Former employee launches website against administration

Lauren Saizan

A former Loyola employee is determined to reach the offices of administrators through complaints, letters and an entire website chronicling what she describes as the ordeal of her four years at the university.

Sharron Mangum, former executive assistant to the dean in the college of social sciences, recently launched a website called “CleanUpLOYNO.org” as a follow-up to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint that she filed against the university in March 2013.

In the complaint, Mangum alleges that she suffered age discrimination, racial discrimination and constructive termination during her time working at Loyola from 2010 to 2014.

“Constructive termination is when your work environment is so horrific that you can’t tolerate it anymore, and it affects you mentally, emotionally and physically,” Mangum said.

During her time at Loyola, Mangum worked as the assistant to Roger White, interim dean of the college of social sciences.

White said that he was surprised by the allegations made against him on the website because he enjoyed working with Mangum.

“It would be like if you had someone that you got along with very well, and then you weren’t seeing them anymore, then you heard that they were saying things about you that were unpleasant. It wouldn’t be so much a question of anger, just sad,” White said.

Mangum said that the trouble arose when she applied for a promotion but was rejected. She also said that her workload spanned more than what was in her job description.

“I had been doing all of the job responsibilities required of the director in addition to having the associate dean’s responsibilities without ever having the title and the compensation,” Mangum said.

When asked if he had known of any of the statements made against him on the website, White said that he was “vaguely aware.”

“I know that there have been some things put out on the Web, and people have sent me the links, but I won’t read them. As interim dean of this college, I need to keep my mind focused on my job and making sure that I can serve the students and the faculty and the rest of the Loyola community as well as I can,” White said.

Mangum said that she then went on leave for medical reasons associated with the job.

“Before I had left Loyola, I ended up in the hospital with symptoms of what was thought to be a mini-stroke. I had started having severe migraine headaches which triggered the stroke-like symptoms,” Mangum said.

These symptoms were a result of the workload Mangum was asked to take on, she said.

“At the time that Roger White came aboard, initially he assured me that I would not have to handle any more of the dean’s functions, and that he was going to take a lot of work off my desk and employ other people, but he did not do that. In fact, he put more work on my desk,”Mangum said.

This is what led Mangum to file the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint — and eventually — put up the website.

Mangum said that the goal of this website is to promote change within, not only Loyola, but in other institutions of higher learning that have similar issues.

Mangum employed Ray Rogers, director of Corporate Campaign, Inc., to help her manage her website and spread her story to other campuses.

“We’re trying to put our best foot forward to try to get the university simply to sit down to make sure the issue is resolved, but also to make sure this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” Rogers said.

Mangum said she hopes there is a change in leadership at the university, and she is looking ahead to the future as she recovers.

“I haven’t yet decided to pursue a lawsuit. At some point in time I will do that, but right now I’m more about promoting what’s going on in order to change the system,” Mangum said.

Although White said that he prefers not to get involved with “unpleasant things,” he said that, as an administrator, he sometimes cannot avoid certain issues. When asked if he would ever read the website, White said that he may have to.

“If I’m involved in some sort of procedure where that becomes appropriate to familiarize myself, then I would obviously,” White said.

White said that he genuinely wishes Mangum the best.