SMU (Southern Methodist University) reviews

Where to begin... SMU has been extremely cruel, callous, and the president and VP's have zero regard for their employees, and only care about their image. SMU is like a toxic corporate culture, except with none of the benefits/higher pay. SMU has intentionally worked against employees during this pandemic. They have no exceptions to working from home, not even high-risk. Dr. Turner has said that high risk individuals do not have reason to work from home full time (from experience, they have made it extremely difficult for anyone to have accommodations. The process is long with little privacy, and they end up rejecting you anyways, even with doctors notes). Parents who need to be home because their kids schools aren't opening have been rejected from working at home under any curcumstance. Single parents are having to choose between taking unpaid leave because they don't have anywhere for their kids without school or to go to work and leave young children home alone. The world is very stressful right now, and SMU has not only made no attempt to be there for workers, but has actively worked against them. I was realy rooting for SMU to do the right thing, but they forced employees back when everyone voiced their concerns and how uncomfortable they would be returning. Employees have had multiple petitions going around and even made it on the news. SMU also forces their employees to use their own sick days if they get COVID! They make it nearly impossible for workers with health conditions to continue working from home, and only began informing staff of cases on campus when the news station published an article about it. They do not enforce symptoms to be reported, only you "should" and do not take temps before entering. They have zero compassion for those who have lost family members to this pandemic and have been effected by it in various ways. Many of our staffs' significant others lost their jobs and during departmental staff meetings, they were encouraging us to donate our bonuses to the university (NOT the student emergency fund). They also increased the parking costs for staff/faculty members. SMU is a part of this communicty. How can they say that emplyoee health is their top concern when they're forcing those who are trying to remain at home to choose between coming to work during a pandemic, or quit their jobs because they can't risk getting infected. Actions speak louder than words and SMU fails their employees when they don't listen to their needs. SMU won't allow staff who have fears of coming in and are uncomfortable exposing themselves to work from home causing mental illnesses to increase. Multiple staff members have cited depression and anxiety worsening due to SMU. SMU also FALSELY quoted a survey saying that students are having worse mental health due to online classes (when you research the study, the mental illness increase is due to other factors during the pandemic and no where states that online classes were the cause). They aren't actually concerned with mental health, or they would have addressed their own emplyoees cries for help. The president has said that the staff returning to campus would help them determine their needs for the fall. Are we honestly just the guinea pigs for them? For such little pay and jobs that can be remotely completed, this is a horrible way to treat employees. My piece of advice: read the Daily Campus editorials by staff and faculty on the COVID response.

You have to pay something like 25 bucks a month to park. I don't think the pay is competitive compared to other universities in the area. They also tout this great healthcare that has an extremely high deductible so I do not use it. There is an "old white male" feel, especially in some schools. Here's the problem, the faculty staff divide. I was told about it but didn't believe a place on such a pedestal could have such a culture problem. It's making me question just how long I want to be apart of it. The staff is very obviously treated differently than staff and staff is made to feel on the back burner.