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“raised questions about the uni- versity’s response to employees’ concerns about the workplace cli- mate” at the journal. She an- nounced “a thorough review,” led by Barbara Deily, the university’s chief audit executive, with a Sept. 30 deadline. University officials said there is no criminal investi- gation.
‘He asked for help’ Morrissey died on a momen-
tous day. July 30 was the last offi- cial work day of John T. Casteen III, the 20-year president of U-Va. The magazine and its top editor had reported directly to the presi- dent. That would end with Cas- teen’s exit, and the future of the Review and its six-person staff lay in question. That morning, Morrissey
walked from his Charlottesville condominium to a nearby coal tower that is an industrial land- mark. He called 911 to report gun- fire. Then he shot himself. His siblings and some col- leagues portray the cluttered of- fices of the Review as the scene of a tragic workplace drama. Geno- ways was hired as an artist, not as a manager. Some say he managed badly, alternately distancing him- self from his staff and harassing them with abrasive e-mails. Kevin Morrissey “was the pri-
mary target,” said Maria Morris- sey, “and the one least able to deal with it,” because of a lifelong bat- tle with depression. She and most of the staff cast the university as a negligent employer, unable to break a cycle of verbal harass- ment. Kevin Morrissey placed at least 11 telephone calls to U-Va. officials in the final two weeks of his life, phone records show. Two colleagues said they had told ad- ministrators they feared for Mor- rissey’s well-being. “Nobody killed Kevin but him-
self,” said a journal staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisal. “But there are many people who could have helped. And he asked for help.” Genoways has made little pub- lic comment. In a private e-mail to friends, two days after Morris- sey’s death, the editor acknowl- edged a “poisonous” tension in- side the journal in recent weeks. He mostly blamed Morrissey, an old friend who, he said, had “cut himself off” and withdrawn into a brooding private space as his depression darkened. Much of the staff sided with Morrissey, Genoways said, even as his work product and professional de- meanor declined.
“I feel unspeakably saddened
by Kevin’s death,” he wrote in the e-mail, obtained by The Post, “but I do not feel responsible.” His lawyer, Lloyd Snook of
Charlottesville, said there is scant evidence to support a claim that Morrissey was bullied to death. “There were basically no com- plaints to Ted or about Ted to the university” until this spring, Snook said. Genoways and Mor- rissey communicated mostly by e-mail toward the end, Snook said, and “the e-mails I’ve seen don’t seem to be particularly nas-
ty.” Snook said that July 30, the day
of Morrissey’s death, was the un- official deadline for him and the journal staff to hand over ac- counting and personnel records, part of what Casteen called “a quiet and orderly transfer” of the magazine from the president’s of- fice to another university depart- ment. In a May 21 e-mail to Geno-
ways, Casteen wrote that the in- coming president “expects me to leave a blank desk for her.” University officials say there was no such deadline. They have closed the offices of
the Review, founded in 1925 and housed in a campus building de- signed by Thomas Jefferson, pending the outcome of the in- vestigation. The fall issue is in
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA NEWS SERVICE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
production. Most of the staff have had their names removed from the masthead, angry that the uni- versity chose to publish the proofs submitted by Genoways. University officials say the issue will include elements from both of the competing submissions. “The university decided that it was in the best interests of the VQR staff for them to be able to take a much-needed break once the fall issue had been sent to the printer last Thursday,” said uni- versity spokeswoman Carol Wood. “The goal is to give them the time they feel they need.” Wood said the closure is tem-
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porary. Sullivan, she said, “sees great value” in carrying on with the journal.
Success, then tension
Genoways and Morrissey be- came friends in 2000, when they met at the obscure Minnesota Historical Society Press. Geno- ways had penned several slim chapbooks of poetry and was bound for national recognition. Morrissey lacked a college degree but was hardworking and in- telligent; he had scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT. The ascendant poet took over the literary journal in 2003, at 31, hired by a search committee to raise the Review’s currency. He hired Morrissey a year later. The meticulous deputy had the tools to realize Genoways’s vision. To- gether they expanded the journal from poetry and short stories into progressive politics, cover- ing the war in Iraq and drug car- tels in Mexico, adding graphics and comics and attracting such noted authors as Joyce Carol Oates and Isabel Allende. In 2006, the 3,500-circulation publi- cation earned two National Magazine Awards. By 2009, the journal’s budget had swelled to more than $500,000 and Genoways’s salary reached $134,000. The Review was Casteen’s “baby,” one employee said. Its as-
“I feel unspeakably saddened by Kevin’s death, but I do not feel
responsible.” — Virginia Quarterly Review Editor Ted Genoways, in an e-mail to friends
and leaving Morrissey to run the office. Morrissey, though single and out of touch with his family, became close to his journal col- leagues. Last winter, the office climate began to sour. Casteen was leav- ing, and there was no telling how the pampered publication would fare under his replacement. Ge- noways had spent heavily to build up the journal, drawing down one investment fund from $800,000 to $204,000 to cover hefty article fees and interna- tional travel.
One colleague said Genoways
trained much of his angst on Morrissey, shouting at him be- hind closed doors, subjecting him to a daily pattern of “insidious ha- rassment, undermining, casual erasure of the person.” Genoways made a fateful deci-
sion. He hired Alana Levinson- LaBrosse, 24, a U-Va. graduate
might be suffering from post- traumatic stress, colleagues said. Minturn could not be reached for comment for this story. Another missive went to Mor-
rissey, taking the managing edi- tor to task for a perceived lapse in management. A Mexican newspaper editor with ties to the journal had sent a note saying he had been beaten and his family threatened — al- though his e-mail did not specifi- cally ask for help. Morrissey had forwarded the note to Genoways nine days later. Genoways asked Morrissey,
“Why did it take you ten days to forward a message from someone asking our assistance with saving his life?” Genoways sent the message at
9:47 a.m. Within two hours, Mor- rissey had set out for the coal tower.
devised@washpost.com
cent brought acclaim to U-Va. from the literary establishment. Genoways had even arranged for the 2009 publication of a book of poems by Casteen’s son, John Casteen IV, as part of a poetry se- ries. (University officials said that the elder Casteen was traveling and unavailable for comment for this report.) Working at the journal was
“the best job I ever had in the world,” said Sheila McMillen, its associate editor. “We were all in- credibly happy.” The staff was happy in part be- cause Genoways had put his managing editor in charge. Geno- ways often worked from home or the road, tending to his authors
FAMILY PHOTO
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010
WHAT’S NEXT?Kevin Morrissey questioned his future at the Virginia Quarterly Review after his relationship soured with his boss. He placed at least 11 telephone calls to U-Va. officials in the two weeks prior to his July 30 suicide. U-Va.’s president has ordered an inquiry into its response to employees’ concerns about the workplace climate at the literary journal.
from a wealthy Silicon Valley family who had given $1.5 mil- lion to the university’s Young Writers Workshop. Though she started as a volunteer, Levinson- LaBrosse was put on the mast- head and given space in Geno- ways’s office, where she effective- ly supplanted Morrissey as his deputy. Together they began fish- ing for new funding sources and seeking a new home within the university for the magazine after Casteen.
Colleagues bristled at the new-
comer, who now seemed the only Review employee with Geno- ways’s ear. The top editor was away more than ever, off on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Walt Whitman. Morrissey and some of his colleagues perceived the young fundraiser acting as li- aison to senior university offi- cials, marshaling sensitive data “and, to some extent, giving or- ders,” Snook said. “There is no question that her coming gave a lot of people heart- burn,” he said. “My own belief was that they were treating Alana as Ted’s spy.”
Nowhere to go Resentment peaked at a July 14
staff meeting. Levinson-LaBrosse told colleagues she would be meeting with a senior university official about the magazine’s fu- ture. Sources say Waldo Jaquith, the online editor, challenged her: “Don’t you think Kevin should be there?” He sarcastically offered to chip in gas money so the benched managing editor could join the trip. Levinson-LaBrosse offered no comment on the incident, except to say that meeting they dis- cussed was merely “logistical” in nature. Jaquith has declined to com- ment, saying he had been crit- icized after speaking against Ge- noways on NBC’s “Today” show. On that Aug. 23 broadcast, Ja- quith said, “Ted’s treatment of Kevin in the last two weeks of his life was just egregious, and it just ate Kevin up.” A few days after the meeting,
Genoways informed Jaquith and Morrissey by e-mail that they had committed “unacceptable work- place behavior.” He ordered them to vacate the journal offices for a week and not to speak to their colleagues.
“If you are already at VQR of-
fice,” Genoways wrote, “leave im- mediately and do not return to the office until July 26.” Morrissey felt isolated and anx- ious, his sister said. He prepared a letter of resignation. But as a 52- year-old man with an esoteric lit- erary job and no college degree, he felt he had nowhere to go. Morrissey placed calls to the uni- versity president’s office, its om- budsman and the faculty and staff relations office to complain about Genoways, Maria Morris- sey said. Telephone records con- firm at least 11 such calls. Genoways called meetings with Morrissey and Jaquith on July 26, a Monday. The presi- dent’s chief of staff sat in. Jaquith resigned on the spot. Genoways was later admonished for exiling the two men and ordered not to retaliate, a belated concession to Morrissey’s fears.
But by the end of the week, Ge-
noways had sent officious e-mails to at least two Review employees. One, associate editor Molly Min- turn, went to the president’s of- fice in tears and was told she
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