Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

In the current Hook is one of the longest articles that I recall them publishing: Dave McNair’s investigation into the suicide of VQR’s Kevin Morrissey. There’s a lot more information, and better sourced information, than in the Chronicle of Higher Education piece, published last week. Perhaps the most interesting revelation in the article is that there was a 32-year veteran of the UVA-published magazine who says she was forced out by editor Ted Genoways in 2005; after she filed a harassment complaint against him, the university gave her a severance package. She calls Genoways “a danger” who “should not be in charge of other people.”

Obligatory disclaimer: I work for VQR, I’ve accepted a new job elsewhere at the university, this is super awkward to write about, and I’ve lost all perspective as to when I should write about this on cvillenews.com and when I shouldn’t. Based on the explosion of comments on The Hook’s site this afternoon and evening, though, it looks like people are still pretty interested.

The story of the death of VQR Managing Editor Kevin Morrissey two weeks ago has become a topic of great interest. The Chronicle of Higher Education today features a weighty investigative piece entitled “What Killed Kevin Morrissey?”. Author Robin Wilson repeats claims that magazine editor Ted Genoways is rarely at work, that he has left his staff completing much of his duties, and that years of bullying Morrissey culminated in the employee’s suicide. (Genoways denies the charges.) And over at C-Ville Weekly, Brendan Fitzgerald updates his coverage with basically a whole new layer of the story, reporting that Genoways is now directing inquiries to an attorney.

I must again point out that I am one of the four people on the staff of VQR working for Genoways, and that it remains awfully uncomfortable for me to write about this here. Based on the sheer volume of press inquiries I’ve been getting from local and national media outlets in the past two weeks, we can expect to see quite a bit more coverage of this story in the days ahead.