REGARDING THE EXHIBITIONS AT THE WAREHOUSE GALLERY (Suparak)

During the hiring process for the position of Director of Arts Programming in May 2006, I submitted several pages of curated, group exhibition proposals that detailed the ideas, issues, and artists that I wished to work with. These exhibition proposals, along with my curatorial history, resume, and website, were reviewed and discussed during the hiring process. The overall response from the hiring committee to my exhibition proposals was that they were integral to the eight-person committee's unanimous decision to hire me. All of the exhibitions I curated for the gallery were drawn from this original list. I clearly expressed the direction I wanted to take this new organization, which I named The Warehouse Gallery, and the exhibitions that I would organize there. I fulfilled what I set out to do. Mr. Hoone recently stated to a journalist that my programming was a reason for my dismissal (this after weeks of claiming I was laid off for "organizational restructuring", and then for "confidential personnel issue"), although it is this same programming that was a major factor in my hiring.

After I included artist duo and Syracuse University Transmedia faculty members Duke and Battersby in the Faux Naturel group exhibition (which was reviewed in a major international art magazine and toured to a Canadian university), Mr. Hoone mandated that The Warehouse Gallery would no longer include Syracuse University faculty or student work.

Mr. Hoone also stated a desire for solo exhibitions. I explained that I wanted to spend the inaugural year developing and refining the new organization's operation and exhibition procedures, hiring staff, and building the gallery's reputation before approaching accomplished and emerging artists for solo shows. Also, many established artists are booked years in advance. Over the course of my first year, I began correspondence with several prominent artists about solo exhibitions. On July 1, 2007, six out of eight exhibitions that I proposed for the next two years were solo shows, featuring Paul Chan, Natalie Jeremijenko, Nina Katchadourian, Walid Raad and the Yes Men, among others. These exhibitions would have fulfilled the gallery's mission by "illuminating the critical issues of our life and times," including social justice, corporate inhumanity, cultural identity, environmental contamination, militarization, and systems of language and organization. Mr. Hoone expressed personal disinterest in many of the artists I proposed, and described these proposals as "too dense" and too similar, implying they were overly complex and academic. This response contradicted his earlier criticism that the previous exhibitions were "more style than substance." According to visitor testimonials and press reviews, most would disagree with his opinion.

When asked for a written statement clarifying the reasons for my layoff and the cancellation of the first-ever solo exhibition by internationally-acclaimed, anti-corporate artists the Yes Men, Mr. Hoone responded by saying he "determined that there was not enough continuity to effectively proceed with the Yes Men exhibition at this time." Within hours, Mr. Hoone asked for all of my correspondence and exhibition plans with the Yes Men. That is, in the face of mounting faculty pressure in support of my curatorial practice and the Yes Men exhibition, Mr. Hoone backtracked on his decision to cancel my Yes Men exhibition and attempted to continue the show without my involvement. The Yes Men, whose work focuses on social injustice and corporate malpractice, refused Hoone's turncoat overture to exhibit without my participation. They stated that they didn't trust Mr. Hoone or his organization. Furthermore, Mr. Hoone mislead people about the exhibition's cancellation, by blaming me, and then the artists, for what was his initial decision.

When Mr. Hoone laid me off, I had to personally contact all of the artists with whom I had been making exhibition plans for the next two years to tell them that the shows were cancelled, which was extremely distressing. This not only compromised my integrity as a curator, but also the integrity and reputations of the gallery, CMAC, and Syracuse University.

REGARDING THE HUMAN RESOURCES PROCESS AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY (Suparak)

I was never given a formal, first, or final warning indicating that my job at The Warehouse Gallery was in jeopardy.

In March 2007, Mr. Hoone asked me to resign, weeks prior to the University-wide performance review process. Within days of this request, Mr. Hoone left on an unexplained, (in his words) "sudden" Leave of Absence, with instructions that he was not to be contacted. Ms. Patricia Tassini, Assistant Director of Employment Practices and Equal Employment Opportunities at the Human Resources Department of Syracuse University, expressed surprise over Mr. Hoone's request for my resignation, as there was nothing in my personnel file indicating a problem. She implied to me that the proper H.R. procedure had not been followed. Ms. Tassini advised me via phone to continue working as if the conversation with Mr. Hoone never occurred. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Tom Walsh, Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement in the Chancellor's Cabinet, contacted me via phone to ensure that I would continue working on the next exhibition I programmed at the gallery, which he understood to be important for the University. This exhibition was Networked Nature, organized by Rhizome at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City.

Following this unexpected turn of events, I contacted the members of my hiring committee. One by one, each expressed shock over Mr. Hoone's decision to dismiss me. They all felt my work at the gallery was successful and in lockstep with what I proposed during the hiring process. It appears that Mr. Hoone did not discuss my performance or his decision with Mr. Frank Olive, my Assistant Director, a person I hired and worked closely with, or the eight members of the hiring committee that moved me from Montreal to Syracuse for the inaugural position of Director.

After Mr. Hoone returned from a month-long Leave of Absence in April, I had one meeting with him and Ms. Tassini from Human Resources, during which his request for my resignation was never acknowledged, discussed, or explained. Based on conversations with Ms. Tassini, I was under the impression that at this meeting we would discuss my performance in accordance to Human Resource's review process and a set of goals would be created together. I was led to believe that Mr. Hoone's request for resignation was off the record and without due process. One of the goals given to me by Mr. Hoone was to program the next year of exhibitions, with budgets, within seven weeks. Two weeks after this meeting, I was assigned a new direct supervisor: Mr. Domenic Iacono, Director of SUArt Galleries. In light of my meeting with Mr. Hoone and Ms. Tassini, the list of goals for the 2007-2008 programming year, and the assignment of a new supervisor, I felt secure in my position for the upcoming exhibition year.

Since I was never given a performance review (although I turned in the documents to begin the process), I was left to assess my own performance according to the success of my work's public reception; invitations for the exhibitions to tour internationally; increased attendance for each exhibition (reaching over 4,000 for Come On); and the growing press attention, including consistently positive reviews in the local media and in international contemporary art publications. Attributing to my confidence that I was on the right performance track were the requests that I received to serve on juries for a state arts council and a local art competition; as a recommender for two major national arts grants; as a panelist for final MFA reviews at a highly-respected institution; as an advisory board member for a National Museum's film festival; and as a thesis committee member for a MFA student at Syracuse University; as well as the growing partnerships I had built with various departments at Syracuse University and community businesses and organizations.

With less than a day's notice, Mr. Hoone scheduled a meeting with me for September 7, 2007. At this impromptu meeting, Mr. Hoone stated that he was laying me off. He did not give a clear reason for this, nor was my direct supervisor present. Mr. Hoone expressed concern about the gallery's direction. When I asked what direction he wanted for the gallery, he answered: the same direction it was always going in. This answer was confusing to me. Then I asked what was going to happen with the next exhibition with the Yes Men, scheduled to open two months later. Mr. Hoone told me this exhibition wasn't going to happen. I was responsible for notifying the artists and the many professors in various departments who invested financially and pedagogically in this exhibition, included it in their curricula, and scheduled class visits.

In October I visited the Office of Human Resources at Syracuse University to review my personnel file. The file contained only six documents: four were standard new employee documents (regarding health benefits, etc.), one was a letter from Human Resources confirming my layoff, dated September 25, 2007, and one was an undated and unsigned list of goals for 2007-2008. At that time, Ms. Curlene Autrey, Director of Diversity and Resolution Processes at Human Resources, informed me that if an employee is let go because of a performance or personnel issue, the employee should first receive a performance review indicating the problem, or a letter clearly stating that if s/he fails to meet a set of criteria the result would be termination. I never received any such documents. My personnel file indicated no reason for my layoff, and contained no performance review, no complaints, and no warning. This indicates a lack of performance and personnel-related issues, and an avoidance of proper Human Resources procedures, highly contrasting the explanation widely distributed by S.U. administration including Chancellor Nancy Cantor, that my dismissal was based on "confidential personnel issues."