SocraticGadfly: Employment ethics issues at CFI?

February 05, 2011

Employment ethics issues at CFI?

The Center for Inquiry has hired a communications director, a position for which I applied when it was listed — four months ago!

That said, I am guessing Michelle Blackley was hired to work part-time at best, volunteer, or semi-volunteer, at worst, which was NOT mentioned in the job advertisement.

Why do I say that?

This is why:
After a decade of working in publicity for the book publishing industry in New York City and western Massachusetts, she returned to her hometown to develop her own public relations firm. ...

Blackley is also an adjunct instructor of communication at Buffalo State College, and her essay “Part-time Teaching Is a Full-time Job” was published in My First Year in the Classroom (Adams Media).

In the Western New York community, Blackley is active with the Buffalo Junior Chamber of Commerce and volunteers as a grant writer with the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation. A self-proclaimed foodie, she also bakes for Hospice Buffalo and writes about the local food movement in Western New York for Edible Buffalo and the blog CityGirlCountry.
First, unless she's giving something up, she doesn't have the time to do the CFI job full time.

Second, because she's doing the other work, I bet CFI saw her as an easy PT hire.

Third, she may be trying to leverage this into more work for her PR firm. Good luck there.

Assuming I'm right, why couldn't CFI have told us this up front?

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