Thanks for the responses. These people are impossible to predict... because they're irrational. I have a clear Communication Plan mapped out with defined deadlines and all I can do is meet those deadlines. I'm tired of them changing horses in mid-stream and coming up with ridiculous, unreasonable ideas. I have so many other obligations apart from this one event. I ghost-write everything for the President and his work must come first. I'm also in the process of interviewing designers for an upcoming project as well as writing and editing a magazine and being on call to speak to the media on behalf of the university. I don't have time for unnecessary, ridiculous interruptions.

I told my boss that I will not tolerate that kind of abuse. I told her that I will take my orders from HER; not from THEM. My colleague and I also told the HR Director the same thing and she agreed with us. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it other than create a file about it and offer sympathy. The university has an anti-bullying policy regarding staff and faculty, but nothing on the books regarding volunteers. She is working on getting new policy written and enacted because of this situation. She has apologized to me that I have been thrown into such an unacceptable situation so early in my new job.

Officially, my boss has final say on everything regarding the event. The event is by and for the university and the volunteers are supposed to be working FOR the university; not giving orders to university staff. They are supposed to be contributors, not managers. For some reason my boss often has chosen not to exercise her authority. She will tell me or one of my colleagues to do one thing, we'll do it, and then one of the co-chairs will decide we should have done something else and my boss will agree with them. She is letting them treat her like a doormat and I have let her know that they don't have permission to treat me that way. She actually allowed one of the co-chairs to scream and yell at her for an hour one day in the office. Everyone in my department (including me) got up and left the building because we didn't want to listen to it. It's an outrageous situation. Some of the things they have done are jeopardizing our fundraising potential. If they're allowed to continue in this manner, we could end up LOSING money on this event... and it's our major fundraiser for the year.

At least it's only two more weeks...