Tuesday, May 1, 2018

IS UTRGV-BROWNSVILLE STEPCHILD OF UT PAN AM AGAIN?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Guy Bailey's dirty deeds began as soon as he became president in 2014 and led to the school being put on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Now, it seems that he gets lot of help covering up his dirty deeds and political biases towards the Edinburg campus from everyone from the UT System to the Texas Tribune.

Before the merger, both UTB and UTPA complied with the Texas Tribune’s open records request for all employee salaries that they published on their website. Since the merger, UTRGV has failed to submit their employee salary info to the Tribune. There are several individuals who have been waiting for the data so they can see the changes in employees’ salaries from when they were employees at the legacy institutions vs. the new UT Rio Grande Valley.

We know several employees from UTB at all levels who had to take significant pay cuts to keep a position at UTRGV. Yet, at the same time, the top administrators gave themselves HEFTY raises. I have to wonder if Guy Bailey doesn’t want to keep all of this out of the public’s hands so Brownsville employees won’t be able to see the disparities in pay between (1) top administration and everyone else; and (2) the lower salaries that were assigned to UT Brownsville employees versus Pan Am employees.

I think many are particularly interested in individuals like Janna Arney (deputy President) who has seen a salary increase of at least $150,000 (though others speculate it might be as much as a $300,000 - $400,000 increase) since Bailey gave her the job.

There is not even an academic program at UTRGV for which Arney is eligible to be a tenured faculty member—she used to be faculty of a TSC associate’s degree program—not a UTB bachelor’s or higher program which makes her rapid rise to the top at UTRGV interesting to many (they say she resembles Bailey's deceased wife).

Then, she demoted the AVP she had hired shortly after UTRGV was formed to make room for a big administrative position for her husband, Doug Arney in Business Affairs. Speculation on the camus is that between the two of them they now make over half a million dollars.

Why won’t UTRGV release this data?

 Why won't the Tribune make them comply with the open records request? What are they trying to hide?

We've heard of UTPA people who got $50,000-70,000 raises, but also UTB administrators who took from $10,000 to $30,000 pay cuts with the merger in order to keep a job.

 We all know that Guy Bailey got the biggest bonus of all presidents in the UT System the same year he got the institution on probation with the SACS accreditor. This was troublesome. So, is UT System complicit in helping him hide the "win" experienced by Pan Am employees versus the "loss" experienced by Brownsville employees (except the Arneys)?

(Ed.'s Note: We are filing an Open Records Request to check into this. We will will not the them hide what they did to the Brownsville folks.  We will ask for the salaries from the legacy institutions from 2014-2015 as well as the current 2017-2018 year and let's see how much changed in just 3 short years.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

UT-RGV employees in Edinburg should be paid more! They live in a better city and have more places to spend their salaries. Are you an idiot?

Anonymous said...

well and we though julieta Garcia was bad? huh?

Anonymous said...

Money hungry gringos. Typical day at the office.

Anonymous said...

Yes, we are back to the 1980's and like then, Brownsville is a "stepchild" campus to UTRGV. Not only were we deceived by the current UTRGV President and his "compadres", but Brownsville was deceived by Dr. Julieta Garcia, Mayor Tony Martinez and our State Representatives and State Senators. Students from Cameron County are second-class citizens/students at UTRGV and probably always will be.

Anonymous said...

And just the same way is done with Dr
Zendejas at BISD, people complained too much about Dr. Garcia, both fine ladies, hard workers concerned for the education of this community. You have to see how bad others are to realize Brownsville had it better with Dr. Garcia.

Anonymous said...

Did you know the tuition for UTRGV is nearly twice what it is for TSC.

Anonymous said...

There is no denying that the main campus for UTRGV is in Edinburg. The Brownsville campus is just an outpost for the fourth rate UTRGV. Parents are better off sending their kids to Texas A&M-Kingsville. At least it is a third rate school.

Anonymous said...

You all are barely figuring this out? UTRGV will eventually end up closing all Brownsville operations and run everything out of Edinburg. This was the plan from the beginning. Juliet Garcia sold us down the river and the new powers-that-be are doing the exact same thing. Most of the degree programs are being run out of Edinburg. Brownsville is being left out of all the decision making and everything else. Soon all that will be left here in town is TSC.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what Janna or her husband make, but I do know both of them personally (and have for more than a decade), and I can assure you that both of them are thoroughly competent administrators. As far as Brownsville's satellite status, it is a fact. Nonetheless, the merging of the two institutions opened up all kinds of opportunities for access to the PUF fund. I agree that right now, the former UTB is something of a neglected stepchild, but that is a consequence of administrative failures to integrate the two institutions playing to their respective strengths. Many faculty in Brownsville feel neglected and "Children of a Lesser God", and this needs to be openly acknowledged and publicly addressed on both campuses by strarting with equity studies designed to see to it that equal pay is being received for equal work! I daresay it isn't now. UTRGV has more potential than either of its two major components. Edinburg, it is time to reognize Brownsville's strengths and play to them. Brownsville, it is time to get off your ass and quit whining. Demand equality of opportunity and equitable distribution of resources for the benefit of the entire RGV!!!!!

rita