A deeper look into what went on between Kevin Morrissey and the Virginia Quarterly Review

Charlottesville weekly The Hook investigates further into the Kevin Morrissey tragedy with an in-depth feature called "Tale of Woe." The story looks into the perilous financial situation at the literary journal, the workplace bullying accusations against editor Ted Genoways, and the various instances of conflicting interests and mismanagement leading up to Morrissey's death:

The last week of Morrissey’s life, HR officials informed VQR staff that they would invite in a mediator. Days before Morrissey’s death, one staff member allegedly informed an HR official that staff “feared that Kevin was suicidal.” And, according to someone close to Morrissey, during a lunch with an official from the president’s office on the Tuesday before he died, the exiled managing editor broke down and cried. According to another source, UVA’s Director of faculty and staff employee relations, Alan Cohn, told a staff member that he realized the situation called for “immediate intervention,” but added that, “it may take some time.”

On Wednesday, July 28, two days before Morrissey’s suicide, sources say that the president’s chief of staff Rivers finally informed VQR staff that “it would stop.” Apparently, she also pleaded with [Waldo] Jaquith to remain on board, but to no avail, as Jaquith had by then accepted a job at the Miller Center. (In the wake of Morrissey’s death, however, he agreed to help complete the fall issue.)

Sources say the staff, convinced that something was finally going to be done, expressed relief. Everyone except Morrissey. According to a source, he seemed glum, and when asked what the matter was, the response was simple: “When Ted retaliates for all this, it will come down on me.”

Read the whole story at The Hook.