Yesterday’s emergency Classified Staff Council meeting took a surprising direction after it was announced that four raises recently awarded to classified staff in the University President’s Office were withdrawn by the President, effective yesterday.

After meeting with several CSC members Friday, University President Sidney Ribeau repealed the raises after learning that they were causing more controversy on campus than he’d expected, said Executive Vice President Linda Dobb, who spoke on behalf of President Ribeau at yesterday’s meeting. The raises, which became effective July 1, created a new category of “premium pay” on campus without the knowledge of Council and totaled an increase of $15,340 a year.

“I know that the President was taken a bit unawares of the seriousness of the impact of this and he did everything to rescind what had happened,” she said. “The growth and the success that we have at this institution is largely due to the efforts of Classified Staff Council, and I don’t think anyone appreciates that more than President Ribeau. He would hate to see anything destroyed because of one incident and he did whatever he could do … to turn it around.”

The decision was a relief for members of CSC, said Kathy McBride, chair of this year’s Council. It is unclear if the money given through the raises over the past three months will have to be returned, she said.

“To get him to rescind this is a big victory,” she said. “I think that Dr. Ribeau implemented something that wasn’t a good policy and we brought it to his attention and he paid attention to us and I respect him for that.”

But the announcement of the repeal didn’t stop discussion on the incident.

Several people at the meeting were critical of Rebecca Ferguson, assistant vice president in the Office of Human Resources, and her decision not to tell CSC members about the raises. Ferguson was asked by the President to review the salaries and made the final recommendation for the raises. President Ribeau was concerned that the salaries of the classified staff employees in his office weren’t competitive with those of other universities, Ferguson said in an earlier interview.

“It wasn’t handled correctly if you ask me, because we have monthly meetings with (Human Resources) and it wasn’t discussed,” McBride said. “We met with (Rebecca Ferguson) concerning why it happened and she was under the impression that it wasn’t something that would be of interest to Classified Staff. She thought that since it was the President’s Office it was a little bit different. Now she knows that it’s not.”

But McBride said she believes the decision wasn’t made to keep the raises a secret, as some suggested at yesterday’s meeting. Ferguson preferred not to comment last night because she was not present at the meeting.

“I’m not sure it was really intended to be kept secretive, honestly,” McBride said. “Dr. Ribeau is the President of the University, he’s not manager of (Human Resources) and when he asked someone to look into pay increases for his secretaries because he was concerned with them–which is a good thing–it was an order from the President that Rebecca (Ferguson) did and found out what she needed to find out and gave it to him.”

Dobb said she couldn’t fault Ferguson or her office for the decision.

” … Sometimes we’re all put in very difficult situations and we don’t always know exactly the right way to act under very difficult and trying circumstances,” she said. “I know that’s true in my case whether it’s here at work or on the golf course where I don’t accurately record my score. I have to believe that people are trying to do the right thing under all the variety of pressures that they’re put under, so I beg you to let us reopen dialogue with you …”

But gaining back the trust many have lost in the President will be hard, said Diane Whitmire, administrative secretary for Faculty Senate.

“I’d like to commend the Council for their work this week and what they’ve done to bring this to closure,” she said. “But I have worked at BGSU for 34 years and I think this is the most devastating thing that could happen to a group of people that are hard workers. Personally, I think this is a fly in the face to everything that Dr. Ribeau stands up and says he wants all of us to do and we’re all valued.”

For Whitmire, recent events will cause her to think twice about getting involved in any new initiatives, she said. Whitmire served as secretary on the Community Building Project, implemented by President Ribeau when he came to the University in 1995.

“Personally, it’s going to be hard for me to get involved in anything like that again because it’s over and beyond what we’re normally scheduled to do,” she said.

CSC member Bruce Rutter, supervisor with Facilities Services, echoes Whitmire’s views.

“I’m glad we have the one victory, but I think we need to get the confidence back of personnel, which I don’t have,” he said. “I think we don’t want to ignore that. I think our first step is to get the confidence back.”