Editor,
What is a conflict of interest? I am the president of Black GPSA and the tutorial coordinator at African-American Student Services. I was appointed by the president of GPSA to the Student Fee Review Board this past October. However, within a week of my appointment, I was called into my boss's office and told that the director of African-American Student Services had implied that my presence on the committee would present a conflict of interest.
The SFRB rules state that the committee should consist of members that represent the diversity of the student body. The president of GPSA made efforts so the graduate representatives came from a variety of departments, gender and ethnic backgrounds, ensuring the requirements laid out by the SFRB rules were met.
The conflict of interest arose because of my employment at an organization on campus that receives a portion of its funds from SFRB. By this rationale, any employee of a department on campus that requests money from SFRB would not be allowed to serve on this committee. University Libraries, CAPS and the SUB request money from the SFRB. Together, these organizations employ hundreds of students who would not be eligible to participate on the SFRB, even though they pay student fees. Last year, these students paid more than $800 in student fees, but because they had jobs on campus, they could not participate in the decision-making process.
The Athletics Department receives substantially more money than African-American Student Services or all ethnic centers combined. How can it be a conflict of interest for an employee of an organization to sit on the SFRB if one of the voting members is an employee of the Athletics
Department?
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I have to ask, was the Athletics Department contacted by the director of Student Activities to inform it of the potential conflict of interest that could result from one of its employees sitting on the committee? If not, does the conflict of interest apply only to employees of organizations that represent students of color? Was this a reaction to my vocal questioning of issues of race, class and culture at UNM?
F. Michelle Touson
President, Black GPSA
