Editor,
When UNM wants to get rid of someone, they know how to do it in style! Take President Frank. As he is instituting a hiring freeze for all main and branch campuses, he is busy negotiating a sweetheart deal with the Health Sciences Center, which just so happens to be exempt from the hiring freeze (although they are facing a large budget deficit, too, but that’s another story).
How very convenient for him! When we are told a hiring freeze means we cannot fill positions, it means current staff members will have to pick up the extra work as “shared service” without the compensation to match the workload.
However, there will be no “shared service” required for our good ole boy, Frank! He will get his $350,000 and doesn’t know what he’s going to do! A job created just for little ole Bob Frank with no job responsibilities and $200,000 a year more than he would have gotten if he had taken a silly little faculty position in the Psychology Department for a mere $150,000.
I have to hand it to him – that’s one smart cookie. Wonder why the Regents are getting rid of him when he is coming up with golden parachute ideas like this one, which they swallowed hook, line and sinker. Creating this special “job” at $350,000/year when everyone else is asked to tighten their belts and do more for less is adding insult to injury. This move is a slap in the face of every staff member employed by UNM.
Loyola Chastain
UNM staff member
