'Stay in my lane? Okay, but it’ll cost you': College loses $25K after rejecting advisor's request to fix the system

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jan 20, 2024 2:00 PM EST

It's remarkable how many times problems could have been solved in most workplace environments were it not for the egos of those in charge. Ideally, any functioning team should thrive on ideas and foresight from anyone involved. There is a difference between overstepping one's boundaries and providing helpful ideas for the whole team's benefit. The latter is called collaboration. It's having a team-building mentality. It should not be interpreted as aggressive or threatening behavior; yet, for the children masquerading as leaders, this can all be misconstrued.

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/RhondaTheHonda, an iconic username. She was a faculty advisor in a small department within a public college. She noticed a problem within the new restructuring of a program and attempted to address it with the department heads, only to be reprimanded and told to stay in her lane. Of course, eventually, the problem resurfaced and by then, it was too late to fix the system. Even better, it cost the department thousands of dollars.

Keep scrolling below for the full play-by-play. For more, check out this post about an employee who was fired for being too good at their job.

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  • 01
    "The college ended up having to swallow the cost "
    via Nathan Dumlao
  • 02
    Stay in my lane? Okay, but it'll cost you. M OC A few years ago I was the primary faculty advisor and chair for admissions to a highly competitive health science program at a small public college. While that may sound impressive, it's basically a way of saying I was the lowest on the totem pole, but had all of the responsibility overseeing admissions for this program. In order to try and make the department even stronger, they added a new degree option to that health science program that largely
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 03
    Since I was so low on the totem pole, I had no part in the process for this, but as the lone advisor, I had to learn all of the ins and outs of it so I could advise students and potential applicants. Because of this, I found a problem where the new class was added to the course schedule and added to the college catalog, but it was not officially added to the new major. This would cause trouble for financial aid and, down the road, when they apply for graduation. (It may seem like a small thing,
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 04
    So I sent an email to someone (middle management) who might be able to help, asking questions and proposing possible short term solutions until the curriculum committee could meet to make the changes official. After the email there was silence for a week. Therefore, I sent a follow up email.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 05
    The next morning I received an email from one of the VPs, chewing me out for overstepping my bounds, trying to make changes I didn't have authority to make, and a reminder that they know how to do their jobs and that I was expected to "stay in [my] lane." (This email included my supervisor, multiple deans, two department heads, and another VP.)
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 06
    Fine. I dropped it. I was already looking for other jobs (and ended up leaving the following year) so what do I care? Fast forward 3 months: we were about 10 days away from this new class starting with the first cohort of 10 students in this new degree and I started getting phone calls and emails from all over the place. The problem I pointed out still hadn't been fixed. Now the Financial Aid and Registrar's Offices are dealing with angry students who just found out each will have to pay for an
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 07
    Both departments were reaching out to me asking for help to get this fixed before the VP found out about it. I just forwarded the email I recieved from the VP with a message that I was instructed to stay out of this and that their bosses were aware that I was not to be involved. It's officially not my problem.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 08
    (And to anyone who might say I should have helped helped and not screwed over the students. You're right. Unfortunately, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I can do at that point). That's why I tried to address it months ago, when I could have helped.)
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 09
    The proper way to make this happen involves making the proposed changes to a committee, then those changes would have to be approved by the executive board. For various reasons, this could not happen between then and the start of the class. So the VP contacted the state chancellor's office to see what kind of work around the state would approve to get this done now. However the college was denied any exceptions.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 10
    In the end, the college ended up having to swallow the cost of this course for all 10 students. I don't remember how much it was but it was no less than $25,000.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 11
    True-Mousse4957 - 2 hr. ago I around and They found out. Your superiors are victims of their own egos. Good for you, OP!
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 12
    RhondaTheHonda OP. 2 hr. ago That VP is now the president at another college. I continue to follow his career just to ensure our paths don't cross again.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 13
    bri3000 1 hr. ago The often floats to the top in academia.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 14
    bran6442 24 min. ago Not just academia. Fail your way to the top is pretty common in a lot of the corporate world.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 15
    Stephij27 2 hr. ago Oooooh, this one was particularly satisfying. I absolutely love when "superiors" themselves in the foot with their own egos.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 16
    Bont_Tarentaal 1 hr. ago VP should have paid for this out of his own money.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 17
    chaoticbear 2 hr. ago I don't remember how much it was but it was no less than $25,000. This seems like some creative accounting to me - surely they did not pay a professor $25k for one class of one students for one semester, right? (not a knock on the story, which I did enjoy, but this seems like such a nothingburger for them to have raised such a fuss over compared to the annual budget of a university)
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 18
    RhondaTheHonda OP. 2 hr. ago Small public college (not a university) on a shoestring budget. At least that's what they say in every staff meeting.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda
  • 19
    SourcePrevious3095. 5 min. ago The cost for the college was probably only 2500 for all 10 students. Prices are so over inflated per credit hour because it us a cash cow for some rich 1.
    via u/RhondaTheHonda

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