Brian Carroll, campus president at Vatterott College in Kansas City had a human decision to make. A student of the school was homeless and had no where to sleep on a night with freezing temperature. Carroll decided to let the young man who is also schizophrenic sleep the night at the library. For that, Vatterott (one of our growing number of for-profit schools) fired him, according to Carroll. The young man did not steal anything or damage anything. Vatterott reportedly fired the president for allowing him to come in from the cold.
To make matters worse, the student had run out of his medication.
The decision by Carroll was prompted by record cold temperatures of four degree below zero. He said it was a tough choice but “I just didn’t want to take the chance.”
A vice president for the college, Paul Ferrise, affirmed that it was his act of kindness that doomed Carroll: “Mr. Carroll had a range of options available to him to help the student. He made a bad decision.” Here is the vice president announcing the decision to the employees of Vatterott:
Of course, Carroll made a good decision as a human, just not at the ideal profit-driver Vatterott employee.
I can understand the school’s concern and even the possibility of a reprimand for taking the risk as opposed to another alternative. However, to terminate an employee for an act of kindness sounds . . . well like a school that is premised on making profits rather than educated persons.
Vatterott advertises “Better Skills For A Better Life.” It appears that one of those skills is to divest yourself of any semblance of humanity and focus entirely on making money at all costs.
Clearly out technology has surpassed our humanity. Close to A Einstein’s quote. Clearly our humanity is disappearing by itself. It will not get better. Uncontrolled exponential population expansion + opioids and meth will bring us down. By the time we realize this it will be too late. Coupled with external threats, this society is in danger of going the way of Nero’s Rome. Sad.
Your comment reminded me of this article I read this morning. We are clearly on a negative trajectory as we continue to redefine what is acceptable or “normal”. And now when we have two candidates rise out of the ashes of this new normal to become President, all of a sudden this behavior is unacceptable. Will we ever learn that moral absolutes are necessary in a free society?
http://thefederalist.com/2017/01/18/progressives-destroyed-normalcy-shocked-trump-isnt-normal/?utm_source=The+Federalist+List&utm_campaign=61d3e72d06-RSS_The_Federalist_Daily_Updates_w_Transom&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cfcb868ceb-61d3e72d06-79248369
You and every God-forsaken “population control” sycophant exhibit the most pure form of hypocrisy. Go kill yourself right now, or shut your hypocritical mouth (AKA keyboard). Population control starts with eradicating the earth of all persons who endorse and/or repeat the philosophy.
People who go into trades are often more employable than those with BAs/BSs. And certain jobs cannot be outsourced – plumbing, culinary, HVAC, welding, auto mechanic, radiology / pharm techs, etc. Not everyone needs or wants to go to university.
Homelesness is a major issue today, where people are trying to improve themselves.
Knowing that, are colleges (or trade schools) dealing with it. I suspect not.
Just checked out their programs – it is a trade school. Probably like DeVry etc. where the students get in debt to attend but the training is not accredidated so they can’t find jobs. Students pursuing trades are better off at community / technical colleges which are legitimate and there is some accountability.
These private equity firms are wreaking havoc all across the nation. Profit before people and performance.
No clue why anyone bothers with these commercial schools. Enrollment at community colleges is immense, they have a huge smorgasbord of offerings, and 90% of their students are commuters. If these commercial schools get your contact information, it’s a long while before they quit hitting you with hard sells. I think ‘University of Phoenix’ has undertaken some innovations in service delivery (e.g. the academic calendar) which other schools should copy. The rest of these places just seem like excuses to employ marketing professionals.
Bad optics for sure, revealing, at least of that particular place, apparently. The question hangs in the air (no matter if unfair or not) is this insensitivity to the human element a trajectory all profit seeking places of education (and??) gravitate toward? Not as an absolute; but rather, as an irritating likelihood, like the mass of a larger planet attracting comets?
The question that hangs in the air is why the people who run this outfit make (episodically) really bad business decisions. Why would you contest in superior court (indubitably over the objections of counsel) a $27,000 claim when you had a bad case? They did. Why would you fire a senior administrator over a courtesy which cost the company nothing? They did. Why would senior executives be spinning their wheels reviewing security tapes?
Here’s a suggestion: a subordinate of the dismissed administrator knows (perhaps the named fellow Ferrise) knows perfectly well the character of the people he works for and grassed up his superior to the higher ups in order to get him out of the way of a promotion. The higher ups fired the guy because that’s what they do.
I’ll take a stab: Because human nature is the same today as it was when man first walked this planet. These stories are shocking to many, but in a culture where morality is increasingly relative, we reap what we sow.
Uh, no. Most people have the sense not to shoot themselves in the foot. These people are not merely self-interested. They’re pathological on a whole other level.
“Vatterott advertises ‘Better Skills For A Better Life.’ It appears that one of those skills is to divest yourself of any semblance of humanity and focus entirely on making money at all costs.”
Vatterott’s product, however, is an ever-ready corporate employee, and I’d bet the house that the CIA has recruiters there.
Steve, mercenaries in the making? =)
If there was no damage, and it was a one-time thing, and it was 4 below, what’s the big deal? He made a judgement call, and it turned out ok except for his own fate. How would people feel if the student froze to death? (Probably some would be fine with it, sadly.) I can see the headline: “For-Profit College Lets Homeless Student Freeze to Death.” Maybe they’d prefer that publicity.
If you have a kid going to that dump then tell him/her one thing: Pull out now like your father should have.
Just goes to show that “no good deed goes unpunished”. Are we so far away from the Christian values of the past that this guy has to lose his job over this decision? While it may not have been the best decision, it was an act of kindness and certainly shouldn’t have meant losing his job. It is bewildering to me what the mindset was in firing the guy. Sheesh!! Let’s just set an example to students that the more hard hearted the better for your future. Do we not have enough examples of that type of behavior already? This is so wrong in so many ways. I am sad…..
No good deed goes unpunished.
I was first. 🙂
Indeed, I took to long to hit send.
I’ve been trying extra hard to proof read my comments. Screw ups on simple things are really embarrassing especially if I have NOT been drinking.
Roscoe – I have been working a little harder on proof reading myself. Not sure if that makes you feel any better. 😉
No good deed goes unpunished.
This business was collared in 2009 for scamming the federal loan guarantee program and then went to trial in 2014 in a lawsuit filed by a disgruntled customer. The jury handed their ass to them in a punitive damage award. An appeals court reduced the award, but they still got hit with a $2,000,000 charge (plus their legal costs) for scamming a woman of $27,000.
It’s a reasonable wager that it’s run by people who are (a) unscrupulous and (b) stubborn ***holes. The company is also very careful not to publish the names of senior executives on its site. The only thing that’s going to fix this company is if the private equity firm that owns it fires the top three echelons there and starts over. (Of course, the big-swinging-dicks at the private equity firm may be the source of the trouble).
Nice follow up on Turley’s link and (your own?) research.
Boycott Vatteroff. The more publicity like this the greater the benefit to society, getting rid of corporate animals like the idiots that terminated the President for taking care of someone. Apparently the kid was a student. Perhaps the corporation’s insurance dictates that it is cheaper to let a kid freeze to death outside than to have anything happen to him inside.
“Eradicate through the law”
That’s your power trip.
Olly, this is one cheesy firm. It may not have been founded in that spirit, but that’s what it is now.
This story makes no sense. JT has put forth no evidence that the motivation of the firing was for profit.
Except for quoting the vice president of the college and providing a link.
“Carroll says it came down to money, and Vatterott officials fired him for putting their equipment and building at risk.”
I have no doubt this quote from Carroll reflects what he was told by the VP but I still do not see the quote from the VP that says it was a profit motive. The VP said: “Mr. Carroll had a range of options available to him to help the student. He made a bad decision,” I don’t know how having compassion should be a firing offense It would be good to know what this VP believes to have been the range of options. Perhaps Carroll should turn the VP’s comment around on him and tell him instead of termination, he has a range of options available. Carrolls “bad decision” was topped by the VP’s.
How many here denouncing the school’s actions would open our borders to the compassionate argument?
Olly, use your little search function to locate ‘Paul Ferrise’
“Except for quoting the vice president of the college and providing a link.”
Which is it, the article provided the quote and link, or that I need to go find it using my “little search function”?
You’ll find the quote and the link with the search function.
Not for profit. This company has a history of injuring itself financially derived from the arrogance of its top management. Who goes to trial in superior court to defend their franchise to scam people out of five-figure sums? Instead, they got hit with a seven-digit punitive damage award.
Now we know why we’ve never heard of this Vatteroff “college.”
Troubling. Shocking.
I can only think, these are the generations that have never heard the story from God’s Word of the ‘Good Samaritan’.
It would have been the best possible decision if homeless shelters and psych wards were unavailable. It was below zero in my home town last week and the local public library was packed with homeless folks.
Why didn’t he invite him into his own home? Was this a young man or older guy? How severe was his medical condition? Far too many questions are still unanswered. I doubt the board would fire the president for an act like this (knowing the PR nightmare in today’s times). I’d love to hear both side of this interesting story
It’s a subsidiary of a private equity firm. There is no board. The company has been collared by regulators and civil courts twice in seven years for grossly unethical conduct. The names of their senior executives are not published on their site. It’s a reasonable wager that the culture of the top management consists of variations on a theme of “**** you, sucker”.
Seriously? Invite a schizophrenic, who is no longer on his meds, to come, sleep, overnight, in his home, with his wife and kids? You must be kidding. Just because one has a big heart does not equate with having no judgment or common sense. He need not place himself, or his loved ones, in any danger to simply do the right and correct thing. As President of the school and making, what I assume to be a tidy salary, he could have easily–easily–shelled out a few bucks, from his own pocket, and acquired a room at a modestly priced, local motel for the night, arranging for access to more permanent accommodations for this individual the next day. The library isn’t a flop house. It’s a library, and it’s not suited to house or accommodate those who wish to utilize it as a shelter. Stating that fact doesn’t make one heartless. It is also irrelevant as to whether it is a for profit institution. The cheap b@$tard should have been willing to shell out a few bucks to assist this guy for one night.
Seriously? Invite a schizophrenic, who is no longer on his meds, to come, sleep, overnight, in his home, with his wife and kids? You must be kidding.
Very unlikely to be dangerous.
We have a commenter here, David Miller, who invites homeless people to stay @ his home routinely. He is set up to do so.