by Katie Sobalsky
The newest area coordinator hired by the college was recently fired after not showing up to work for two weeks and eventually being found intoxicated in his Ames apartment
Richard Dickson seemed like the perfect fit for the new position. Dean Malloy said that “he just blew everyone away in the interview.” He had worked at Stony Brook School and North Country Community College in New York, and the references he gave spoke well about him. Dickson even had a law degree, and said during the interview that he never wanted to be an attorney and eventually wanted to work as a dean of student life.
Problems with Dickson began when he stopped showing up for work. “He would stick his head in in the morning,” described Malloy, “but then he’d always have some sort of excuse for not coming in.”
Dickson’s role as Area Coordinator was handling discipline cases, so fellow area coordinator Erika Wondolowski established a meeting time with him on a Thursday to show him the process. Dickson never showed up for the meeting, and Dean Malloy said enough was enough, and decided that he had to be fired.
The following day, a Friday, he was served his termination papers by Dean of Student Life, Bill Malloy, Director of Residence Life, Marshall Traverse, Campus Security Officers, Dave Himes and Steven Brown, and Director of Human Resources, Janie Evans. Once inside they found Dickson severely intoxicated. He was given until Sunday by noon to get all of his things out of the apartment.
When Sunday came around and Dickson was still in his Ames apartment at 1:30 p.m., campus security officer, Gary Paolillo went over and found him again intoxicated. According to Malloy, the constable had to come pick Dickson up and drive him to the Grace House in Rutland where he could safely sober up. His brother in law picked up him and eventually helped move his things out of the apartment. He’s now with family and, “hopefully he will make an effort to turn his life around,” said the Dean.
Malloy explained that the hiring commitee began backtracking immediately, calling references that Dickson had not listed. They called supervisors from schools he had worked at, and most of their responses did not match up with what was originally told by references Dickson had provided. These new reports led Malloy to realize that perhaps Dickson was not the same person he had made himself out to be during the interview.
How did Dickson sneak by the radar? Malloy was uncertain what exactly could have been done differently to have avoided the situation. When asked about the hiring process of an area coordinator, Malloy admitted that criminal records are not checked, although they will be from now on.
In fact, the past two area coordinators that the college has hired have not worked out. Before Dickson there was Crystal Vaccerella who ended up resigning after repeated conflicts of interest with many students and Malloy. The Dean said that she had no flexibility when it came to judicial issues and that the students were not happy with her. “She got chased into her apartment one night by a student,” he said, “she was scared.”
As of now, Malloy said that the committee is at it again, looking through about sixteen new resumes. The college has decided to have three area coordinators, Erika Wondolowski is one of them, so the committee is now looking for two new hires. Each area coordinator will have a different focus, one for programming, one for judicial, and one for international students. It is undetermined when the decision will be made.
