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An Open Letter to Mrs.
Janine Schmidt
According
to The Daily, (http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5502 ), the Director of
Libraries Janine Schmidt, ignores workers’ needs and creates a “climate of
fear” in the workplace. One of their
union’s representatives described his difficult situation at a formal meeting
on
In this situation, they demanded that a Chair of my department
prosecutes me for my non-departmental activities. The Chair was willing to
“cooperate” with the revenge-driven administration, as he was having a hard
time checking his financial affairs with the auditors. He was forced to punish me by taking away my
two day salary. It didn’t help him to
survive as the Chair. The reason for his
actions is written below:
An Open Letter to Mrs. Janine Schmidt
Dear Mrs. Schmidt,
I am very worried
about my friend Franco Taddeo. It appears that he is
not being treated properly in your library and according to many witnesses you
are trying to muzzle him. If that is the case, this is not right. We live in a democratic system and this
questionable approach hinders our personal development.
If you choose not
to agree with his publicized statements you could make some intellectual
efforts to present clearly your policies and concerns publicly instead of using
your administrative powers to bother him.
I am sure that your letters to any student magazines will be published
if signed by you. It is a matter of
public record that you have cited confusing interpretations about how people
actually feel in the libraries; in May it took a crowd of demonstrators at the
main gates to convince you that not everyone in the libraries was living in
bliss. At the same time, Franco's
published observations seem to ring true. Rather than treating the library
staff like the residents of Quana perhaps you could
open a dialog with them? Librarians and
their assistants are definitely thinking differently to you. According to many, you are often raise your voice in an intimidating way. It must be
changed.
People are only
people, and perhaps they have a higher probability to become despotic when
having too much power in their hands? I believe that your growing
aggressiveness is closely correlated to the nomination of your husband as the
chief of our famous Bookstore. My
reflections about this are purely statistical.
Not content to have the best library director in
So, performing
statistical analysis suggests that it is probable that either the director of
McGill's Bookstore is not the best, or that the director of McGill's Libraries
is not the best. If such a miracle has,
however, happened, we should celebrate!
We must survey the views of the lucky people who work in both the
Libraries and the Bookstore. Do you
agree with me Mrs. Schmidt?
Regards,
Slawomir Poplawski
P.S. Publications about
you, Mrs. Schmidt, and Mr. Franco can be seen at:
1) http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5303
2) http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5251
3) http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5366
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