I had a lower-level administrative position, and a couple of years ago was promoted to a management position – with no raise.  Went from working in the corner in the back to being responsible for the whole office (four to six employees.)  With no raise.  Decided to tough it out one year, no more.  No raise., just more and more work.  In the meantime Shelby happened.  I have worked for other universities and saw the writing on the wall.  I was lucky enough to be able to leave.  BUT  I would like to come back!! I miss USM (though not in its present state.)  There are a lot of staff types who are also “sort of” academics too, you know.  I have an MA and did work on a PhD at a prestigious university, but waited too late in life to try that – didn’t have the stamina for it.   But I love the academic world, and I would love to teach.  At least in my former staff position I got to work with students in a helpful and positive way.  The person in my old job is totally unqualified and is wrecking what could have been a great program.  But she works cheap.  Ya gets what ya pays for.  Someone commented that Hanbury’s salary would have funded three faculty salaries.  It could also have given  a whole lot of raises to woefully underpaid staff.  $5000 can make a lot of difference in someone’s life.

A Shelby anecdote:  during the presidential “selection” farce, I attended the meeting at which Shelby spoke to the staff.  The format for all the candidates was the same – the president of the Staff Council (as I recall) read from a list of questions.  That way all three candidates were treated the same.  In theory.  Shelby, however, could not stand someone else (a lowly female staffer at that) questioning him.  After the first or second question, he strode across the stage, and in the interest of efficiency, plucked the list from her hands and proceeded to pick and choose his way through the questions..  Most of us left the meeting that day angry, offended, and with sinking hearts.  We could see what was coming.

Please keep up the good work and get rid of this man.  There are a lot of us who would come back to work tomorrow if he goes.