Thursday, March 15, 2012

Whistle Blowing?

Has anyone ever reported their univeristy for unethical practices? I'm been seeing some shady things in the last year, grade fixing, students telling me they were forced to start a class several weeks into the term when they said they didn't want to, higher ups telling me I "don't need to contact anyone" when I question what is going on. I dont want to shoot myself in the foot, I need the money but I am also starting to feel like a need a shower. Say something? Keep my head down? Suggestions?

15 comments:

  1. Does your uni have an ethics reporting system of any kind? Ours has a hotline, and every single complaint is investigated with an outcome available in a monthly report. The callers are never asked to leave a name (though they can volunteer it), and it's run by an outside EAP, so the complaints aren't even heard initially by employees of the system. They go to a compliance officer.

    I personally have never reported anyone, but I've known people who have. In some cases, heads have rolled; in others, things got swept under the rug. As I'm sure you can guess, the scale for this varied from classified staff caught stealing materials to build a house (gone) to a top-level administrator violating several ethics code elements (nada).

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    1. Wait, you have an actual hotline for this? I've never worked anywhere that had this. I want this!

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    2. It was one of the few good things that came out of several ethics scandals we endured awhile back. I don't want to give more details for fear of outing myself, but let's just say the taxpayers were not happy and jail time was involved.

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  2. I want one too! Right now I am considering jumping ship if I can afford to or if the contracts dry up contacting the governing board that certifies them, that is the only number I can find. I just don't WANT to, I have worked here for years and up until this year it was a great place to work...

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  3. Document everything! Look at what you have as if you don't believe anything shady is going on, and if a literal reading of the documents doesn't force a conclusion of bad dealings, then get more documentation before you call anyone.

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  4. I recently did this - I went through "the process" to try and rectify a situation, didn't get anywhere, and so I then called the education reporter of the local major newspaper; we'll see if anything happens. I said I wanted to remain anonymous, but if that doesn't work out I've got tenure and I can document that I went through the proper channels first. I made sure to document my prior actions, so I can't be accused (and then possibly fired) for jumping ahead to blowing the whistle without having let the university have a fair chance to respond and deal with the situation.

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  5. A friend of mine went all the way to the EEOC. But she has tenure.

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  6. I go up for tenure next year. I'll let you know next spring.

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  7. Just curious: does Canada offer whistleblower protection?

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  8. If there's no confidential reporting/investigating system on or off campus that you trust, then I'd be tempted to start sending anonymous but as well-documented as possible snail-mail letters to elected representatives for the region which sponsors the university (assuming it's a public one), accrediting bodies, local education reporters, etc.

    Either that, or find another job and speak up publicly. Or speak up publicly first and be prepared to find another job. I fear it won't be an easy road if you do that in either order, but that's the bravest and probably most effective way to deal with the situation, and kudos to you for considering it. The forces leading to the disintegration of higher education may not be quite as urgent or deadly a problem as toxins being released into the environment, but they're still a serious matter, and deserve serious attention.

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  9. Yes, I tried to stop an unethical system whereby graduating students award a very large scholarship to underclassmen of their choice. There is no voting, no application, no essay required, no panel who decides who gets the scholarship. It's just a handful of students who get to choose whoever they like to receive a whole semester's tuition with a cash value of approximately $12,000 and change. They choose whoever they like, generally one of their friends. In turn, the chosen one gets to keep the entire scholarship or divvy it up among his or her own friends. It's been like this for as long as I can remember, even going back to when I was a student here. I tried to stop it then, and I've tried now that I am a staffer. I actually had more impact as a student - the chosen one agreed to split the scholarship with me, although she wasn't obligated to, she was just nice about it. As a staff member, I've had zero effect. The Dean for Students promised to investigate and never did, the faculty member who supposedly oversees this scholarship told me I was misinformed and he'd explain the whole thing to me one day when he had time, and the letter I wrote to the student newspaper just made the scholarship recipients hate me and demand to know how I, who had also received the scholarship, or half of it anyway, could betray "the brotherhood" of past scholarship recipients.

    I don't think there's any way to stop unethical procedures at a university because it always comes down to some hotshot faculty member with prestige and status who is running the dog-and-pony show and no one else has the nerve to go up against him. That's what happened at my university and I assume it happens everywhere. Even back when we had an ombudsman, it was pointless to file a complaint, as the ombudsman would simply tell your boss that you were a troublemaker. Any time I've tried to complain about unethical procedures, the person who promised to investigate has simply blabbed to my boss, who is then angry since she's the biggest boot-licker in the entire world and does not believe anyone with any status should be contradicted. That's why she's the boss and I am not.

    If you want to advance your career, keep your head down and don't say a word. At best, nothing will happen, at worse, you'll be known as a troublemaker and will be punished in one way or another. If it bothers you that much, find a new job, but as far as I call tell, unethical procedures are a standard at every university.

    That hotline sounds pretty awesome, though. Wish we had that here, but even if we did, they'd find a way to make it worthless.

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    1. Regardless of your political leanings, notifying your nearest Tea Party candidate would help. This is the type of taxpayer fraud that they salivate over and, honestly, both parties should oppose.

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  10. If you don't have tenure or some similar protection (So-called "whistleblower protections are meaningless.), either have a new job or career in hand, or start looking or preparing for one.

    I speak from experience: I've "blown the whistle" at one college and refused to participate in unethical conduct demanded by a high-level administrator at another. I will never be hired again at either school, and it's looking more and more likely that I won't be hired by other institutions.

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  11. Well, when I was a grad student, I went up aganist my former advisor and there was open warfare against me. Partially because I knew that the faculty member was guilty of numberous harassment allegations and outright fraud and partially becuase I knew that this dude was secretly loathed in the department, I knew that I had right on my side. I was willing to step out into public and point the finger, which sucked royally. Still, I knew that by me coming forward and speaking about a professor that had ripped off a federal grant, I would make it better for the next class of students. The professor had to hire his own lawyer AND repay the entire grant out of his pocket. The sucky part came when the feds declined to prosecute since the grant money was less than $50K and some folks in the department took this decline to charge him as outright acquittal.

    No one said it was easy to have principles or to have the guts to stand up when all else cower, but knowing you chose to play it safe when bad things were happening isn't exactly noble or in the tradition of heros. Don't wait for someone else to do the dirty work; grab a shovel and do your share. All else is gutless. Where would ANY rights movement be without folks with courage? Seriously, grow a pair and step up!!!!

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    1. Hey, CR! Nice to hear from you after a long while.

      That took some stones. Sorry it turned out bad. You put your neck out for small potatoes but your last paragraph shows you know what life is about. That's better than most of us, most of the time, including me.

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