Betty & the 'bitch'
Charges of improper conduct reopen old wounds at Kennesaw State
Betty Siegel, president of Kennesaw State University, marched into the Coles College of Business graduation ceremony, triumphant, the regal sounds of bagpipes filling the campus gymnasium. At the podium, her voice was strong; her oversized, red glasses striking.
Absent from the pomp and circumstance was Elizabeth Boyd, a former secretary at the College of Business. Three years ago, the new chairman of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Kamal Fatehi, fired Boyd. He then boasted in a memorandum of his top accomplishment for the year:
"Fired the bitch."
More than three years after Fatehi fired Boyd and called her a bitch, employees and visiting professors have brought new complaints of inappropriate behavior at KSU. A visiting professor from Russia alleges that Fatehi was abusive and rude to him, and that Siegel did nothing in response to his concerns. Employees complain that Fatehi recently showed obscene photographs to them on his office computer.
These allegations of misconduct are just the latest in a long line of complaints and lawsuits brought by current and former employees of Kennesaw State — a school that, under Siegel's long tenure as president, has transformed itself from a small commuter college in Cobb County into Georgia's third largest university.
In 1994, the chairman of the Communications Department was demoted after she raised concerns of anti-Semitism. She resigned and sued, winning a $750,000 settlement from the school. Paul Lapides, a business professor, sued the school, alleging that he was discriminated against because he is Jewish. (Lapides' case was recently dismissed by a federal judge, see sidebar). In 2000, 14 tenured black faculty sent President Siegel a letter alleging overt discrimination and harassment of black faculty members. More recently, faculty in the Department of Visual Arts have exchanged a torrent of complaints alleging a hostile work environment, racism and sexism.
KSU's most recent troubles began with a program to invite more international professors to campus. The school sent out press releases touting the program as an effort to improve its international business program. It turns out the professors invited did not feel very welcome.
In an e-mail to Siegel, Mikhail Makarov, a professor invited to KSU from Tver State University in Russia, complained of Fatehi's "very poor performance" in his role as host advisor.
"I do not want to list all the shortcomings of his 'hosting style,'" Makarov wrote, in the e-mail dated May 10, 2004. "I could not account for the true reason of his bad manners, inefficient management, intercultural incompetence, attitude problems, etc. My impression was that it somehow happened to coincide with my mentioning that my wife was Jewish."
Makarov had scheduled a meeting to discuss his concerns with Siegel, but she canceled the appointment a few minutes before it was set to begin. In an interview with CL, Makarov says he was surprised not only that Siegel refused to meet with him, but that she never responded to his letter.
"I thought it would be natural to send at least a note of acknowledgment," he said.
Makarov added that KSU "socially, is not so good. It's a weird place in terms of human relations."
At the graduation ceremony, Siegel was proud of the wide array of countries represented on campus. "We truly are an international university," she beamed.
When asked about Makarov's letter after the graduation reception, Siegel declined to comment. "Today is not the day," she said. Siegel referred questions to Flora Devine, the University's top legal officer, who said she had not heard of Makarov.
Fatehi, approached for an interview in his office, declined to comment. Fatehi did not return a detailed phone message.
CL has also learned that Fatehi recently summoned a secretary and others into his office to show them pictures he had downloaded onto his office computer of Janet Jackson exposing her breast at the Super Bowl halftime show. According to sources inside the department, at least one person found the pictures offensive.
The episode has not won KSU many fans with local women's organizations. Victoria Pierce, president of Cobb County's National Organization of Women chapter, has launched her own investigation into inappropriate conduct at the school, and says she is fearful that "those in the system will just keep on doing what they are doing."
Flora Devine, when asked whether showing the pictures would be considered appropriate workplace behavior, said, "There have not been any complaints made formally about that. There are some issues that are being looked into. Just looked into. These allegations will probably be looked into in due course."
Meanwhile, since being fired by Fatehi, life has not been easy for Elizabeth Boyd. Unable to find another job as a secretary, she has been working part time at a retail store in Roswell.
"My whole self-worth has been destroyed," Boyd said. "Another college is probably never going to touch me."
She came to the position at KSU with a wealth of experience and glowing letters of recommen-dation. After a seven-year stint as a secretary at Valdosta State, a professor there wrote that "she genuinely likes people and has a warm, friendly manner which inspires confidence."
Things started well at KSU for Boyd. When a class was oversubscribed, students would track down Boyd for help.
"I knew these students were trying to take a step forward for their future, and I wanted to help them take that step," Boyd said. "I would get them into the classes they wanted, then count the chairs in the classrooms to make sure there were enough spots. The students really cared for me. I would come home from work with plates of cookies or flowers they gave me. I loved it there. I was so happy."
Over the summer, Boyd received offers for other secretary jobs. She turned them down to stay at KSU.
In the fall of 2000, KSU hired Fatehi to take over as chair of the Department of Management. For Boyd, the environment changed.
Fatehi told Boyd to start attending classes offered by the school as part of continuing training. Boyd took a class called "Dealing with Difficult People," and other classes on computer programs and communication skills.
"I would go to these classes, because he wanted me to, then I would get written up for being out of the office," Boyd said.
Fatehi delivered the bad news to Boyd on a Friday, after Boyd had spent several weeks organizing professors' offices so that new carpeting could be installed. In his formal notice terminating Boyd, Fatehi cited seven observations for the firing, including her "insubordinate behavior" and her "unprofessional conduct."
After she was fired, Boyd says she went to the personnel office to protest her firing and was told that she was wasting her time.
When Fatehi's memo calling her a "bitch" surfaced, Boyd wrote to Siegel and complained of the "serious injustice" of her firing.
Siegel wrote an e-mail back in which she informed Boyd that her time to appeal her termination had passed. She assured Boyd: "Any repeat occurrence of unbecoming and inappropriate behavior by Dr. Fatehi will be addressed most severely."
Boyd says she never received Siegel's e-mail.
"I never got that e-mail," she said. "It's all part of a cover-up."
In February of this year, Boyd wrote to Thomas Meredith, chancellor of the Board of Regents, to complain of her treatment at Kennesaw State. Meredith appointed Linda Nelson, a professor at Georgia State, to investigate. Nelson's report is due to be released in the coming weeks; she had no comment on her investigation.
Meanwhile, Boyd is waiting for Nelson's report, and waiting — it seems — can be taxing. "Sometimes I'm OK and sometimes ... "
In response to the bitch memo, Fatehi was asked to attend a workshop offered by the school, the Phenomenal Women's Conference. In the fall of 2002, Fatehi was awarded tenure.