This is a little bit puzzling.  I had written in an e'mail to Linda 
Francisco that I thought that Pres Petersen was acting like a jerk (not 
that he was a jerk) because he had acted to severely cut the pay of faculty 
and because he had indicated a disregard for what faculty think of 
him.  That e'mail was not included in e'messages sent by me or Bob Levy 
earlier this week.  You and Bob must have received it as a forwarded 
e'message from someone at UTK.  I don't believe I referred to you or anyone 
as an incompetent fool in those e'messages.  Perhaps you can locate the 
words.  I don't think I used the word "fool" anywhere, and the only use of 
the word "competence" was in listing some of the disadvantages of merit 
pay, where I said it increases monitoring costs and may be risky if middle 
management (such as deans and department heads) are less than fully 
competent.

I acknowledge the comment about acting like a jerk was personal; I wanted 
to get Dr. Francisco's attention and evidently did  so.  I also thought the 
1.5% salary increase and reference to it as a "cost-of-living increase" was 
insulting.  I also thought the report in the Nashville Tennessean where he 
said he "wants to give the best professors an incentive to stay at UT, 
while the merely adequate faculty members  won't be going anywhere anyway" 
was insulting and dismissive.  I took that as an offensive personal attack.

As I've said previously, I've been in a very foul mood lately and I don't 
care to internalize the anger.  And as I've said in other recent e'mails, 
numerous faculty who are afraid to speak out have contacted me on this and 
related issues.  That's why so many of my  e'mails have been about 
morale.  Only advice I can offer them is not to be in the same building 
when I finally go postal.  I know much of what I have to say isn't 
politically correct.  I was exactly the sort of person the term politically 
incorrect was meant to describe--an iconoclast of left-wing shibboleths, if 
that isn't a mixed metaphor--back when it had its original meaning 30 or 40 
years ago.  I care as little what people think of that as Petersen says he 
does of how faculty regard him.

The reference to personal attacks involving golf and coeds were, as I 
pointed out, anonymous comments attributed to unnamed  sources by 
administrators.  The personal behavior of Presidents Gilley and Shumaker 
were dragged out and printed in Michael Cass's piece in the Tennessean.

Most of the e'messages you refer to are questions I was raising about 
things Pres Petersen had said.  For example, he asked why seniority was 
important; I listed six reasons why seniority pay benefits both employer 
and employee.  He told me he had to ask his attorney about meeting with 
UCW; I asked Bob to communicate further details.  I proposed alternatives 
about the source of the merit pay pool.  These and other alternatives were 
not discussed at yesterday's Senate meeting, and they appear not to be on 
anyone's agenda.

The fact is that the pay adjustment for faculty this year was a zero-sum 
game.  That's how Petersen can say on the one hand that faculty overall got 
3% just like everyone else and on the other hand that he came up with merit 
pay.  The result is to pit one group of faculty against the other.  I'm a 
uniter, not a divider.  Petersen appears to represent the opposite.

Merely adequately yours,
Fritz.

At 11:50 AM 10/20/2005 -0400, John Friedl wrote:
>Dear Professor Efaw:
>
>Questioning the policies of a public university, when done in a civil
>and respectful manner, is certainly appropriate. However, your two
>public email messages to President Petersen (via Vice President Levy)
>earlier this week far exceeded the bounds of what could be considered
>appropriate conduct. It is one thing to challenge a policy with which
>you disagree, and quite another to launch a personal attack against
>those who create and implement that policy.
>
>The UTC Faculty Handbook sets forth standards of conduct for faculty,
>including the expectation that faculty will act with civility toward
>their colleagues and students. Referring to President Petersen as a jerk
>(as you have previously done in a public email message to him), and
>referring to me, Chancellor Brown and others in the UTC administration
>as incompetent fools, goes far beyond any reasonable boundary for civil
>conduct.
>
>As an elected representative of the UTC faculty, you should be keenly
>aware of the effect your behavior has on others. Your outrageous insults
>to the leaders of this campus and this university bring disgrace not
>only to you, but to those whom you represent.
>
>At the end of your message to Vice President Levy you indicate that you
>will have additional questions for Associate Provost Pittenger. I have
>directed Dr. Pittenger and others on my staff to ignore further requests
>from you. Your offensive conduct deserves neither my respect nor my
>cooperation.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>
>John Friedl, Provost