealings.

If he is wrong, then so be it.  But at least give him the courtesy of "first
approach", before you air his laundry out in a way in which suggests that he
has intentionally misled us.

It is time for us to set examples of integrity for students, and the way to
do that is for us to lead the way. Sending this as a universal e-mail
throughout the campus, and especially to students is an insult to the
integrity of us all.  I am trying to teach my students ethics in class, and
this e-mail is an example of what is unethical.

Don't we have enough problems external to UTC to deal with, without creating
internal conflict, which we may be able to easily resolve by just talking to
each other?  What has it profited us to have this e-mail circulated? If
anything, it pitted us against each other, and has created embarrassment for
not only Dr. Brown, but also for UTC.

Surely we are bigger than this! At least I hope so.  

Jean Howard-Hill   


Dr. Jean Howard-Hill
Political Science Department
419 Fletcher Hall
Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403
423-425-5702

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