Letters From the Issue of Thursday, May 17, 2007

But, in the end, Michael Crow denied me tenure.

What has happened since I was forced out of ASU? I was fortunate that my colleagues organized a legal defense fund.

I was fortunate to live in a place where Mike-Crow-managed decisions can be reviewed by a federal agency. I filed with the EEOC.

After an eight-month investigation, the EEOC told ASU "there is reasonable cause to believe that there is a violation of Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] in that [ASU] denied [Milun] tenure and terminated her employment because of her sex . . . and in retaliation for complaining about employment discrimination."

The EEOC has sent the case on to the Department of Justice to consider pressing charges.

Here is a colossal waste of taxpayer money. ASU had many chances to fix these problems. Instead, it only protected a corrupt administration from facing public scrutiny.
Kathryn Milun, TempeEditor’s note:The preceding letter appears in abbreviated form because of space limitations. See the full text of Milun's missive in the online Comments section following Megan Irwin's "ASU Inc."

Welcome to the family:This article is like "join the club" for me.

Back in the late 1990s, I accepted a job with a major large-machinery manufacturer in the East Valley. In my interview, I was told that the president of the company wanted all prospective employees to know that family comes first to him. Company officials proudly showed me the latest company newsletter, where the CEO wrote glowingly about the importance of family.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I had a healthy commute to what I thought would be a dream job, and I shared with the interviewer and the person whom I would be working with that I had a young son I wanted to be home with in the evening. I said I would be happy to come in early if there was a special project but that I was very happy to have the opportunity to leave at 5 p.m. to be with my family.

You guessed it. My boss turned out to be one of those people who comes in at 7 a.m. and doesn't leave until after 6 p.m. Eventually, he fired me because I wasn't a "team player" (translation: I didn't stay until he was ready to close the door).

It confirmed my suspicions: Any company (or university) that goes overboard trying to make you think they are family-oriented, is not.
B. Carol, formerly of Phoenix