UFF-USF

I know the logical questions that people have when there’s a change of leadership and the prior person was known by some as intransigent: Will the new person be as stubborn? Will the new person be more conciliatory? Will the new leader be a firebrand, just like the old guy, or will the new leader be accommodating?

But enough about Charlie Crist.

In truth, the stubborn/accommodating dichotomy is just that, a false division that stems from the confusion of judging people with judging issues and policies. If I have an ideal in dealing with conflict, it’s the old notion that we should be soft on people but hard on problems. Through the collective-bargaining relationship, the United Faculty of Florida and the USF administration are partners and adversaries, and sometimes it’s hard to disentangle the two sides of that relationship. I’ll divide it as follows: In my role as chapter president, I do not see how it would be productive to attack individuals. I will always describe what is working well in the relationship and what is not working well. But unless someone has a very good reason to move me otherwise, those will be phrased as policy and practice issues, not people issues.