What's Up with UND Leadership

[star2city]

While President Kelley was conveniently out of town, his new VP fired Alice Hoffert.

Termination Letter

Herald

I don't have a problem with making major shakeups in any administration, but no matter how you do it, just treat the person with some level of respect. At least give a person at that level six months to a year in a consulting role. She was going to be paid for a year anyway.

Kelley knew all about this - and if he didn't he doesn't have any control of his staff. Kelley again seems to take a coward's way toward people and ideas, much like the underhanded crap he pulled on the Sioux name.

Dr. Kelley, the manner in which you and Reesor pulled off a firing is an embarrassment to the University community.

We deserve and demand better.

[gfhockey]

I fired off a letter to Doc Bob Kelley. Obvisouly I knew i was going to get a computer generated message back but hopefully one of his assistants at least read it and understood how many people this pissed off in the community that UND is located it.Id the Doc ran a business (as in uncle ralphs word) he would be a complete failure. You just don't do that to one of your employees. She had 37 years invested into the UND and as soon as some big bad Doc and his Doc's pawn resser or w.e. her name is gave this lady a letter saying good bye. If this lady comes by my business ever (which in her mind its probably not even good enough for her) she is not going to get a deal or any benefit that some of the others get.

[farce poobah]

Dr. Kelley, the manner in which you and Reesor pulled off a firing is an embarrassment to the University community.

We deserve and demand better.

Agree.

You can add "waste of taxpayer money" to the offenses committed here.

[Chewey]

Sadly, this is the way how things like this are done these days. Pretty tacky but I'm sure they'd say that all of the "research" says that terminations should be done quickly and perfunctorily. It's too bad. Given that UND is extremely top-heavy administratively, I think this is the first of several such layoffs/terminations.

[IrishSiouxFan]

Alice Hoffert was actually one of my mentors at UND, we would sit and talk about issues facing the world of higher education once a month for about an hour. She is an extremely intelligent well read lady who stays up to date on everything. She doesn't always say the most popular things and I think her reluctance to be a "yes man" has ultimately lead her dismissal. I think that it is horrible the way she was treated, she deserved at the very least the opportunity to retire or resign. Someone in her position that has dedicated 37 years of her existence should have been given the courtesy of bowing out gracefully. I have heard rumors that because she was terminated she is not eligible to her retirement benefits, if this is true the Kelley administration should be absolutely ashamed (I haven't confirmed that she wont receive them). I thank her for her 37 years of dedication to the institution we all love and take pride in, Alice Hoffert I solute you!

[MoSiouxFan]

The way that her termination was handled is a disgrace. I hope that those who were in on this shameful handling of it are held to account for it. Treating people like this has got to be a real downer, morale-wise, for other faculty and staff.

[Irish]

This is pathetic and is an indication of the way things are going at UND.

Someone needs to tell Kelley that we don't do things this way in North Dakota

Having a hatchet woman come in and do this kind of dismissal to someone who has dedicated their life to UND and being conveniently out of town is disgraceful.

Maybe this is the Wyoming way, but here we treat loyal people with dignity and respect

I'm disgusted

[GeauxSioux]

While I'm not defending what UND did to Ms. Hoffert, this is getting to be more the norm in today's society. In the past two weeks I have had two friends affected by such action. In one case the company dropped the top two people from their positions on a Wednesday without notice. My friend was then installed as the new regional manager the next day.

In the other case another friend was dropped from his district manager position of one my competitors two days after I had talked to hm about how business was going. I haven't had a chance to talk to him since I learned he was fired, but if he knew he was on the way out the door, he didn't give me any hints.

Regardless if a change of direction was to be made at UND, Ms. Hoffert had earned the privilege, after 37 years of service, of resigning, rather than being removed in such a manner.

[ShilohSioux]

I don't treat people who work for me six months or have a trail of documentation of poor performance this way, let alone professionals with 37 years who had nothing but positives in her file. This is absolutely disgraceful. To hand someone a letter and not even have a conversation with them about the reasons, then give them an hour to gather their stuff and get out. Unbelievable. This certainly is NOT the UND I know. If this was this individual's style, she needs to go. If it's condoned by the President or top brass, they need to be shown the door -- NOW.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I don't treat people who work for me six months or have a trail of documentation of poor performance this way, let alone professionals with 37 years who had nothing but positives in her file. This is absolutely disgraceful. To hand someone a letter and not even have a conversation with them about the reasons, then give them an hour to gather their stuff and get out. Unbelievable. This certainly is NOT the UND I know. If this was this individual's style, she needs to go. If it's condoned by the President or top brass, they need to be shown the door -- NOW.

+1 for you.

I agree, this is a horrible thing. Anyone who is a UND employee is not safe. That is the precedent that has been set. This is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E for employee morale, you can bust your butt and be one of the best, work at UND for over 30 years, and could get fired on the spot tomorrow! I simply cannot believe that this happened here, at UND. President Kelley is absolutely accountable for something like this. This was no 1st year administrative assistant being let go, it was someone who is very high up at UND, with no apparent reason to be fired. I must also say I don't know Alice Hoffert, but I know countless people just like her who have dedicated their lives to UND and the service of others. Who will get fired next.....?

[the green team]

I know that, we often say "that's not the way we do things around here" but the reality is that terminations and layoffs do indeed happen that way in very similar manners to what was described in the article. I had it happen to me after 12 years, and their was nothing in my employee record that skewed negetive and I had it happen in another in situaltion after 8 years. Once was a letter, in front of the boss. Another was listening to another person over a conference phone in front of the boss. It happens around here. But we as a society -as we become far more socially inept in direct interaction with one another, will continue to try to find less confrontational ways to dismiss someone. I know that they say that facebook & text messaging are the way it works in the communication world today-in regards to social networking- but I believe those systems help foster a bit of impersonal correspondence which then stunts our personal skills with people.

This is unfortunate, I can't say that I knew Alice, but it would appear that she loved this University and has a great passion for it. And I think the University will always miss those type of people. I hope that she will be able to move on, with the support of close friends and family.

To hear of it happening the way it did, is really disturbing, but let's not kid ourselves that business in this community-not all- but some would have handled it the very same way. So I wouldn't put the community and this region on that high of a pedestal when in it comes to handeling employee terminations..

[ShilohSioux]

I know that, we often say "that's not the way we do things around here" but the reality is that terminations and layoffs do indeed happen that way in very similar manners to what was described in the article. I had it happen to me after 12 years, and their was nothing in my employee record that skewed negetive and I had it happen in another in situaltion after 8 years. Once was a letter, in front of the boss. Another was listening to another person over a conference phone in front of the boss. It happens around here. But we as a society -as we become far more socially inept in direct interaction with one another, will continue to try to find less confrontational ways to dismiss someone. I know that they say that facebook & text messaging are the way it works in the communication world today-in regards to social networking- but I believe those systems help foster a bit of impersonal correspondence which then stunts our personal skills with people.

This is unfortunate, I can't say that I knew Alice, but it would appear that she loved this University and has a great passion for it. And I think the University will always miss those type of people. I hope that she will be able to move on, with the support of close friends and family.

To hear of it happening the way it did, is really disturbing, but let's not kid ourselves that business in this community-not all- but some would have handled it the very same way. So I wouldn't put the community and this region on that high of a pedestal when in it comes to handeling employee terminations..

But it often doesn't happen this way and it never needs to. Even a short-timer and poor performer deserves the respect of a conversation and explanation. The old Golden Rule really needs to be applied here. I'm guessing when she gets the ax someday (hopefully soon by UND), Lori Reesor would like the news delivered more personally and compassionately, with acknowldgement of her contributions (assuming she makes some) and encouragement about her future. Again, I say "this is not the UND I know."

[ticklethetwine]

There of course are two sides to every story and then there's the truth. I think when looking at this from face value it looks pretty bad. However there were a good many who did and do have problems with Alice. I respect and admire her long dedication to UND and the many people she has touched. I work at UND and know people in her area who are happy she is gone. You see Alice thought she was going to just roll right over Dr. Ressor and run things the way she wanted to run them. It has been known for a while that President Kelley was looking in a new direction and ideas for Student Enrollment. He didn't like the model of just getting as many students as possible to stack numbers much like NDSU did with Chapman. Dr. Kelley is looking for good enrollment but is now focusing in on quality and not quanity.

I wish Alice the best and most of us average workers would never have received a severance package so she does at least have a years worth of pay and a payout of her vacation and percentage of sick time. She probably got a check for close to 200,000.

This is just a point of view from the inside. Not saying this was right but I did want to share that there are some people on campus who think this was a good move.

[IrishSiouxFan]

There of course are two sides to every story and then there's the truth. I think when looking at this from face value it looks pretty bad. However there were a good many who did and do have problems with Alice. I respect and admire her long dedication to UND and the many people she has touched. I work at UND and know people in her area who are happy she is gone. You see Alice thought she was going to just roll right over Dr. Ressor and run things the way she wanted to run them. It has been known for a while that President Kelley was looking in a new direction and ideas for Student Enrollment. He didn't like the model of just getting as many students as possible to stack numbers much like NDSU did with Chapman. Dr. Kelley is looking for good enrollment but is now focusing in on quality and not quanity.

I wish Alice the best and most of us average workers would never have received a severance package so she does at least have a years worth of pay and a payout of her vacation and percentage of sick time. She probably got a check for close to 200,000.

This is just a point of view from the inside. Not saying this was right but I did want to share that there are some people on campus who think this was a good move.

I know Alice as well, and everything you say is true. I wish that they could found another way to release her from her employment (retirement, head a special committee, ect...) I do think we need too concentrate on quality of students over quantity and maybe her models were not in line to make that objective a reality. We are a great institution, far greater than our neighbors to the south of us.

[ShilohSioux]

There of course are two sides to every story and then there's the truth. I think when looking at this from face value it looks pretty bad. However there were a good many who did and do have problems with Alice. I respect and admire her long dedication to UND and the many people she has touched. I work at UND and know people in her area who are happy she is gone. You see Alice thought she was going to just roll right over Dr. Ressor and run things the way she wanted to run them. It has been known for a while that President Kelley was looking in a new direction and ideas for Student Enrollment. He didn't like the model of just getting as many students as possible to stack numbers much like NDSU did with Chapman. Dr. Kelley is looking for good enrollment but is now focusing in on quality and not quanity.

I wish Alice the best and most of us average workers would never have received a severance package so she does at least have a years worth of pay and a payout of her vacation and percentage of sick time. She probably got a check for close to 200,000.

This is just a point of view from the inside. Not saying this was right but I did want to share that there are some people on campus who think this was a good move.

I'm not saying a reassignment wasn't justified. But the way it was done was abhorrent. Particularly since there was nothing in the file or no history of documentation of poor performance. The people who did this should be ashamed. I, for one, don't feel the love for an institution that treats its own this way.

[mizzou/sioux]

While President Kelley was conveniently out of town, his new VP fired Alice Hoffert.

Termination Letter

Herald

I don't have a problem with making major shakeups in any administration, but no matter how you do it, just treat the person with some level of respect. At least give a person at that level six months to a year in a consulting role. She was going to be paid for a year anyway.

Kelley knew all about this - and if he didn't he doesn't have any control of his staff. Kelley again seems to take a coward's way toward people and ideas, much like the underhanded crap he pulled on the Sioux name.

Dr. Kelley, the manner in which you and Reesor pulled off a firing is an embarrassment to the University community.

We deserve and demand better.

I realize many things go on in business that when all is said and done are really shabby. However, I expected more from my university. I agree with the above: Treat a person with some respect and dignity. The way in which the dismissal occurred appears cold and calculating. Or is this a foretaste of what's to come, namely that of being a leaner and meaner university?

[MoSiouxFan]

While President Kelley was conveniently out of town, his new VP fired Alice Hoffert.

Termination Letter

Herald

I don't have a problem with making major shakeups in any administration, but no matter how you do it, just treat the person with some level of respect. At least give a person at that level six months to a year in a consulting role. She was going to be paid for a year anyway.

Kelley knew all about this - and if he didn't he doesn't have any control of his staff. Kelley again seems to take a coward's way toward people and ideas, much like the underhanded crap he pulled on the Sioux name.

Dr. Kelley, the manner in which you and Reesor pulled off a firing is an embarrassment to the University community.

We deserve and demand better.

I think it's time for Capt. Burgraff to write another one of his scathing e-mails.

[fightingsioux4life]

One wonders if this is the first step in purging people from the office so they can be replaced by fair haired boys and girls who will be "Yes Men" and Yes Women" for Ms. Ressor. Once top administrators start thinking that the whole world revolves around their egotistical heads and they make important decisions based on that delusional world viewpoint, morale and other problems will soon follow. And it doesn't help that President Kelley wants to keep his fingernails clean at all times instead of nipping problems in the bud, which is a big part of his job.

This is a situation that bears watching.

[star2city]

One wonders if this is the first step in purging people from the office so they can be replaced by fair haired boys and girls who will be "Yes Men" and Yes Women" for Ms. Ressor. Once top administrators start thinking that the whole world revolves around their egotistical heads and they make important decisions based on that delusional world viewpoint, morale and other problems will soon follow. And it doesn't help that President Kelley wants to keep his fingernails clean at all times instead of nipping problems in the bud, which is a big part of his job.

This is a situation that bears watching.

A communications fortress around Twamley Hall is being built. People like Alice Hoffert had too many friends in Bismarck that were on a first-name basis. Now, any informal state questions have to go through Kelley or Kelley's new VP of Public Relations, which hasn't been announced yet.

How convenient that a new VP of Public Relations position was created just before Alice was sacked. Guess the new PR person will come in just at the right time for the name change.

[star2city]

Herald editorial from this weekend

Bresciani must be very worried about Kelley's future.

No wonder Dean Bresciani called “keeping Bob Kelley as president of UND” his No. 2 priority as president of NDSU. (No. 1 was “serving the state.”)

But the Herald retorts that the SBoHE is very, very pleased with Kelley.

By the way: To the best of our knowledge, Kelley retains the support of the higher education board. The 4 percent pay increase, matching Bresciani’s, that he got Thursday attests to this.

The SBoHE would never ever fire Kelley.

So, Bresciani’s comment about keeping Kelley as president does not reflect a worry that Kelley will be fired. The more likely concern is that Kelley would resign — if, say, the nickname issue becomes so all-consuming that it devours his time as president.

The issue is that the Governor and Legislature will get rid of all of them for dysfunctionality, arrogance, insubordination, and down right deceit.

Even Lloyd Omdahl agrees that the SBoHE is dyfunctional.

The Alice Hoffert issue is just the tip of the iceberg.

[Teeder11]

A communications fortress around Twamley Hall is being built. People like Alice Hoffert had too many friends in Bismarck that were on a first-name basis. Now, any informal state questions have to go through Kelley or Kelley's new VP of Public Relations, which hasn't been announced yet.

How convenient that a new VP of Public Relations position was created just before Alice was sacked. Guess the new PR person will come in just at the right time for the name change.

This just in ....

The so-called "new" VP of Public Relations position is not new, in fact, it's the very same job that was once held by Don Koijch, who is now back working for the University of Illinois Alumni Association and Foundation. The position was "turned off" when Don left. Now the President, as is his pervue, has elected to turn it back on.

This move was being seriously talked about long before Alice was let go without cause and long before new VP Lori Reesor was brought in. This was not a quid pro quo situation as is alleged.

Peter Johnson is currently the head of PR at UND. All "informal state questions" have always gone through Mr. Johnson's office and Don Koijch before that and Dave Vorland before that. This is no change.

Now back to regular programming.

[star2city]

This just in ....

The so-called "new" VP of Public Relations position is not new, in fact, it's the very same job that was once held by Don Koijch, who is now back working for the University of Illinois Alumni Association and Foundation. The position was "turned off" when Don left. Now the President, as is his pervue, has elected to turn it back on.

This move was being seriously talked about long before Alice was let go without cause and long before new VP Lori Reesor was brought in. This was not a quid pro quo situation as is alleged.

Peter Johnson is currently the head of PR at UND. All "informal state questions" have always gone through Mr. Johnson's office and Don Koijch before that and Dave Vorland before that. This is no change.

Now back to regular programming.

Teeder:

Are you the very same sports journalist who recently wrote an opinion piece supporting Kelley's position? Does that mean that your journalistic integrity and standing relies on Kelley and other's statements? Good luck with that.

[Teeder11]

Teeder:

Are you the very same sports journalist who recently wrote an opinion piece supporting Kelley's position? Does that mean that your journalistic integrity and standing relies on Kelley and other's statements? Good luck with that.

No. Not even close. Good luck with that.