I am intimate about the affairs at CNA-Q. Currently, I don't think the atmosphere is poisonous. But I have been working in the Gulf at many similar companies and have heard worse things. So I'm low maintenance and happy with most things (or, my expectations are quite low). Not much can bug me (unless I am fired by the company) But other employees may feet irate.

The survey and the CBC News story sound dated. It sounds like they are describing the atmosphere before a certain troublesome and unqualified dean was fired last Spring. She created a lot of poison that sounds like what the confidential survey and CBC is talking about: irrational decisions, unequal treatment, turf battles, not-sharing info, fear, etc. But she has been gone since the Spring this year. Many CNA-Q employees shared this same feeling: when her name plate came off her office door, it was the same as when the statue fell of Sadam Hussein in Baghdad. Many Iraqis cheered then and many employees cheered now when the dean left our college.

Compared with other colleges? I heard that at Qatar University a Canadian teacher was fired because he criticized the curriculum there too harshly. The curriculum and the way they were teaching it were pretty bad but nobody wanted to admit it. Many others at QU told me afterwards that they were sorry this teacher left b/c he did what a lot of others wanted to do (but were scared to do.)