University of the Fraser Valley: Trust

(First things first: Thank you to all those who sent their kind words; it has been a rough week, and it means a lot to me.)

Trust. It is an interesting construct. Think about it. Trust is the foundation of civil society.

You trust that your doctor is not prescribing you rat poison, that the engineer knows something about building bridges, that your pilot is not drunk. You trust that your waiter did not spit into your soup, that public servants are not petty thieves (1), that the other driver abides by the STOP sign. You trust that the lawyer is not padding the bill, that your friend is not betraying you, that the zookeeper locked the tiger cage. Even the heroin addict must trust that there is heroin in the syringe, not fentanyl.

As an employee, you trust that if your work is good, you will keep your job (2). My employment was terminated "without cause" on 22 Jan 2019. But I lost trust in my employer much earlier. But when?

It's hard to say. But looking back I would say it was in early October 2018.

On 10 Oct 2018, a trusted U.B.C. colleague and I were discussing U.F.V.'s recent purchase of the Finnegan's Pub property for $9.85 million, and the donation by the sellers to U.F.V. of $1.125 million, and that in 2017 B.C. Assessment had assessed the Finnegan's Pub property at only $3.1 million (3).

My U.B.C. colleague was adamant that the public should know about this. I told him that all the information was in the public domain (4), and that the hallways at U.F.V. were full of talk about it (5). I also told him that while as a public servant my duty is to the public, I would not want to take on this project for two reasons: First, I would be one of the first suspects. And second, I don't lie, and I wanted honest deniability on my side when I walk into my sacking meeting.

In short, by 10 Oct 2018, I already thought that a sacking was in the offing.

Other people have suggested that my head came on the chopping block the day I dared to defend my former supervisor Ms. G.. And that it is that day that I should have lost trust in U.F.V.'s administration. The day was 23 May 2018.

To be sure, Ms. G. was a tough boss, sometimes a difficult boss. But I come from a country where failure to speak up for fellow citizens has led to unspeakable tragedy. Consequently, a long time ago I decided to always speak up for the weaker party. 

On 1 May 2018, Dr. Joanne MacLean became the new president of the University of the Fraser Valley. On 22 May, she terminated the employment of Ms. G.. On 23 May, she called me into her office for a short meeting regarding bureaucratic formalities. Before I left, I handed President MacLean my letter titled "In defence of [Ms. G.]".

This was the last direct interaction I would ever have with President MacLean, except for a previously booked twenty-minute meet-and-greet two days later where the air was thick and my letter was unmentioned.

Maybe this letter did seal my fate. (Would I write it again? Of course.)

So yes, it was either around 10 October when I lost my trust in U.F.V.'s administration, or 23 May when I should have lost it.

Or was it earlier? …

NOTES AND REFERENCES

(1) https://www.leg.bc.ca/content/CommitteeDocuments/41st-parliament/LAMC/2019-01-21/2019-01-21_SpeakersReport.pdf (Accessed: 31 Jan 2019)

(2) I will not bore you with details, but I have assembled a formidable group of individuals at the Career Centre. Over the past ten years, we worked, we laughed, and we cried together. You will find not a single department at U.F.V. that is working together as well as the people of the Career Centre. No exaggeration.

(3) Imagine you are the Vice President, Cars and Donations at ABC University and your job is to buy cars and bring in donations. Imagine that one day you see this old Hyundai Pony, and you really like this Hyundai Pony, and you find its owner and you ask: "How much for that Hyundai Pony?" And the owner says: "$1,000." And you say: "What if I give you $100,000, and you donate $98,000 back to ABC University, and so we both win?" And the owner says: "Okay."

(4) https://blogs.ufv.ca/blog/2018/09/ufv-purchases-former-finnegans-property/, https://blogs.ufv.ca/blog/2018/10/esposito-family-donates-1-125-million-to-ufv-to-support-scholarships-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fjVT1ehLWg3ChfPLk20aTIFTgn0DLtcX/view (All accessed: 31 Jan 2019). Direct online look-up for the Finnegan's Pub property through the B.C. Assessment website ceased some time after the transfer of the property to the University of the Fraser Valley.

(5) The mystery was not the bystander effect -- "Everybody knows; nobody acts." --, a psychological effect administrations can usually rely on. The mystery was that U.F.V.'s administration did not seem to care about the bad optics.