An example of what it’s like to work at SUNY Maritime

Maritime Academy SUNY Maritime
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Here’s an example of what it’s like to work at Maritime.

On Friday, Mar 29, 2013 (Good Friday) Aimee Bernstein, a SUNY Maritime VP, sent the following email to three employees at Maritime:

[I]Subject: Evaluation[/I]

[I]All,[/I]

[I]As you know under the Policies of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, and in accordance with the Agreement Between the State of New York and United University Professions (UUP), professional employees must have a formal evaluation each year based upon a performance program.[/I]

[I]At Maritime we have established April 1 as the annual due date for evaluations. While performance evaluations are not required for MC employees we have moved to attain 100% completion campus wide and are bringing MC employees into the fold ensuring completed evals on file for all professionals.[/I]

[I]You are required to complete the attached in draft form for my review no later than Monday April 1, 2013. I will meet with you individually following review of your drafts to finalize by April 8, 2013.[/I]

[I]We are a little behind the scheduled due date, but with your cooperation, these can be completed by next week.[/I]

Let’s start with the timing. Bernstein had January, February, and all of March to notify the employees. She waited until 1 business day before the thing was due to notify the employees and then said “We are a little behind”. Yep! Bernstein forgot to notify employees that they had to complete what amounts to a recap of their whole year’s work and then expected them to get it done in 1 day because she fucked up.

Next let’s look at the utter lack of respect for religious beliefs. Good Friday is the most solemn holy day for Catholics and other Christians. At least one of the employees had taken the day off to observe religious beliefs. One of the other employees is also a rather devout Roman Catholic, but it’s unknown if that person had taken off or taken time to attend the very long religious services of Good Friday. Bernstein would have known that the people were off because they have to give her advance notice of vacation days. This email evidences a total lack of respect for the religious beliefs of the effected employees.

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[B]This is being posted for JohnG because he’s having some problems posting to this site.[/B]

[B]WHAT IT"S LIKE TO WORK AT SUNY MARITIME - PART 2[/B]

In an earlier post I noted the absurdly short time that some Maritime employees were given to prepare for their annual review by a Maritime VP.

Now we can explore some of the absurdities of the actual review for one employee. You see, some people keep very detailed notes and write things down right after they happen - for future use. I’m copying these as they were given to me. That’s why they are first person. I’m not the person involved.

Here are 2. There are more.

[B]Chase Military Appreciation Day[/B]

I was told that I had spent too much time on Chase Military Appreciation Day during football season. I responded that I had been asked by ADMIRAL Carpenter (who’s previous employment was in THE MILITARY), my direct supervisor at the time, to work on this. I was informed that I had still spent too much time on it. I was downgraded for following the direct instructions of the [B]college president[/B], a retired ADMIRAL in the MILITARY This downgrade was issued by someone who was not even my supervisor at the time I did the work. She’d only been my supervisor since January, months after the event.

Of course it didn’t dawn on her that JP Morgan Chase has lots of money and would be a possible source for future sponsorships and/or possible money for the school. We had a member of the College Council with very responsible position at the bank, who had worked to arrange that event in the first place. Nope! That obviously did not dawn on her.

[B]Balloons - The height of absurdity[/B]

In the past, at a meeting about homecoming, I mentioned that another college had balloons at their homecoming, with the school seal on them.

On or about the week of March 25 she asked me if I could locate the balloon company and arrange for them to come to the campus for a proposal meeting. I located the company through my outside contacts at the other college and arranged for them to visit on Wed., 4/3 at Noon.

I informed her of this, and she said she wanted to attend along with M. On the morning of 4/3 she informed me she would not be at meeting. I met the representative at 12 noon. M.showed up about 1/2 hour later. We went through Mess Deck and discussed ideas.

At my evaluation meeting,[B] later that same day[/B], she informed me that I had spent too much time on the meeting and I should not be involved. I informed her that she had instructed me to arrange and attend the meeting, as well as find the vendor in the first place. I got a huff and was informed that, going forward I should not be involved in such things.

I got in trouble for doing exactly what she told me to do. This illustrates the insanity of this place.

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I wish some of these leaks or controversies were published as actual articles on the site. It’d be nice if reporting was done with comments sought from school administrators. Larger Colleges and Universities have journalism students and usually a school paper that does this sort of thing, even faculty members who openly lead these students to speak out. Unfortunately the students at the school are out of their league when it comes to digging into the higher problems, and can only really satire their direct supervisors. They can’t dig into the administration or really do anything to subversive. Small schools have a lot of benefits but it can have disadvantages too.

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The cluster"F" starts at the top my friends.

When someone high up in this type of organization has an 'oh shit" moment, their natural reaction is to delegate implementation and with it responsibility if objectives are not met. The technical term is “Covering ones ass”. Now the poor shlobs one level down, even if they do not agree, have to do SOMETHING - On time - even if it is wrong. So, better to needlessly beat up their direct reports than miss the bosses mandate.

To those on the receiving end of unfounded criticism during a review - you can only tactfully point out errors and cite some suggestions on how the boss can be a more effective leader. Do that and you will leave the review with your head held high and your supervisor muttering how they hate their lives.

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We had a school paper when I was there called The screw. Guess they got rid of it.

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Just a bump to keep thread alive.