[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
/In a message dated 6/7/2007 5:46:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:/
/My questions include:/
/ How do we thank John Fenton?/
/ Can his job and reputation be saved?/
/ Should we /
/ save his job? /
/ lose UCD? /
/ settle for what we get (and thus deserve)?/
/ How do we prevent the further co opting of UC by
Politics, Penn and powerful lurkers?/
/ Do we support any person or initiative at UCD?/
/ ?, ?, ?/
I totally agree with everything Liz asks here. We don't know the
details - only John Fenton knows EVERYTHING - so we can't judge what
happened. But, where do we go NEXT?
Didn't this problem come about because the Councilwoman asked John
Fenton to help out with SOMETHING, and he did? She doesn't dispute
that that's what happened - the only question is what did she ask him
to help out with. And then, didn't some student tell the Daily News
that John did something which was inconsistent with the tax status of
his employer and the law? Isn't that how the story came out? From
that start, how did anyone jump to the conclusion that "UCD" is to
blame? It seems to me that the parties who participated were Jannie
Blackwell, John Fenton, the student, the Daily News, and perhaps Tom Knox.
Well, we don't really _know_ what happened that day. As far as I can
tell, all parties involved who've spoken on the matter have attested
that Fenton and his crew were working a community event, not a Knox
event: there has been no well-substantiated evidence that Fenton's
people did anything for Knox directly.
Faced with this accusation from the student, wouldn't any responsible
employer have no choice but to launch a thorough investigation?
And wouldn't they have to keep things private till they got to the
bottom of it? Don't those of you calling for immediate answers
understand that an employer has to protect his employees' rights?
Would any of you want your employers updating the public about what
you might or might not have done wrong, before your company had all of
the facts? Do you think John Fenton wants that? The daily gossip
sheet sent out by his coworkers? Are you considering the liability
issues here, while you are demanding that the UCD give updates to the
public?
Not exactly, Melani. Yes, UCD had to investigate the allegations. But
given Fenton's popularity, and the public nature of the allegations, the
results of this investigation ought to be made known. What was
determined? Did Fenton's crew actually _do_ anything for Knox's campaign
directly? If so, then was this an honest mistake-- as I said, Fenton
would've been caught between UCD's restrictions, his desire to help
people out, and the prospect of pissing off Blackwell.
Only then can we adequately evaluate what's been decided. Right now,
without UCD's investigators making the facts known, it really looks as
though they're being very cowardly, and letting a good man go because
of an unsubstantiated allegation.
I can't see how this helps anything. After all, if UCD would do this to
a real asset like John Fenton, then why would anyone want to work for
them? I'd like to know who _did_ the investigating, and who made the
astoundingly, amazingly boneheaded decision to get rid of John Fenton.
One positive outcome might be to remove such incompetents from whatever
positions they have.
I'll be the first to agree with you on your other points-- that several
people are enjoying this spectacle, and Fenton's crash-and-burn has
given them an issue they can flog. But this really doesn't reflect well
on UCD at all.
----
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the
list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see
<http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
