"Throughout my tenure in academia, my focus has always been the students first," said former USF regional chancellor Sophia Wisniewska in her article she submitted to the tampa bay times. Sophia Wisniewska resigned from her position as regional chancellor following her evacuation to Atlanta, Georgia before Hurricane Irma struck Tampa Bay.
Wisniewska lied to her boss, the System President Judy Genshaft, saying that the university was locked down and secure before Hurricane Irma came through Tampa Bay on Sunday night. In response to her email, the postscript acknowledges that she was in Atlanta.
Wisniewska's actions to leave the school before getting ready for Irma resulted in a hearing to remove her from the campus. In the hearing, Sophia Wisniewska had two options - she could be fired and leave the campus post-haste, or she could resign from her chancellor position and still be able to teach on the campus until May 2018.
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"As a relative newcomer to Florida, Irma was my very first hurricane experience, and my instinct was to act with an overabundance of caution," Wisniewska wrote in her article. Before hearing that Wisniewska left the state, Judy Genshaft decided to write a termination letter stating that Wisniewska's actions put several students in jeopardy and created an irreversible safety risk.
"I was disappointed when USF President Judy Genshaft countermanded the decision," she said in regards to the evacuation attempts at the University of South Florida campus prior to Irma reaching Florida a week ago. Wisniewska states that she wanted the campus evacuated, but Genshaft said to her that evacuations had not been called in Saint Petersburg.
Once Irma's track shifted, Genshaft hoped that Wisniewska would respond in closing the dorms and evacuating the remaining students out of the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg campus. Instead, she pushed back the idea. "The issue here is not the legal authority; it is leadership competence in an emergency situation," Genshaft added to the email to Wisniewska.
In the resignation of Sophia Wisniewska, neither Wisniewska nor the University of South Florida alleges any wrongs that happened during the impact of Irma. She will be removed from campus as the regional chancellor but has a tenure agreement to teach. Her classroom will be offered as an online course. Wisniewska is expected to make tenured pay until May 2018, to which she will be officially removed from the faculty listing on the USF campus.
"I realize that some may disagree with my decision to leave," Wisniewska said," But my departure never put our students in danger."
