Sry that the picture is so blurry via I don't have a $1,500 camera that the SGA bought me, unlike some terrorist news organizations. But there he is...chillin with his bullhorn...posing for photos....gonna miss u dude.
As yall may remember, Zylak took over after the first new Director of Public Safety was revealed to not have the credentials he said he had. He was a glorified mall cop, I believe. So then the school went with former Sheriff Zylak.
So, earlier today the new Dean Ifill sent out an email regarding the Zylak removal. Except Ifill seems to be incompetent when it comes to emails. It was pretty entertaining. Here is a transcript:
To the St. Mary's Community:Okay so what happened was that Ifill sent out the email, along with the draft and discussion about the draft. I don't know how someone makes this mistake. And then he sent out the 'EMAIL RECALL' which you see every few months. I don't think anyone understands the whole 'email recall' thing since...you can't recall an email. I think it's an 'old people thing'.
With the departure of David Zylak as Director of Public Safety, the College will immediately institute a search process for a new director. The search committee, drawn from our faculty, students and staff will be announced when it is confirmed.
I am pleased to announce that Melvin A. (Mac) McClintock will supervise the officers and staff of Public Safety on an interim basis. Mac has provided strong leadership as Assistant Director of Human Resources and as Affirmative Action/EEO Officer in the five years he has been at St. Mary's, following a distinguished 20-year career in the military.
With the assistance of the search committee and the participation of the larger campus community, we hope to appoint a new Director as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Bert Ifill
Interim Dean of Students
From: Ifill, Roberto N
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 4:10 PM
To: Mercer, Sally; McClintock, Melvin A
Subject: FW: Draft statement on Campus Safety
Hello, folks. I will delete the reference to a specific timetable, and just need info on the number of years Mac has been here (I think it's been five, but I want to make sure). If there are no other changes, I would like to send this out on all campus mail on Monday afternoon. By the way, how did things go today?
Bert
From: Ifill, Roberto N
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 3:57 PM
To: Botzman, Thomas J; Urgo, Joseph
Subject: RE: Draft statement on Campus Safety
Consider it deleted. Mac can fill me in on his length of tenure at St. Mary's. I presume that, if it's good to go, I send it out on Monday?
Bert
From: Botzman, Thomas J
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 1:59 PM
To: Ifill, Roberto N
Subject: RE: Draft statement on Campus Safety
I would delete the final bold print. We can hope but probably shouldn’t promise that speed.
From: Ifill, Roberto N
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 12:14 PM
To: McClintock, Melvin A; Mercer, Sally
Cc: Urgo, Joseph; Botzman, Thomas J
Subject: Draft statement on Campus Safety
To the St. Mary's Community:
With the departure of David Zylak as Director of Campus Safety, the College will immediately institute a search process for a new director. The search committee, drawn from our faculty, students and staff will be announced when it is confirmed.
I am pleased to announce that Melvin A. (Mac) McClintock will supervise the officers and staff of Campus Safety on an interim basis. Mac has provided strong leadership as Assistant Director of Human Resources and as Affirmative Action/EEO Officer in the (number of) years he has been at St. Mary's, following a distinguished 14-year career in the military.
With the assistance of the search committee and the participation of the larger campus community, we hope to appoint a new Director as soon as possible (by the beginning of the academic year?)
Sincerely,
Bert Ifill
Interim Dean of Students
Anyway, it doesn't really explain how/why Zylak left, if he was fired/sacked or if he left of his own accord. He was a pretty chill dude. Either way we now have yet another Directory of Public Safety! That makes 4 in 2 years (I think) and soon to be 5 when they find the actual next director.
Also of interest is the July 6 (Friday) email where Ifill asks "By the way, how did things go today?" which I can only assume is referring to the whole sacking of Rich Edgar and Lisa Crowe. It was sent less than an hour after the email announcing the departure of Rich. INTERESTING. Not much else to say about that.
So, another situation where we don't know the whole story, and thus can only speculate. Here is my theory:
Actually I couldn't think of anything funny. I'm guessing he left of his own accord. Maybe he got bored with it, or it wasn't what he was looking for. I feel like Sheriff and director of Public Safety are two very different jobs. One deals more with 'law enforcement' and the other with 'college policy enforcement'. The two have some overlaps, but in one realm having some weed can result in jail, and in the other it results in a slap on the wrist.
Anyway, good luck Zylakbro...gonna miss u and yer cool name.
One time my mom got an email from SMCM that was immediately followed by an "email recall" and she called me and was like "Um, is this really an honors college?"
ReplyDeleteHe probably got thrown under the bus like so many people on this campus. The only reason Larry Vote and Wes Jordan didn't get the axe outright was because they're tenured faculty - staff don't have that luxury (and the staff know it and stuff like this is why morale is so abysmally low).
ReplyDeleteNow, post something about Queen Bee Urgo if you *really* want to stir up a hornet's nest why don'tcha?
Uhh I don't know what to write about bb, gimme some ~dirt~
DeleteWes Jordan needs to go. He chased the best Director of Financial Aid SMCM ever had awat. He never supported Rich Edgar and his staff. Time for him to go. Take away his tenure....
DeleteI thought Wes Jordan WAS the dir of fin aid in addition to being the dean of admissions and fin aid? Or am I making things up? Either way what are you talking about? He hasnt been dean for over a year and there's been a new dean since January of this year (or September of last year I'm not clear in that point)
DeleteJordan was demoted back to faculty. He was one of the first casualties of Urgo. He would have been fired outright, like Rich/Lisa/Dave, but he had the benefit of also being tenured faculty, so he got to stay.
DeleteAh tenure: the safeguard of order, liberty, and insane professors being able to say whatever the hell they want. It's what keeps academia free.
DeleteDefinitely got fired, no one in the admin is pretending he wanted to leave.
ReplyDeleteDo you know who's interim Director of PS right now? And also I did NOT make the connection between that "how did it go today?" and the Rich+Lisa firing, damn.
ReplyDeleteMac from HR. Yeah, THAT will go well...
DeleteTo be straight up Mac is gonna fail hard and fast in that position. Also word on the street is he and Tony don't get along, and Tony and the Director not getting along has tanked the last two Directors.
DeleteI wouldn't trust Mac to ensure the safety of anything.
DeleteTony got along with Zylak. Last I heard all the officers liked him.
ReplyDeleteGonna retract this - hearing rumors now to the contrary. Oh, Tony - why can't we all just get along?????
DeleteAnonymous 6:35 here, yeah shit went sour in the last month or so- before that Dave was trying really hard to form a good relationship with Tony.
DeleteOops I meant anonymous 5:41
DeleteWith some email settings if an email is recalled, it is deleted from the recipient's inbox before they have a chance to read it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Cara Simpson would like to recall the previous message"
DeleteZylak was the best PS Director the College has had in a long time and a huge improvement over his predecessor. It makes no sense why the administration would fire him. Then again, how often has this administration acted sensibly?
ReplyDeleteSaw this one coming!
ReplyDeleteThe last incompetent guy they had for director got hired by Bayless and got canned cause he had no clue about anything. And then Bayless hires Zylak who actually new parts of the job of Public Safety. But then Bayless gets canned and the College decides to go after the people she hired under her because the College Administration likes to sweep things under rugs. This next school year should be interesting. . .
Anyone know what happened to Polly Miller aka The Safety Lady? Seems like she disappeared after the big mold problem. .
Oh and can someone go ask Leslie Urgo why she needs to have Bon Appetite Cater parties at her house at the colleges expense? And why her and her husband get a vacation for two weeks paid for by the college just so he can attend a one day conference?
Polly Miller was smart and left before things got serious. I think she saw what happened with the mold and knew someone was going to get thrown under the bus, and it wasn't going to be the people who were actually responsible. She was also really good at rattling cages to get things fixed, and I can imagine it was frustrating when she was ignored or told to stop. She was smart to leave, although notice there's no job posting for her position anymore. Interesting that.
DeletePolly Miller left because some people in physical plant were pulling out all the stops to cover up the fact they had been grossly negligent and stop the inspection process in places like the ARC. There was no accountability for years and anyone who wanted to introduce it was a pariah. Granted, Polly wasn't always the best team player and there was office drama involved too, so her personality shortened her tenure as much as her actions if you ask me.
DeletePolly Miller was terrified of spiders. I know this for a fact.
DeleteI had the opportunity to get to know Polly rather well, as she said herself just prior to her resignation "My position is one that comes with the perception of being the “bad” guy but because of my passion for keeping all safe, I endure much pain and often find myself fighting a an unnamed war." She was truly passionate about safety and was frustrated that many would rather cover up a problem than proactively fix the situation...
DeleteArticle in today's County Times. Not much new, but it's out there.
ReplyDeleteFeel like they should reference this 'blog'
DeleteI have been in management positions in higher education at both private and public colleges for over twenty-five years. Changes in presidents is always a period of anxiety and necessarily a period of change. When it is done well, the new president is able to articulate a vision for the college and to gain the confidence of all constituents that change is for the advancement of the entire community. To date I've not seen this in Dr. Urgo. We only witness the firing of dedicated staff members and reshuffling of faculty members, individuals who we know share SMCM's aspiration for a private college education at a public college cost for Maryland students.
ReplyDeleteThe vision of SMCM has really been lost by the way the college has dealt with Mr. Edgar and Mr. Zylak especially. The terminations have been disrespectful to these individuals and disrespectful to the entire community.
Senior administrators should also be accountable for their lack of integrity as the e-mails show. From my perspective, Dr. O'Brien was not well served by senior administrators who always said yes then and appear to be always saying yes now.
An institution of education is a precious entity. It must be cared for, it must be nurtured through turbulent times. I hope the trustees and senior administrators come to realize this soon for this generation of students and those to come.
And let's not forget how they treated Lisa. Word is she was mortified and embarassed, as if SHE had done something wrong! Callous, reprehensible behavior on the part of the administration here. She was a dedicated employee and a good person to boot, and she was on the verge of retiring anyway. Just disgraceful, and it also sends a clear message to the rest of the staff - "CAREFUL OR YOU'RE NEXT."
DeleteThe St. Mary's County commentariat is speculating about this too...
ReplyDeletehttp://forums.somd.com/life-southern-maryland/235738-congratulations-dave-zylak-2.html
http://smnewsnet.com/archives/18449
So you believe that Dr. Urgo has a clear vision for the future of SMCM; that he has built a base for consensus by terminating staff members when students are on summer break, and has dealt respectfully and in a transparent manner in the termination of valued employees? And where is the diligence of senior administrators in ensuring change is implemented with fairness and with public trust?
DeleteI'm not speculating. I'm expressing my opinion based on my experience in higher education.
uhhh... what. in no way did i suggest or imply any of what you just said. obviously, there's a lot of speculation on the comments in this post and others on smcmlol since no one knows what happened. my comment was not targeted towards yours, unless you're implying that all of the anon comments are the same person/you, anon 5:55 and 8:00. (on that note, please use names, y'all)
DeleteThe Enterprise did some investigative journalism (via talking to zylak and rich edgar) and had articles today.
ReplyDeletestill very unclear but the administration looks pretty shitty.. sounds like they didn't tell rich/lisa/zylak why they were fired. seems like management101 that you tell employees when you're unhappy with their performance and such.
http://www.somdnews.com/article/20120713/NEWS/707139785/1056/zylak-leaves-as-st-mary-s-college-safety-director&template=southernMaryland
http://www.somdnews.com/article/20120713/NEWS/707139791/1056/st-mary-s-college-shakes-up-its-admissions-office&template=southernMaryland
Wow. Rich is a class act through the end. Very inspiring to read this.
DeleteHe's always been a smart guy. Hopefully he was able to see the writing on the wall before the hammer came down and has a new, better job soon.
DeleteThree directors of public safety in 3 years? The environment is political. A director of public safety is a middle person. He/she takes the bullet when things go wrong whether it is his/her fault. The director is the only person who is 24/7 (usually). The job incorporates many different factions where one is bound to make some mistakes. But, rememeber students as you go out into the world, the human being is one of self interest. There are many uncaring people in the world who will hurt you. Be careful, you could become on of them. Don't get pushed around, none of the faculty, staff and administrators would be there if students' weren't paying the bills!
ReplyDelete