Allegations between President Roderick McDavis' staff and the former vice president for University Advancement indicate disagreements over respectful behavior and a lack of trust toward the end of his employment.
Additional evidence has surfaced during the Office of Institutional Equity's investigation of Howard Lipman for sexual harassment and workplace violence. OU employee Molly Elkins filed the claims against Lipman last year.
According to documents from the investigation, both Becky Watts, McDavis' chief of staff, and Barbara Mash, executive office assistant to McDavis, had conflicts with Lipman.
The matters represented in the report for Institutional Equity are accurate and reflect the sequence of events that occurred
Watts said.
McDavis declined to comment, and Lipman, who left OU in December for a similar position at Florida International University, could not be reached for comment.
In an incident documented last February, Mash received a call from University Advancement requesting information about a finalist in the search for a new vice president for Finance and Administration, she told the OIE investigator. She called Elkins, Lipman's executive assistant, and explained she couldn't give that information out by e-mail or phone but could bring it over on paper, Mash said, adding Elkins then replied that Lipman was furious.
When Mash delivered the finalist information, she said that Lipman replied: You've got to be kidding me. You couldn't give me this over the phone? Molly is really upset that you don't trust her either.
In a Feb. 24 e-mail, Watts told Lipman: Please do not treat our office staff with disrespect. Dr. McDavis made it clear in Monday's meeting of the Executive Staff that such behavior was unacceptable.
Lipman responded by saying he did not treat the staff with disrespect and that he was surprised Mash didn't trust Elkins enough to give the information over the phone.
Because of her location in the president's office, Mash could not disclose confidential information over the phone, Watts noted. She then told Lipman they needed to meet because Your perception of disrespect does not match with others' perceptions of your treatment of them.
Watts said this week that she and Lipman did not meet to discuss the allegations because of his busy schedule, but they did speak over the phone. The conversation was helpful in resolving the situation, she added.
After the OIE investigation, University Human Resources coordinated two meetings last August to address effective communication and supervisory skills in University Advancement.
In Lipman's first performance evaluation in 2007, McDavis recommended Lipman moderate his management style with staff. McDavis makes no mention of negative behavior in subsequent evaluations.
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Kristina Hauptmann
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Howard Lipman
