Rues remarks, learned lesson, Wyrick says

UA official, fired aide expound on religious, racial references called offensive

University of Arkansas chief fundraiser Chris Wyrick expressed regrets this week about remarks he made that a fired university spokesman found offensive. Wyrick (left) is shown with UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart.
University of Arkansas chief fundraiser Chris Wyrick expressed regrets this week about remarks he made that a fired university spokesman found offensive. Wyrick (left) is shown with UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart.

FAYETTEVILLE - University of Arkansas chief fundraiser Chris Wyrick expressed regrets this week about remarks he made that a fired university spokesman found offensive, and both men elaborated on the context of the statements that were made public Monday.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions and in no way am I trying to say,looking back, that they were appropriate,” Wyrick said in an interview. “I’ve learned the lesson. I’ve accepted the responsibilities of those consequences, and it will not happen again.”

Wyrick fired his associate vice chancellor for university relations, John Diamond, on Aug. 23 but told Diamond that he could remain employed for 30 days while working from his home.

On Monday, Diamond publicly revealed his recollections of Wyrick’s remarks, the same day that UA Chancellor G. David Gearhart and Wyrick, the new vice chancellor for university advancement, held a news conference about his dismissal.

Diamond has disagreed with Wyrick and Gearhart about why he was terminated. Diamond contends that there was conflict over the way UA was handling Arkansas Freedom of Information requests about a multimillion-dollar deficit that occurred in the Advancement Division under Wyrick’s predecessor, Brad Choate.

Diamond alleged that UA administrators had purposefully obstructed his attempts to provide timely and complete Arkansas Freedom of Information Act responses.

In addition, Diamond wrote in response to assertions about why he was terminated that he found Wyrick’s “pattern of inappropriate statements to me personally and in group settings were offensive and threatening.”

On Monday, Wyrick acknowledged calling someone “Brother Honky” and making a remark about Catholics that offended Diamond, though the two remember what was said differently. But Wyrick said he never referred to one of Diamond’s employees as an “old guy,” an allegation Diamond made in his response letter.

Wyrick answered questions about the context of the remarks during the Monday news conference and in interviews later in the week.

THE REMARKS IN QUESTION

On Thursday, Wyrick said he visited with about 100 of his staff members in the Advancement Division’s central office and its offices for the Arkansas Alumni Association and University Development. He said he plans to visit with University Relations Division staff members today.

“The purpose of me visiting with my staff is I accept the responsibilities of my actions,” Wyrick said. “I am talking to them about moving forward. I’m obviously very cognizant that the media would find out, and I was obviously very, very careful in my wording.”

Diamond agreed to the Monday release of job-performance records relevant to the events leading up to his firing last Friday on the condition that UA also release his response to the firing. He wrote about Wyrick’s remarks, his letter read, because they came up in a meeting with Wyrick on Aug. 22. At that meeting, Wyrick told Diamond that he planned to reassign him to new duties and fire him by the end of the calendar year, and it escalated into a verbal confrontation, according to notes from both sides.

Subsequently, Wyrick said, he decided to fire Diamond with the 30 days’ notice required under UA System board policy.

“On the day of our first one-on-one meeting following your official start as vice chancellor, you exited your personal office with two other university employees and, when seeing me, pointed out to those present that I am Catholic and that ‘y’all travel in packs,’” Diamond wrote of his first meeting with Wyrick as Wyrick’s employee.

During the news conference Monday and in interviews Tuesday and Thursday, Wyrick shared what he recalled of the circumstances, saying he didn’t mean the Catholic remark to be offensive.

He said he remembers asking “Is there a fish fry this weekend?” but he denies saying that members of Diamond’s faith “traveled in packs.”

Diamond said the remark was made in early April while he was waiting in Wyrick’s outer office area. Wyrick emerged from his office with the two other employees and made the remark, Diamond said.

“Anybody 45 or older is well aware that making fun of Catholics from abstaining from eating meat on Fridays by non-Catholics is considered a derogatory remark,” Diamond said, adding that it was common when he lived in Maine years ago for people to make fun of Catholics for not eating meat on Fridays.

“It obviously bothered me, but it was my brand-new boss - I wasn’t going to challenge him,” Diamond said. “I just remember saying, ‘Holy Cow!’ in my mind.”

Diamond said he was inclined to “cut him some slack” in hopes that the remark would turn out to be an isolated incident, but then the comments continued.

The “Brother Honky” reference happened about two weeks after that, Diamond said.

Diamond recounted in his letter to Wyrick: “In late April, during a meeting of our Advancement executive staff, you asked our associate vice chancellor for Alumni Affairs if he was the only ‘white guy’ who attended the April 20, 2013, Black Alumni Society scholarship fundraiser dinner.Twice during the remainder of the meeting you referred to the Alumni leader as ‘Brother Honky.’”

Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni Affairs Graham Stewart declined to comment.

NICKNAME BESTOWED

During Monday’s news conference, Wyrick said the moniker “Brother Honky” was given to him in 2008 when he was forging alumni relationships with black former Razorback student-athletes as part of his job with the UA Athletic Department.

“That was a nickname given to me, not a nickname that I made up,” Wyrick said.

On Tuesday, Wyrick said he had regarded it as a term of endearment that the former athletes had given him, and he thought nothing of it until this year. Since 2008, he estimated, “I’ve said it probably no more than five times,” though he said he can’t recall the specifics.

“But now, somebody for the very first time has told me it was offensive,” Wyrick said.

Wyrick denied Diamond’s allegation that he used the term “old guy.” “I vehemently deny knowledge of referring to anyone on my staff as an ‘old guy,’” he said.

Diamond’s account, from his letter says: “On two separate occasions this spring you told me that I needed to replace the ‘old guy’ who works part-time on my staff because you said you saw him standing around and not helping another staff member during equipment setup for the May commencement ceremonies.”

During Monday’s news conference, Wyrick said that while he was working in the rafters of Bud Walton Arena helping his employees, he became frustrated when he saw a part-time University Relations employee not helping out.

“I was in shorts and T-shirt sweating, moving heavy equipment and testing lights,” Wyrick elaborated Tuesday, when he spied the part-time worker. “What I observed as I was high above Bud Walton is he spent more time actually watching than working.”

But he didn’t call him an old guy, Wyrick said.

Leaders with the University of Arkansas System had little to say about Wyrick’s comments or apologies.

“I really don’t think it’s appropriate for us to comment on the personnel matters of our campuses,” said Jane Rogers of Little Rock, chairman of the UA board of trustees. “We feel like Dr. Gearhart, it’s his responsibility - and he’s most capable of handling it.”

She acknowledged that the board holds executive sessions to address personnel matters in private, but said:“Those are local, not generic.”

Also, the other nine trustees on the board tend to defer to the chairman to make statements about the campuses, she said.

“There’s a good chain of command that the trustees try to adhere to,” Rogers said.

UA System President Don Bobbitt said he doesn’t comment about the universities’ and colleges’ personnel decisions.

“I have faith that Dr. Gearhart is managing his campus well and doing so to the best of his ability,” Bobbitt said. “I expect he will use this as a teachable moment for his staff.”

Janine Parry, incoming chairman of UA-Fayetteville’s faculty senate, said that while professors and students are caught up in the whirlwind of the first week of classes, the issues that Diamond’s firing has stirred up are important.

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want us to be a transparent public institution, as well as a place in which kindness and respect is both valued and practiced,” Parry said by email Wednesday, referring to fellow faculty members.

“In that light, the allegations are troubling and should be addressed in a way that builds trust both on and off of our campus.”

Several people whom Diamond, Gearhart and Wyrick cited as witnessing the remarks either declined to comment or didn’t return telephone and email messages.

Those declining to comment included Bruce Pontious, associate vice chancellor for development; John Erck, senior director of development and external relations for the Walton College of Business; and Brian Pracht, associate athletics director for marketing and licensing.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/30/2013

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