Citing her position as “toxic” and being in a “dysfunctional environment,” former Dean of Students LuoLuo Hong said she left her University of Wisconsin position for administration-related issues, including controversy over former Dean of Student Affairs Paul Barrows’ paid leave.
Effective Aug. 1, Hong officially announced June 13 that she would leave UW to serve as dean of student affairs at Arizona State University-West Campus.
In her official statement, Hong said the opportunity to serve at ASU-West is an “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” she “just can’t pass up.”
But in person and in a series of e-mails, Hong described a stress-filled tenure at UW.
Employee vacation and sick-leave payment policies have recently come under fire and, while Hong does not describe the Barrows’ situation as the primary reason for leaving, she said it was a contributing factor.
“I would say [it was] the total package,” Hong said of her position and the Barrows scandal. “My whole experience had become a very stressful one,” she added.
Hong said her decision to live and work in Arizona was based on a desire to be with family there.
Before officially announcing the decision, the former dean sent out several versions of a “farewell e-mail” to various friends, UW staff and administrators in which she explained the stressors surrounding her leave.
One version reads as a general farewell in which she expressed a desire to be closer to family in a warmer climate, while other e-mails are increasingly critical of UW.
In an e-mail sent to the Office of Dean of Students’ management team, Hong wrote of no discontent with UW.
“I know that I will always be glad that I had the chance to be here at UW-Madison,” read the e-mail, “albeit for less time than I had planned.”
But two other emails — one sent to a small list of UW administrators and officials, and the other to a larger list of colleagues and friends — were more insightful.
In these versions, Hong wrote: “Those of you who have remained in more regular contact with me know intimately how personally taxing — and at times even toxic — this job has been for me. … There comes a time when one must weigh the costs and benefits of doing good work in a dysfunctional environment.”
While the e-mail sent to UW officials was shorter and less descriptive, in the longer version, sent to closer friends and colleagues, Hong described herself driving in her convertible, wearing open-toed shoes year-round in Arizona and having “unlimited venues with which to sate” her “[shopping] desires.”
The e-mail concluded: “And when I am sitting on my deck in Phoenix on Halloween weekend and watching my former colleagues respond to yet another violent altercation between police and revelers, I imagine I will not be wondering, ‘Gee, how could I have left all that?'”
In an interview, Hong said she does not retract what was written in her e-mails or her descriptions of the administrative environment, but added the comments were made under stress.
“It was a point of weighing out a need to stay and a need to go,” Hong said. “This has been a painful experience. I’m trying to close a chapter in my life.”
UW Chancellor John Wiley said Hong’s tenure at the university, though short-lived — spanning roughly two-and-a-half years — was well spent.
“She has made terrific contributions in her relatively short time here, beginning the day she arrived on campus,” Wiley said in release. “She has provided outstanding leadership … restored visibility and credibility to the position, served as a reliable advocate for all students and truly worked toward making campus a more welcoming place.”
Former Associate Dean of Students Lori Berquam will serve as interim dean of students while the university searches for Hong’s successor.
