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“That’s the question that we don’t have the answer for at this moment in time.”
OU DAILY PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CAITLYN EPES/THE DAILY
OU President James Gallogly held a forum Sept. 20 to discuss concerns among university staff.
RISING CONCERNS Staff members express uncertainty about job security after forum with OU President James Gallogly ANNA BAUMAN • @ANNABAUMAN2 Editor’s note: This story contains comments from an anonymous source who feared retaliation for speaking out. Her identity is known to The Daily.
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uestions linger among some OU staff members about their place at the university under a new administration, especially after a presidential forum this month stirred more concern. Extra seating had to be set up on stage in Meacham Auditorium Sept. 20 when OU President James Gallogly addressed the crowd of staff before him. “There’s a reason that this is a standing-room-only meeting, because so many of you are wondering what is going on at our university and what does it mean to you personally,” Gallogly said at the beginning of his speech that day. “That’s the question you would really like to ask, and that’s the question that we don’t have the answer for at this moment in time.” OU staff were the last of three constituencies Gallogly addressed in the forum setting, faculty being first and students next. The president reiterated many of the priorities he had previously stated to the first two groups: finding and fixing campus-wide inefficiencies in order to hold tuition flat, giving faculty raises and doubling research — promises that rang true for the previous two audiences but elicited more anxiety than
satisfaction from the third. “I think what the staff were really hoping for — certainly what I was hoping for — was reassurance that we matter and that our contributions are valuable,” said Jane Doe, a staff member who wishes to remain anonymous out of fear for her job. “But I think what we heard is, ‘You’re here to support the faculty and to support the students, and the faculty are more important.’” Justin Daniels, OU fire marshal and chairman of the Staff Senate, said while staff feeling underappreciated and less valuable than faculty is nothing new, he wants to advance a message of positivity instead. In a speech just before Gallogly’s address, he called staff “the glue that holds everything together.” “Without staff, there would be no one to advise our students and keep them on a path to graduation. Without staff, there would be no one to clean and maintain our buildings and ensure classrooms are prepared for learning. Without staff, there would be no one to ensure the safety and security of our campus community,” Daniels said at the forum. “Staff are loyal, dedicated and committed to the university and its mission.” While faculty members generally hold a doctoral degree and teach in the classroom, staff serve a variety of other roles such as administrators, secretaries, advisers, landscapers, custodians and more. In 2017, there were just fewer than 4,000
full-time staff on the Norman campus, according to the OU Fact Book. Gallogly fired six senior administrative staff members, including the vice president for administration and finance and senior associate vice president for Public Affairs, on his first day in office, an action he referenced in his speech while talking about difficult choices ahead.
“I think a lot of people want lots of answers and lots of things, and President Gallogly has only been on the job since July 1, and I’ve only been doing this for 30 days ... What I’m trying to express to our staff is that message that we’re still talking and there’s still a lot of things to work out.” JUSTIN DANIELS, OU FIRE MARSHAL AND CHAIRMAN OF THE STAFF SENATE
“We have some really hard work to do, and frankly, I am not looking forward to that — I am
not. You see the emotion that I have around that subject — I do not look forward to that one second,” Gallogly said. “But I am not one to ever shy away from hard decisions because we have to make those, because the mission is so important ... We started on July 2 looking inside Evans Hall and taking some very tough actions there — because if we don’t set an example, how can we ask anyone else to do it?” Doe said job security is an underlying concern for staff members that few like to discuss because “it becomes a little more real.” “I think in general, the lower on the totem pole you are, the less secure you feel,” she said. “That’s not necessarily reflective of what we’ve seen so far — so many of the public firings were the ones at the top — but I think just in general, when you have less responsibility, less authority, less financial security, you feel more threatened and it’s easier to feel threatened.” Daniels said he is unaware of any layoffs that have occurred f ro m c u t s t o a re a s d e e m e d inefficient. Daniels, who just stepped into his role as chairman this fall, said after meeting with Gallogly individually, he has established three goals for OU’s staff : increasing diversity and inclusion, striving to be good stewards of university resources by improving inefficient processes and being leaders at OU. Daniels said he and other
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executive members of the Staff Senate have arranged to meet with OU’s Faculty Senate, student government and staff leaders on the Tulsa and Health Sciences Center campuses to increase communication and a spirit of working together. “ We’ re c o m mu n i cat i ng and we’re working and we’re talking,” Daniels said. “It’s only been a few short months. I think a lot of people want lots of answers and lots of things, and President Gallogly has only been on the job since July 1, and I’ve only been doing this for 30 days ... What I’m trying to express to our staff is that message that we’re still talking and there’s still a lot of things to work out — but we’re going to get there, and we’re going to get there together.” Staff members have brought questions about raises, benefits and job security to Daniels, who said he thinks change and uncertainty is a given under any new leadership. “(Staff ) want to know, ‘Well why does he always talk about faculty and ... why has he said that faculty are going to get raises, but he hasn’t said anything about staff getting raises?’” Daniels said. “I don’t know the answer to that question — you’d have to ask President Gallogly himself. But I do know that we have a dialogue with him. We’re communicating with him, and we’re expressing how important See CONCERNS page 3
ENTRY FORM NAME: PHONE NUMBER: OU EMAIL: LOCATION: Entry form must be original newspaper form. No photocopies or reproductions will be accepted. Each day, entry forms will be collected at 4:30 p.m. and winners will be drawn at 5:30 p.m. Grand prize drawings will be Friday, Oct. 6th at 5:30 p.m. Contestants can only win one daily prize per the entire event, not including grand prize. Entry forms may be submitted at the following locations:
The Sooner Card Office (Oklahoma Memorial Union), Couch Restaurants, Copeland, Cate, The Bookmark Cafe, We Love Our Readers Table (South Oval, 11am - 2pm), Gaylord, and Price.