If we didn't get it before, we should get it now. The jury award for Stacy Johnson-Klein against Fresno State sent a clear message about the sanctity of the workplace. Even when your work is play -- basketball, volleyball, softball -- it is nobody's playground.
The workplace is central to our family security. It is often the source of our mental and physical health care, financial stability, life insurance, disability insurance, investments. It's the deciding factor on how we house our children and how safe the neighborhood is where they grow up. It's our jobs that largely determine if we can send our children to good schools. For most people, the workplace determines whether we will live in dignity or poverty in our elder years.
It's rarely "just a job."
Holding authority over other people's careers is a sacred trust that must be undertaken with great respect. Old-school "big bosses," who become overly impressed with their own titles and bully their subordinates for their own amusement or comfort not only betray their stewardship and hurt their organization, but they may get their butts handed to them in a court of law. If they want to use their power like petty monarchs to retaliate against employees who dare to make reasonable requests of them, reveal their own weaknesses or threaten their superiority, they had better hope they are not coming up against a person who likes a good fight.
It is embarrassingly clear that Fresno State did not appreciate at least three talented women whose bright futures had been entrusted to them -- Stacy Johnson-Klein, Diane Milutinovich and Lindy Vivas. How many other women were just sickened by the toxic atmosphere in Fresno State athletics and moved quietly on?
Isn't it interesting that all the men in the Fresno State drame still have jobs -- even having made egregious errors? The women? Not so much.
Sure, the women coaches were not million-dollar assets to the department -- not yet. But with the popularity of women's sports steadily growing, who knows where they could have gone had they been blessed with servant leaders whose goal was to bring out the very best in them and their young team members? Even in the worst-case scenario, where the relationships were not a good fit for whatever reason, a servant leader would do everything possible to help those coaches get treatment or training for their weaknesses or find other universities that would make good use of their gifts and talents. Instead, university officials did everything they could to take them out for life professionally, to exaggerate their weaknesses and degrade their strengths. At the same time, they coddled the male coaches and players in an appallingly unequal way. What kind of a morally upside-down world was this?
State Sen. Dean Florez thinks it's time for Dr. John Welty to feel what's it's like to be without a job. To read about his call for Welty's resignation, click here.
Ms Marshall:
Your comment "State Sen. Dean Florez thinks it's time for Dr. John Welty to feel what's it's like to be without a job." is a extremely mean and sexist statement against all hard working men!
PS Florez is nothing more than a politician following the footsteps of disbarred D.A. Nufong of the infamous
Duke University case.
Those boys have yet to receive as much as an apology from their University. So who is discriminating against who?
First the Duke boys had accusations brought against them and were acquitted of those charges and Duke had to pull them from play so asd to not look like idiots like Fresno State does when they let criminals play. Welty has everything handed to him on a silver platter starting with his home on Van Ness. Stacy actually has to pay for her home.Why is it sexist that he should see what it is like to be without a job when he is so eager to fire all the women.
There really is no issue here. There is a plague at Fresno State and it needs to be removed.
I am beginning to think John Welty is some spy sent to subvert our athletic program...