[Vision2020] Getting Laid at UI

[Tom Hansen]

Greetings Visionaires

As I mentioned to Rose off list.  I work at UI Facilities Management.  Of
the 67 cuts during the past year, 43 of them were from FM.  Many of these
people have worked at FM for a long time.  Facilities has the smallest of
personnel turn-overs on campus.  That, my friends, is loyalty.  It
exasperates me to no end to walk down the hallways of FM and see empty
office after empty office after empty office, and then hear about the money
that UI is "burying" into the turf of the Kibbie Dome practice fields.  

And what do they get for their dedication? An 8-week notice.  These people
have eight weeks to seek employment elsewhere in a community where, if you
don't work for UI or WSU, chances are you're not working.

Not only have 18 people been given their pink slips, those positions that
are currently vacant will also be discontinued.  That is 18 people with
families and other financial obligations that will also feel the sting of
these cuts.

>From yesterday morning to this afternoon 18 FM employees were told that
their positions are being discontinued as of June.  I use to believe in the
concept that a healthy winning athletics program often resulted in
improvements in departments far removed from the Kibbie Dome.  Maybe in the
long run it might.  But right now, it is the short run that is taking food
from the dinner tables of 18 families.

Being a UI alum I have taken serious pride in an administration that I felt
cared for its employees and rewarded loyalty and dedication.

Maybe if employees were rewarded for loyalty and dedication, and maybe if
certain capital projects carried less of a priority than the employee
budget, perhaps the turf of a few practice fields might whither away.  But
the turf can be replaced a lot sooner than the respect and dedication of a
hard working employee.

Until then . . .

Take care, Vandals.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
UI '96


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Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.

- Author Unknown
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