VQR audit critical of editor's management style

An audit of the Virginia Quarterly Review, the University of Virginia’s award winning literary journal, is critical of editor Ted Genoways’ management style but says the institution acted properly in its handling of the magazine’s workplace environment problems that were brought to light by the suicide of its managing editor.

Kevin Morrissey, 52, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the coal tower in downtown Charlottesville on July 30. Following his death, Morrissey’s friends and family spoke out publicly, saying that Morrissey had felt bullied by Genoways and that VQR’s workplace climate was toxic.

UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan launched the probe of VQR’s management practices on Aug. 19, saying that Morrissey’s death had “raised questions about the university’s response to employees’ concerns about the workplace climate in the VQR office.”

UVa’s nine-page audit of VQR’s finances and management practices was released Wednesday afternoon.

The audit notes that there were no specific allegations of bullying or harassment within VQR prior to Morrissey’s death. It adds, however, that Genoways had been reported over the years for “not being courteous or respectful with some contributors and colleagues, as well as problems with certain employees, but none ever seemed to rise to the level of a serious, on-going concern.”

These complaints, the audit found, “were mostly viewed by others as conflicts between a creative, innovative manager and persons who did not share the Editor’s aspirations.”

Under Genoways’ leadership since he became editor in 2003, VQR has become a critical darling, winning numerous national awards for its journalism and fiction.

The audit acknowledges Genoways’ successes, but calls his management skills “questionable.”

“The VQR Editor did achieve certain aspects of performance for which he had been hired, e.g. to raise the stature of the VQR publication. The VQR received national awards and the Editor has many supporters in the literary community,” the audit says. “However, not everyone has managerial skill, and the Editor’s capacity to supervise and lead his staff well, and to operate his department in accordance with University policies, is questionable.”

Genoways’ lawyer, Lloyd Snook, issued a four-page response to UVa’s audit. The investigation, Snook pointed out, found no support for the widely publicized accusations that Genoways was a workplace bully.

“Ted — to this day — has never been told of any specific complaint that any of his staff has had,” Snook wrote. “There was never any personnel action taken against Ted. The only negative fact in his personnel file is a complaint from 2006 that he sometimes did not respond to e-mails in a timely manner.”

Snook added that he will not comment on the audit’s vague criticism of his management ability.

“The Audit Report contains some broad-brush statements that may seem to comment on Ted’s performance as a manager, but it provides no details, and we don’t know those details either,” he wrote.

“Tempting as it may be to attempt to comment on some of these vague implications, we won’t.”

The audit recommends “corrective action” be taken against Genoways for his management style and his level of responsiveness on administrative matters, as well as an unapproved $2,000 expenditure to subsidize the printing of his poetry.

Snook responded that the $2,000 expenditure occurred in April when Genoways asked Morrissey to make the payment from a research account maintained in the president’s office. “At this moment,” Snook wrote, “we think that the problem was that Kevin Morrissey submitted the payment to an incorrect account — something that can surely get resolved quickly.”

The audit, which is frequently vague for confidentiality reasons, appears to clear UVa personnel who handled complaints about VQR’s workplace environment.

“Appropriate actions were taken by the institution, given the available and provided information and the prescribed role of employees; because some individuals were not aware of all that was going on, they incorrectly concluded that things were not being done,” the audit says.

The audit, which cost $26,016 and was paid for by state funds, involved the examination of 23,000 e-mails, as well as financial records and interviews with 25 people, including current and former VQR staffers.

UVa’s investigation did not result in anyone losing their jobs at VQR, though two staffers have resigned since Morrissey’s death.

“All members of VQR staff may remain in their current positions, although, as was outlined in the report, there will be a different management structure put in place,” said UVa spokeswoman Carol Wood. “Staff members, who just learned about the recommendations of the report [Wednesday], have been given the time they need to decide if they wish to remain with VQR or pursue other options.”

Since 1991, VQR has been housed under UVa’s president’s office. It will now move under the university’s vice president for research’s office.

Snook said Genoways initiated in July VQR’s move from the president’s office and continues to support the idea. He added that Genoways also supports the audit’s recommendations that the VQR be subject to more university oversight and to have its practices and procedures be brought into line with the rest of UVa.

In response to the audit’s findings, the university will take several measures in an attempt to minimize future cases of unhealthy workplace climates at UVa.

Susan Carkeek, UVa’s vice president for human resources, will develop a structure within her office in which employee complaints about their supervisors can be taken, registered and followed up on.

Guiding this new structure, the report says, will be protections for employees from potential retaliation and protection for supervisors from negative consequences if complaints are determined to be unfounded or trivial.

The university will also form a task force to “strengthen the institution’s policies and structures with regards to acceptable workplace conduct. This should include emphasizing a culture where all employees are valued, regardless of their position.”

Following the launch of the audit in August, the university announced that it was canceling VQR’s winter issue. The decision on when to resume publication, Wood said, will be determined in the coming weeks after VQR’s transition to the vice president for research office is completed.