In July of this year, after a troubled search that took over a year, a new Hospital Director was appointed to turn around the failing Boren Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
After a mass exodus of faculty and staff, the shuttering of many core medical services, a workplace reported as hostile and toxic, and an HR department that has reportedly lost the trust of staff, many current Teaching Hospital team members wonder whether the new Director was fully informed of the depth of challenges before accepting the position.
"He's doing a good job so far, but there's no way he knew how bad things were," said one member of the team. "At least he actually says out loud what we've all been saying for so long. He's the first person at this University to believe us about what we have been saying all this time."
Team members indicated that the new Director is attempting to tackle the worst of the problems head on, and that this is being well-received as a "breath of fresh air" by most members of the team.
"The only problem is that everyone else who brought these problems up before was fired," a statement offered by one staffer about which everyone who spoke with us agreed. Each of them expressed worry that the new Director would burn out or experience the same demise as others who have brought these issues up in the past.
"He's going to find that the only way to fix these things is to sort of reckon with people above him," said a person with knowledge of these issues. "To answer the question, 'how did this happen and why didn't anyone stop it?' he's going to bump up against some really uncomfortable things. The first is to even say these issues exist puts a target on his back because college leaders would never even admit it. So right off the bat, he's calling a spade a spade and some people really don’t like that around here. Because someone is responsible for things if those things exist, right, and everyone who has ever said they exist before is gone."
Everyone who CVM Independent has talked to seems to universally like, support and appreciate the new Hospital Director so far. All report being concerned that to preserve the reputation of some, he may end up being “scapegoated” like “everyone else” who’s tried to tackle the challenges that he has identified.