Please Delete: How Leadership Hubris Ignited a Scandal and Tarnished a University

"I'VE MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE." So confessed Joy Sharp, a longtime budget director for the University of Arkansas. Trembling and unsteady, she informed her boss that she had lost control of their division's finances. It was an understatement. University leaders would soon discover that Sharp had routinely spent millions of dollars beyond what was available, shifting money from one account to another in what the university's treasurer described as "deliberate efforts to disguise" her division's true financial condition. In a private email, University Chancellor G. David Gearhart bemoaned that Sharp's actions had created "a colossal fiscal crisis." It was a hard admission; ten years earlier, Gearhart himself had promoted Sharp, his former aide, to the budget management position. Most leaders would have responded to the disclosure by immediately commissioning a thorough audit and review of Sharp's activity. After all, it was possible that fraud occurred and that others were complicit. If nothing else, an audit would demonstrate the university's commitment to "Transparency and Accountability for the People of Arkansas," which happened to be the title of the school's strategic plan. But instead, Gearhart and other university officials quietly engaged in a disturbing series of panic-fueled leadership decisions. The result was a slow-burning scandal, one that involved attempts to deceive investigators, hide and destroy records, and silence witnesses. Those actions soon proved more costly to the university's reputation and credibility than the unchecked spending that created the deficit. PLEASE DELETE provides a case study of how a large institution, its powerful and overconfident leaders, and their well-placed allies responded to a crisis, and in the process, inflamed it. PLEASE DELETE is a cautionary tale, one that reveals the damage, distrust, and victimization that often result when public officials try to conceal their transgressions.

About the Author :
PLEASE DELETE author John Diamond spent 22 years as a senior communications leader for universities in Maine, Arkansas, and Wisconsin. A former journalism professor at the University of Maine, Diamond was a panelist on MediaWatch, a weekly television program on Maine PBS that critiqued news coverage of current events. He also co-produced Inside Augusta with John Diamond, a documentary series on the inner workings of state government for which he won a national journalism award. As a journalist, his by-line has appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, Washington Journalism Review, and The Washington Monthly. Before moving into higher education, Diamond served eight years in the Maine Legislature, including four years as House Majority Leader. In PLEASE DELETE, Diamond relies on thousands of pages of email, transcripts, financial records, and first-hand accounts to complete a puzzle that investigative reporters, state auditors, and prosecutors couldn't-or wouldn't-finish. As the University of Arkansas' chief media relations officer, Diamond was present when leaders made some of the most unsettling decisions about how to handle the developing financial mismanagement scandal. After raising objections to his bosses' actions, in August 2013 Diamond was abruptly fired-by text message. Weeks later, called to testify under oath at a state inquiry, he told of his superiors' release of a whitewashed version of an internal review; their misleading responses to investigative auditors and news reporters; document shredding; and a pivotal meeting at which UA's chancellor angrily directed staffers to "get rid of" a troublesome budget document containing information reporters had sought under Arkansas's public records law. Recipient in 2013 of a national award for crisis communications, Diamond owns a consulting firm specializing in higher education communications and advocacy. He and his wife Marcia live on the Maine coast, which allows them to indulge their passions for the Red Sox and seafood.

Review :
"[A] compelling and clear account of a complicated and distressing story....PLEASE DELETE should be required reading for any student of leadership and politics and anyone who cares about public accountability." Brian Naylor, National Public Radio "[A] fascinating and revealing case study of how leaders react and respond to pressure." Terrence J. MacTaggart, Ph.D., author of LEADING CHANGE "[A]n informative and insightful examination of professional ethics at the intense intersection of higher education, state government, and journalism. [Diamond] deftly weaves his personal plight into poignant stories of competing loyalties and the consequences of honoring your principles." Bob Steele, Ph.D., journalism ethicist and retired ethics institute director "Universities must commit themselves to high standards. PLEASE DELETE reminds us of that expectation--and the moral fortitude necessary from all levels of the organization to keep and protect the public trust." Karen Yelverton-Zamarripa, assistant vice chancellor, California State University