Editor:
As a 20-plus-year KHSU volunteer, I have served in various capacities, including as a member of Peter Fretwell’s hiring committee (“Static at KHSU,” Aug. 30). At no time did Craig Wruck inform the committee we were hiring a “change agent.” This is not an unimportant detail for a hiring committee, but one Mr. Wruck did not feel obligated to relate to us. And so it goes. HSU administration does not feel bound to treat us as equal partners. So you get The Village, Lumberjacks football program termination, the Children’s Center closure — and the mess at KHSU. HSU sees itself as a Vatican City. The Townies being unworthy of anything but condescension.
HSU’s issue seems to be a manifest unwillingness to admit a mistake. Fretwell was never a good fit for the station. He has made life difficult, not only for KHSU staff and volunteers but for himself. HSU — far from admitting the possibility of an error — has instead decided to circle the wagons.
KHSU has been down this road before. The university has swung wildly between almost total neglect and highly destructive inference. Some readers may recall the set-to over Democracy Now! and the firing of Elizabeth Hans-McCrone. The difference then was the university was able to respond with positivity and sensitively — hiring Patrick Cleary as caretaker GM — and ushering in a long era of harmonious operations. A similar course of action is likely the only thing that will “right the good ship KHSU.” Trust will not magically return. Not next week — not next year. If HSU has any interest in regaining that trust, there is going to be some hard work involved.
Matthew Knight, Eureka
Editor:
The NCJ did an excellent job reporting on the mess created by top administrators at Humboldt State University.
I worked and volunteered at KHSU for almost four decades. I have on my desk a KHSU mission statement from long ago. It states:
“To educate, enrich and entertain people throughout Northwestern California and Southwestern Oregon by providing diverse, high-quality radio programming. As a public service of Humboldt State University, KHSU strives to present thoughtful and intelligent perspectives on local, national and international issues. Its objectives include fostering the arts, sciences and humanities, giving voice to underrepresented points of view, serving minority as well as majority needs, and both guiding and reflecting public intellect and taste. KHSU encourages faculty, student and community participation in programming and other station affairs.”
KHSU is not broken. It has lived up to its mission statement for the most part.
There has to be some backdoor intervention by individuals who had the ear of Mr. Wruck and by extension, Mr. Fretwell. Somewhere along the way, someone thought it a good idea to fire Katie Whiteside from her job at KHSU as program/operations director.
Ms. Whiteside was not “liked” by Mr. Fretwell and that was known. There remains a hostile workplace at KHSU. Mr. Fretwell must resign or be let go, same for Mr. Wruck. I don’t understand why HSU President Lisa Rossbacher does not do this.
I think the men have her cornered.
Sharon Fennell, Manila
Related Stories
Static at KHSU
This article appears in Beach by Beach.
The cover articleStatic at KHSUby Kristin Kirby had some strong points, but because of selective interviewing it leads to what I consider to be false impressions about the firing of a much-valued long-time employee and the current situation at the station. One strength of the article is the dispassionate tone and, so far as I could tell, objective investigation. The other is the inclusion of considerable history and background about KHSU. Readers will come away with a lot of information about the station. Let me briefly touch on some problems that were not addressed. I am writing as an on-air volunteer of 25 years.
The first difficulty is that the university was represented in the article by Vice President Wruck. Since he was responsible, with some advice from a committee, for choosing embattled station manager Peter Fretwell Wruck is actually a party to the conflict. I see most of his talk as cant, serving to obfuscate rather than reveal. The mission statement by the Presidents cabinet is a good example. Wruck himselfasked for this in the middle of a firing controversy. Who else in the community was even thinking about it? No one; it was a non-issue. So it seems like a fairly transparent ploy to shift the discourse from Fretwell and the work environment Fretwell creates to abstractions. To some extent the Journal article bought into this tactic. (A second example of obfuscation is Wrucks incoherent answer to the question of where additional money for increased programming will come from, especially in the face of losses due to canceled subscriptions and sponsorship due to the firing.)
Another buy-in to the official but inaccurate story was the quote from a published statement by Fretwell about how everybody took great care with the firing. I am sure that everyone made sure that all the rules had been followed, but that is very different from establishing the firing was justified, or that there was not an alternative (mediation?). More than one staff member told me Fretwell had disliked the fired employee from the get-go and the firing was the culmination of this. So the story leaves the impression that the firing was justified; that it isn’t justified is what the whole commotion is about.
A significant problem is that the viewpoints of many principals were not represented. People have a right not to speak to journalists, but if enough people refuse (on record or off record) what is left ends up as a biased account. President Rossbacher has been out front on many issues since coming here but on this one she is silent. I would like to think the request for an evaluation by CSU staff is her way of saying she is not sure whether to trust Wruck and Fretwell. But, given many letters and pleas from community members and the Community Advisory Board statement of lack of faith in Fretwell, she should have actively involved herself in finding a solution back when the firing had just occurred. To be clear, the fired employee has a new job but the management problems have not been resolved.
We also didnt hear from Fretwell. There are many stories, perhaps only rumors, circulating about Fretwells background and previous employment. Those would seem to be fruitful fields of inquiry in explaining the current situation.Instead the article includes a quote from Wruck that makes it seem the atmosphere was corrosive before Fretwell came, which I do not believe is true. If nothing else, the previous station manager had regular meetings with staff and volunteers where feedback (non-corrosive) could and did occur.
In short, by giving so much space to Wrucka obfuscations and not getting more information from the parties directly involved, I think the article does not deal adequately with the real controversy at the station: Fretwells mis-management. Unfortunately, word from inside the station indicates that the atmosphere is indeed still corrosive and that Fretwell continues management by harassment. (It takes a very insecure manager to see insubordination in multiple employees.) The article is a good start, but I hope there will be follow-ups about the mission statement subterfuge, the CSU evaluation, and some digging into Fretwells record at previous jobs as well as what is currently occurring. As Wruck says, KHSU is a community service. We need KHSU to have leadership that is direct and trustworthy.