That's my conclusion after listening to Student Affairs VP Charles Brown talk with the UP's editor last week. It was Brown's first interview with Karla Bowsher since I was fired in May.
(In mid-June, Brown had summoned Karla to his office, where he issued a statement but refused to answer her questions, delivering 10 no-comments in 90 seconds.)
While they chatted respectfully on a number of UP-related topics, the most intriguing stuff concerned student media director Marti Harvey.
Listen to the excerpts here.
Karla asked Brown what he thought of Marti's oft-repeated comment on The Palm Beach Post website, "Mr. Koretzky teaches students the National Enquirer method of journalism and FAU has put up with it for 12 years."
Variations included, “I would never make that kind of public statement, or even closed statement, about any of our entities” and, "I've never said the paper is a National Enquirer paper. I would never say that to students."
Interestingly, Brown only once defended his student media director. It was not a robust effort...
Brown: We all at times make statements that we regret. That happens. You made statements that you probably regret. We all do.
Karla: She stood Friday in our newsroom and said, “I still stand by what I said.”
[pause]
Brown, weakly: OK…
Karla: That’s her position.
Brown: I’m gonna say this. We’re gonna work through this. … This is a bump in the road.
I believe it's the end of the road for Marti Harvey. In an interview he had two weeks to prepare for, and which he knew was recorded, Brown couldn't conjure up a reasonable explanation for Marti's comments. So he didn't even try. In the tight little world of higher education, it's not healthy for your career when a vice president disavows your actions.
And as you can read from my posts earlier this week, the finalists for assistant student media director have much more professional experience than Marti does. I wouldn't be surprised if, in six to nine months, Marti is forced to announce she's homesick and is heading back to Texas.
In my 12 years at FAU, I saw many administrators nudged out the door in just this way. It's actually a humane process: Your boss explains you're no longer in favor, privately gives you several months to move on, and when you finally leave, he buys your going-away cake.
Indeed, I'm irked I didn't receive this same treatment. I really like cake.
TOMORROW: Brown's two big blunders.
