A person can have a dual personality. One for their homelife and another for their place of work. That occurs where a microcosm exists and the rules are different than in the general society. Office politics plays a large part in developing and sustaining an emotionally dangerous work environment.
Andrea's Agenda
December 5, 2013 - Andrea Johnson
...Apparently (click here) they just object to the way Gibney went about it. Gibney, who wrote an opinion piece about her experiences at The Gawker, which can be found at http://gawker.com/teaching-while-black-and-blue-1473659925, has said this was not the first time she clashed with the college administration. Back in 2009, a college newspaper editor filed a complaint against her after Gibney made some comments during a newspaper staff meeting. The editorial staff had discussed why readership was down and Gibney apparently had commented on black students not seeing themselves represented at or in the paper. He thought it was inappropriate for Gibney, the staff adviser, to make those comments and also objected to the tone of her emails. The alleged editor was interviewed and gave his side of the story in an article at
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2013/12 /shannon_gibney_mctc_prof_also_took_heat_for_structural_racism_comments_in_2009.php
Judging by the atrocious spelling and grammatical errors in the editor's letter of complaint, the quality of the paper may have left something to be desired. At this same student newspaper, there had been an incident the previous year, when two black students complained after the previous editor hung a noose in the office to remind staffers of story deadlines. Nothing came of their complaint....
Racism can exist in the tensions in the room. It doesn't have to said or overtly be a part of the reality. It simply has to exist at some level like a powder keg waiting for a spark.
When I was a union representative in Newark, New Jersey we called it cultural within the authority of the manager. See, racial tensions are convenient tools when the opportunity presents itself. So, when someone was accused of racial epithets or remarks or worse, maybe even threats, the first thing to be done was to interview other members of the staff not involved to find out if there were always racial subscripts to events day to day. Where the actions of an individual was considered 'normal' by their peers regardless of the obvious egregious event; they were considered innocent of any complaint.
Work is a powerful thing. Learning environments are powerful as well. There are real commodities at stake for the people involved. So, when faced with an underlying culture in the work environment many people simply take it as it comes and goes home without a concern. But, when that culture turns ugly because it is convenient for a certain outcome; then it becomes a management problem and not that of the individual.
This incident is such an issue. The racism was always there, but, it is pulled out of their bag of tricks when it is convenient. As a manager one has to be able to discern racism and counter it with a healthier work environment. When that doesn't occur, then it is the managers fault it occurred in the first place.
Andrea's Agenda
December 5, 2013 - Andrea Johnson
...Apparently (click here) they just object to the way Gibney went about it. Gibney, who wrote an opinion piece about her experiences at The Gawker, which can be found at http://gawker.com/teaching-while-black-and-blue-1473659925, has said this was not the first time she clashed with the college administration. Back in 2009, a college newspaper editor filed a complaint against her after Gibney made some comments during a newspaper staff meeting. The editorial staff had discussed why readership was down and Gibney apparently had commented on black students not seeing themselves represented at or in the paper. He thought it was inappropriate for Gibney, the staff adviser, to make those comments and also objected to the tone of her emails. The alleged editor was interviewed and gave his side of the story in an article at
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2013/12 /shannon_gibney_mctc_prof_also_took_heat_for_structural_racism_comments_in_2009.php
Judging by the atrocious spelling and grammatical errors in the editor's letter of complaint, the quality of the paper may have left something to be desired. At this same student newspaper, there had been an incident the previous year, when two black students complained after the previous editor hung a noose in the office to remind staffers of story deadlines. Nothing came of their complaint....
Racism can exist in the tensions in the room. It doesn't have to said or overtly be a part of the reality. It simply has to exist at some level like a powder keg waiting for a spark.
When I was a union representative in Newark, New Jersey we called it cultural within the authority of the manager. See, racial tensions are convenient tools when the opportunity presents itself. So, when someone was accused of racial epithets or remarks or worse, maybe even threats, the first thing to be done was to interview other members of the staff not involved to find out if there were always racial subscripts to events day to day. Where the actions of an individual was considered 'normal' by their peers regardless of the obvious egregious event; they were considered innocent of any complaint.
Work is a powerful thing. Learning environments are powerful as well. There are real commodities at stake for the people involved. So, when faced with an underlying culture in the work environment many people simply take it as it comes and goes home without a concern. But, when that culture turns ugly because it is convenient for a certain outcome; then it becomes a management problem and not that of the individual.
This incident is such an issue. The racism was always there, but, it is pulled out of their bag of tricks when it is convenient. As a manager one has to be able to discern racism and counter it with a healthier work environment. When that doesn't occur, then it is the managers fault it occurred in the first place.
Teaching While Black and Blue (click here)
...What happened to me in 2008 did not happen because I am a young, Black female faculty member at school that has over 50 percent students of color; what happened to me occurred because I turned the world backwards on an angry White male student. We were in a regular weekly meeting of the newspaper staff, and the students were discussing the fact of the new edition, how well it had turned out, and the editor-in-chief said that although he was proud of the paper’s developments, he was not pleased with the fact that so few students regularly picked up the publication. Theories were thrown around as to why this was—the aesthetics were all wrong, the design didn’t pop, the stories could be flashier. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a noose hanging from the ceiling. When I looked again, it was gone....
In this case, the Right Wing media picked it up, if I remember correctly and made it into a national dialogue stating "reverse discrimination." The Right Wing media never stopped to investigate the issue, simply made accusations and then innocent people were victimized for the sake of power politics. If the Right Wing Media wanted to make a difference, the story would have been fully investigated and all parties exposed for their role in it. But, that was asking too much, they just wanted the juicy gossip to promote their propaganda.
