UNM Provost Brian Foster offered suggestions on how to address a lack of grievance procedures, the low number of graduate assistant positions and student professional development at GPSA's first council meeting of the year Saturday.
Foster said he hoped to strike up more of a conversation with the Graduate and Professional Student council members rather than just offering responses to the three areas of concern raised by students who attended two GPSA open houses during the summer.
Several council members asked what grievance procedures were available for graduate students, particularly for those whose contracts were not being honored.
"Well, there just shouldn't be any discussion about contracts not being honored because that's just a bunch of crap - it isn't a legal question, it's a question of integrity," Foster said. "If we make agreements with people, we need to honor those agreements."
Foster said that University needs a way to handle disputes.
"It turns out that we really don't have a grievance process that's really good for anyone on campus, and, as far as I can tell, we only have a process that mediates conflict between faculty and administration - that's not good enough," he said. "Right now we don't even have a place for due process for someone accused of mismanaging grant funds."
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Student activities director Debbie Morris said that the only other mechanism for grievances she knows of is through the Dean of Students Office, which addresses only what is covered in the University's Code of Conduct.
Foster said grievance procedures are one of about 500 things on his desk and he couldn't promise a quick resolution, but that discussions should begin on the matter during the next two months. Foster said the Faculty Senate and Staff Council would be involved in the process and sees no reason why GPSA shouldn't also take an active role.
Foster suggested that UNM look into offering more work study teaching and graduate assistant positions.
"Most other universities really explore that sort of funding, but we have not really done much of that at UNM," he said. "We know that it can be done through the financial aid office and it really is something we need to look into because it could be really beneficial."
Council member Maria Theresa Avila, who represents the Art and Art History Department, asked Foster what he thought could be done to balance pay for graduate and teaching assistants in different departments.
"I know that there's a gap that can range from $490 to $1,400 and it just doesn't seem fair," she said. "If we balanced those numbers, we could probably hire more students."
Foster disagreed and said that pay gaps were part of life in higher education. He added that he could not support lowering any graduate student salaries because they are already significantly lower than those of their peers.
"It's very similar to what happens to faculty, and I don't like it any more than you do, but it is the way things go at universities," he said.
Other council members supported Foster and said that the pay difference reflected the variety of jobs graduate students hold at the University and will hold after graduating.
Foster emphasized the importance of enhancing professional development for graduate students and said he would look into bringing more Preparing Future Faculty programs to UNM.
Council Chairman Bill Dials said he had talked with Leslie Ellison, director of Career Services, to see if the department would offer more resources to graduate students.
"It's my understanding that Career Services has gone through a great deal of changes during this year, but I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be another project they can and should take on," Foster said.
During the same meeting, the council decided to hand power to a committee to supervise the distribution of the Graduate Research and Development Fund. The group was awarded $150,000 by the Legislature two years ago with the stipulation that priority would be given to projects that benefit state agencies.
"I think we stand to lose a lot more by not spending this money now, and we can't continue discussing this all year at council," Dials said. "It took a lot of work to get to this point, but now we need to a let a committee handle distribution of this funding and report back to us about their progress."
The committee is open to anyone interested in working on the funding distribution. GPSA President Rachel Jenks will make the appointments.
The council also decided to cut back on its breakfast - consisting of burritos, salsa, bacon, muffins, doughnuts coffee, water and juice - that is provided for every meeting.
"It's a bit extravagant, and I think that some us feel a little weird spending so much on ourselves when we have so little money in other areas," Dials said.
The group approved cutting the amount spent on the breakfast from $160 to $75, which will come out of the council's discretionary fund.
The next GPSA meeting is scheduled for Oct. 6 at 9:30 a.m. in the Willard Reading Room of Zimmerman Library.
