It's Happened Again...a Violation Of Your Privacy

[jacksondf]

My boss would forward emails that were sent about my performance directly to me as well.  Seems normal where I work.  

That said using bcc or forwarding things marked private are bad form. 

[TheTastyGreek]

Here's the response I received to my email... I find it strangely encouraging?

 

Good evening.

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this University. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the scholastic interest.

In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the University. Throughout the long and difficult period of football disaster, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me.

In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough base among the Alumni to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.

But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.

I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interest of the University must always come before any personal considerations.

From the discussions I have had with Alumni and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the football disaster matter I might not have the support of the Alumni that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the University would require.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as Athletic Director, I must put the interest of North Texas first. North Texas needs a full-time Athletic Director and a full-time hiring committee, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.

To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Board of Regents in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of football competence and the arrest and violent execution of Tony Benford.

Therefore, I shall resign the position of Athletic Director effective at noon tomorrow. Hideously Ugly Eugene Levy Scrappy will be sworn in as Athetic Director at that hour in this office.

As I recall the high hopes for North Texas with which we began my tenure, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the coming years. But in turning over direction of the department to Scrappy, I know, as I told the re-design committee when I nominated him for that costume 22 months ago, that the leadership of North Texas will be in good talons.

In passing this office to Hideously Ugly Eugene Levy Scrappy, I also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his feathers tomorrow and, therefore, of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all North Texans.

As he assumes that responsibility, he will deserve the help and the support of all of us. As we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this University, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us, and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people.

By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed at North Texas.

I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision. I would say only that if some of my hirings were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the University.

To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support.

And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the school, however our judgments might differ.

So, let us all now join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new Athletic Director succeed for the benefit of all North Texans.

I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your Athletic Director for the past 15 years. These years have been a momentous time in the history of our University and the world. They have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the Alumni, the Board of Regents, and the students.

But the challenges ahead are equally great, and they, too, will require the support and the efforts of the Alumni and the people working in cooperation with the new hiring committee.

We have ended North Texas' most recent failed coaching experiment, but in the work of securing a lasting legacy in the sports world, the goals ahead are even more far-reaching and more difficult. We must complete a structure of peace so that it will be said of this generation, our generation of North Texans, by the people of all nations, not only that we fired one failed head coach but that we prevented future coach firings

We have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the University of North Texas and Conference USA.

We must now ensure that the thirteen member institutions who live in Conference USA will be and remain not our enemies but our friends.

In the Big 12, 100 million people in the idiot communities, many of whom have called us "North Texas State" for over 20 years, now look on us as their reliable OOC wins towards bowl eligibility. We must continue to build on that friendship so that peace can settle at last over the football region and so that the cradle of the spread offense will not become our grave.

Together with Southern Methodist University we have made the crucial breakthroughs that have begun the process of limiting the murders of Craig James' prostitutes. But we must set as our goal not just limiting but reducing and finally eliminating these terrible executions so that they cannot destroy civilization and so that the threat of a gruesome, dismembered whore's corpse will no longer hang over the world and the people.

We have opened the new relation with Southern Methodist University. We must continue to develop and expand that new relationship so that the two most irrelevant football programs of the Metroplex of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation.

Around the world, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East, there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty, even starvation. We must keep as our goal turning away from production of music and art graduates, and expanding production for athletics facilities and new stadiums so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward in their children's time, if not in our own time, to having the necessities for a decent North Texas sports team.

Here at North Texas, we are fortunate that most of our people have not only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good and, by Division III standards, even abundant lives. We must press on, however, toward a goal of not only more and better wins but of full opportunity for every North Texan and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve, athletic prosperity without NCAA investigation.

For more than a quarter of a century in university life I have shared in the turbulent history of this era. I have fought for what I believed in. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.

Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, "whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."

I pledge to you tonight that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue in that spirit. I shall continue to work for the great causes to which I have been dedicated throughout my years as a Pizza Man, a Fundraiser, a Mustache Aficionado, and UNT Athletic Director, the cause of success not just for North Texas but among all G5 athletic institutions, prosperity, justice, and opportunity for all of our people.

There is one cause above all to which I have been devoted and to which I shall always be devoted for as long as I live.

When I first took the oath of office as Athletic Director 15 years ago, I made this sacred commitment, to "consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of victory over failure."

I have done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge. But despite these efforts, I am sadly aware that the school is substantially no more successful today, not just in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of alumni engagement and general athletic community respect. 

This, more than anything, is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the office of Athletics Director. This, more than anything, is what I had hoped would be my legacy to you, to our university, as I leave the Athletics Center.

To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every North Texan. In leaving it, I do so with this prayer: May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.

 

 

Good for you, Ricky V.

Good for you.  

[MeanGreen13]

got my hopes way up at the beginning of the letter... 

 

[MeanGreenDan]

You had me there for a second, @TheTastyGreek

[Cerebus]

I hate you Tasty.  

 

My reaction reading that post:

[EagleMBA]

Absolutely a work of art! Scary close to reality.

Edited October 18, 2015 by EagleMBA

[Green P1]

The Times New Roman made me want it believe. 

[FirefightnRick]

I do not how he received he the email.

 

I would be surprised if it was not Adrienne Nettles?   I recieved an immediate email response from her saying she had recieved it..but her title was from the URCM dept...not the office of the president?  I thought that was odd?

So I then notified the head the URCM department and asked if this was a common practice?  Deborah Lilieart assured me it was not and that this was highly unprofessional for her department to intercept an email and forward it to someone else without the approval of the intended receiver...FIRST.  She then apologized several times stating she would try to talk to staff and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Also...I never recieved a thing from the presidents' office.

 

 

Rick

 

[cdizzle86]

Taking a break from this board. You guys are ridiculous. You're butt hurt about an email that got forwarded to RV and then he responded?! Lol give me a break! 

[Mean_Green09]

Taking a break from this board. You guys are ridiculous. You're butt hurt about an email that got forwarded to RV and then he responded?! Lol give me a break!

Im not butt hurt. Just think it's funny. Wasting time when he should be searching for a coach.  

[FirefightnRick]

Taking a break from this board. You guys are ridiculous. You're butt hurt about an email that got forwarded to RV and then he responded?! Lol give me a break! 

 

Your right...anyone who see's nothing wrong with it truly needs a break.

 

Rick

Edited October 19, 2015 by FirefightnRick

[FirefightnRick]

My boss would forward emails that were sent about my performance directly to me as well.  Seems normal where I work.  

 

Really?  

Were they emails from your company's customers?

Were they emails from your company's customers explaining to your boss why it is they believe you should be removed from your job,...that your job performance was poor and included details in how the performance was costing your company future customer purchases and tens of thousand of dollars...including specific information about customer paid purchases of goods your company never shipped...(matching donations)?  

And finally....did the emails from your boss include the complaining customers' name, address and phone number so that you could in turn....contact the complaining customer in a defensive confrontation?

 

 

Rick

Edited October 19, 2015 by FirefightnRick

[rcade]

There's no grounds for a lawsuit because a letter to Smatresk was forwarded to someone else.

The president of a public university is a government official. Letters and emails sent to President Smatresk about Rick Villarreal are public records, so there's no reasonable expectation of privacy.

I could file an FOIA request and get a copy of every letter and email sent to Smatresk since the PSU game about Villarreal.

When sending letters or emails to government officials, make sure not to include any information you want to keep private -- including your phone number and address. In February, Jeb Bush released hundreds of thousands of emails he was sent while he was Florida governor. There was a lot of personal information in this correspondence. He put them all online:

http://jebbushemails.com/email/

[UNTFan23]

Really?  

Were they emails from your company's customers?

Were they emails from your company's customers explaining to your boss why it is they believe you should be removed from your job,...that your job performance was poor and included details in how the performance was costing your company future customer purchases and tens of thousand of dollars...including specific information about customer paid purchases of goods your company never shipped...(matching donations)?  

And finally....did the emails from your boss include the complaining customers' name, address and phone number so that you could in turn....contact the complaining customer in a defensive confrontation?

 

 

Rick

Well, my boss would certainly come to me and ask me about what's going on.  He (or rather she) would perhaps keep the people who were sending the emails confidential but we would certainly sit down and talk about what's going on that garnered such a negative response.

Of course, if I had "customers" that were being a pain the butt I would have long ago sent her a "heads up" email on the status of things well before my "customers" sent an angry email to my boss.  My manager is always in the loop on what's going on with my work/projects, especially if it is less than positive.

What might be most amusing is that you expect "privacy" when using email as your preferred medium of communication. It takes something like 0.5789461649 seconds to forward an email to anyone, inside or outside the organization.  About the only way you could ask "privacy" is to put in the subject line CONFIDENTIAL and then repeat that again after your signature. Then you'll have to cross your fingers and hope that the person reading the email doesn't forward it on to someone else.

I thought we had long found out that the President doesn't read his own mail, email, or take phone calls directly.  I believe he also uses the URCM team for posting tweets sometimes as well.

[Graddean]

The minute you hit send, you lose control of the email.  RCADE is correct about FOI. Anything sent or received is subject to an FOI request if you are a state official. 

[adman]

Well then it may be time for an FOI for all things emailed to our President. 

[FirefightnRick]

Well, my boss would certainly come to me and ask me about what's going on.  He (or rather she) would perhaps keep the people who were sending the emails confidential but we would certainly sit down and talk about what's going on that garnered such a negative response.

 

 

 

Your boss kept it confidential..RV's didn't...but somehow they are similar and perfectly ok.  Got it.

Don't worry though... with each passing day as more and more pains in the butt turn away you'll have Apogee and the Super Pit all to yourself.  

 

 

 

As a fanbase I almost wonder if we don't deserve to be winless?

 

 

Rick

 

[UNT90]

 

Your boss kept it confidential..RV's didn't...but somehow they are similar and perfectly ok.  Got it.

Don't worry though... with each passing day as more and more pains in the butt turn away you'll have Apogee and the Super Pit all to yourself.  

 

 

 

As a fanbase I almost wonder if we don't deserve to be winless?

 

 

Rick

 

Come on, Rick. He may not win much, but RV is just so nice. Plus, he talks to me and makes me feel important in our 3 minute interactions, so I really like him. He just needs another chance. I mean, he has just been unlucky. It's not his fault. 

Signed, 

40 year UNT fan

 

[Quoner]

 

As a fanbase I almost wonder if we don't deserve to be winless?

 

 

Rick

 

Oh god...without a doubt.

[golfingomez]

so... if you had sent a handwritten letter to Smastresk and he handed it over to RV would the reaction be the same?

 

the concept is the same right?

[UNTFan23]

As a fanbase I almost wonder if we don't deserve to be winless?

 

Rick

It sure would be interesting if we ran the university and athletic program using crowd sourcing.  I'm sure things could get worse if we did.

[VideoEagle]

It sure would be interesting if we ran the university and athletic program using crowd sourcing.  I'm sure things could get worse if we did.

How about an app to let fans in the stands vote on each play? 

[pastorgrant]

I know RV needs to move on. 

 

But I also know that if I am saying something negative about a person, he has the right to know about and address my complaints.

[NT1978]

I received a 1187 word email from RV on Friday after sending an email to the President and his cabinet. 

Not to diminish the complaints in this thread, but if you sent the email to President and his cabinet, you included Rick Villarreal as he is a member of the cabinet.

[Mean_Green09]

Not to diminish the complaints in this thread, but if you sent the email to President and his cabinet, you included Rick Villarreal as he is a member of the cabinet.

I did not include him on the email