Status of Office Staff

Greetings:

It has been a busy week…with meetings on the golf course issue, student
legislative priorities with the alumni group Lobos for Legislation, the
steering committee for the Office of Institutional Diversity, the
Student Fee Review Board…and so I am just catching up on email.

I see that there is concern about the GPSA office staff situation. This
is a crucial issue and I understand that some people are disgruntled. I
definitely accept some of the blame cast my way, but there have been
some misconceptions along the way that only make the issue murkier. Let
me try to set the record straight.
In the Spring of 2006, the GPSA Council passed a resolution calling on
the future GPSA President to hire a 3/4 time staff person for the
office. Part of the rationale for the resolution was that this is how
ASUNM staffs its office. I was not GPSA President at the time.

When I entered the Presidency, I was set to perform this task, but when
I tried to hire that staff person I was informed by Debbie Morris,
Student Activities Director, that I could not because the previous
President and Finance Committee Chair had not funded the position in
their annual budget. So it wasn't until the budget for this year was in
place and red tape cleared that the things were ready to set the wheels
in motion to eventually perform this hire.

Of course hiring somebody through the proper administrative and human
resource channels couldn't take place overnight. Around this same time,
summer semester, all three of the part-time graduate/professional
student office employees left at around the same time. So the office had
to be immediately staffed by getting new graduate/professional student
employment; the formal admin hiring process would not fill the office
quick enough for the summer needs.
There was a graduate student who was actually staying in Albuquerque for
the summer and seeking on campus work, so this graduate student was
hired to make sure the office would remain open all summer. At the time
this person was an acquaintance of mine who had been in a class with me;
this person was not a "close friend". That this person became a friend
is a function of us working in close proximity; not the other way
around. No other person approached me looking for work at the time the
office needed filling. So I reject the notion that somebody was hired
just because they were a friend. And I will not apologize for becoming
friends with people. In fact I was friends with the previous part-time
graduate/professional student employees, but nobody questioned those
friendships (maybe because those people are personally better liked by
the questioners.)

Anyway, the office was sufficiently staffed over the summer, maintaining
regular open office hours for use of the computer lab and conference
room. After the summer ended, the graduate student employee had to cut
down on hours because of classes starting, so we needed to find another
graduate/professional student to help out. One acquaintance of mine who
is active in community affairs approached me about part-time employment
to supplement his graduate assistantship, so I brought that person on to
make sure the office would be open full hours all week. Again, no other
person approached me about helping out at the office. And again, I only
tangentially knew that person at the time of them coming here; they
weren't a "close friend". Once again I reject those charges and make no
apologies for becoming friends with somebody. It is a low point when
people indict the beautiful concept of friendship--a sign of the
unnecessary unproductive negativity ascendant in and around the GPSA.
Anyway, while we took the steps to hire a ¾ time admin, the office has
been open everyday upwards of ten hours per day. To ensure that the
office is open all the time and help available, I exercised the
president's constitutional prerogative of handling employment and
assigning tasks in order to fulfill the constitutional duty of
maintaining office hours. Although not all GPSA members come to the
office to get information or use the facilities, those that do probably
appreciate the open door and friendly attitudes. Anyway, jump to the
process to hire an admin.

The first step was to create a job description. First, a member of the
executive board drafted a job description. Then the executive board met
to discuss it. At that point another GPSA member made some other
recommendations for the position. Then the executive board tasked a
third person with integrating the two descriptions and coming up with a
final draft. This person did in fact take too much time in integrating
the descriptions and drafting a polished document. I take personal
responsibility for letting this take overly long and not fulfilling my
role as a taskmaster. I apologize for this temporary failure of properly
doing my managerial duties. It was a mistake to assign the task of
drafting the job description to the person that would be replaced. I
know that seems logical; but I didn't come to that realization it until
it was taking too long. After I asked about the job description it
finally made its way to my desk. From this point, as I reported in the
last council meeting, I sent the job description to human resources and
student activities. After a few days, they sent the job description back
to my office noting some wording problems in the description. I attended
to the changes. Because of this type of recurring bureaucratic
obstacles, I too share the frustration at the slow pace of setting
wheels in motion for the hire. But I do accept responsibility for the
mistakes I made, for sometimes getting distracted by the many things I
have to do as president, let alone as a student. Anyway, human resources
is working on this.

Now I would like to have a discussion on the bill to create project
assistantships, however I want that issue to be discussed on the merits
alone, not intruded upon by the accusations of the mistakes that I have
or haven't made. So in this letter, I will not bring up my ideas on the
issue. But I would like to say that the bill is not a means for me to be
able "to hire close friends"; this is not about me. It is about the
future of the GPSA. I am a lame duck president. This bill would apply to
the GPSA in years to come, involve other presidents.

Also, it needs to be pointed out that while the council passed language
for an admin, there was a debate on the issue, but at the end of a six
hour meeting, the last one of the year. The council was told that it had
to pass the budget in that meeting, and so some councilors with
reservations on the admin position still voted to pass the budget (where
the admin was mentioned) since the meeting was taking so long and a
budget had to be passed. Just saying so the issue is construed in the
proper light.

I encourage a healthy debate on the bill creating project
assistantships, but on the merits, not tied to concerns people have
about the current process which I have explained. Please feel free to
criticize me; I am responsible for some of the problems and also
frustrated by the pace of things with red tape. But please separate
complaints against me from the talks on the pros and cons of project
assistantships. I do not want whatever failures I have occasioned to
influence debate on the way toward future success of the GPSA.

Finally, I encourage all GPSA members to feel free to come to talk with
me. I understand that some people prefer anonymity--which is
understandable given the negativity and personal attacks that have
arisen in council meetings and on the listserv--and you would lose
anonymity by meeting in person. But please know that my door is always
open--literally--and I am available to further explain my actions as
well as discuss the benefits of project assistantships. We will post
this letter on the blog so there can be discussion without clogging up
the listserv.
Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Joseph J. García
President
Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA)
Ph.D. Student, Latin American Studies
Celullar: (505) 400-3802
Phone: (505) 277-3803
Fax: (505) 277-4159
http://www.unm.edu/~gpsa