Pride

At the College of Business of the University of Southern Mississippi*

*From the point of view of one full professor

I received a handwritten note dated February 19, 2000 from another instructor in the accounting department:

I think this [a Grievance Committee to review Dr. Crockett’s equity pay adjustment for Dr.  Albin] is disruptive and serves no purpose. With respect, I think that you should endeavor to be a “team player.

Robert T. Jackson

As I wrote Mr. Jackon at the time, integrity of evaluations is a well thought out principle in the Faculty Handbook. The issue is, did Dr. Crockett make material misrepresentations of fact in Dr. Albin’s evaluation?

Does a review of an evaluation "serve no purpose?" If I had no evidence supporting my concerns, Mr. Jackson would have a valid point.

Furthermore, we should be team players. The Faculty Handbook provides the rules for the USM faculty team. Dr. Crockett and his friends passed on an opportunity to be USM team players.  They could have followed the rules and presented facts to show his evaluations were objective. 

The application of laws, rules, rights, and due process is disruptive. As an attorney, Mr. Jackson knows that better than most.  It’s messy, troublesome, embarrassing, etc. Therefore, what should we should do? Get rid of rules? Use them selectively, i.e., never enforce rules against friends?