South campus employees “lived in fear”

Workers question mass transfers

South campus staff members are beginning to speak out about what they call mistreatment of employees by a former UNM vice president on a massive scale.

“We lived in a state of constant fear and paranoia,” said Luke Shipers, coordinator for enrollment at the south campus Office of Records and Registration.

“A good friend of mine likened it to Nazi Germany, complete with secret police,” he said. “That may sound like an extreme comparison, but it was surprisingly accurate.”

In 2009, the administration, under the leadership of Carmen Alvarez Brown, vice president for Enrollment Management, created the student service center One-Stop in Mesa Vista Hall. She then transferred most of the staff from Admissions and Recruitment Services, the Communication Center, financial aid and scholarships and the registrar’s office to south campus. The few staff members she kept on main campus were all put into the One-Stop center.

Terry Babbitt, associate vice president of general admissions, who replaced Brown in August after she left UNM to work at Cleveland State University, said her goal was to streamline operations to provide more effective service to students.

“The Student Support and Services Center is a wonderful facility that provides a state-of-the-art reception area for visiting prospective students and families with convenient parking,” he said. “We often receive comments on how favorable it compares to our competitors,”

Shipers said that although leadership has changed, Brown’s restrictive policies remain in place.

“I think we’re all still so relieved that she’s gone that we haven’t figured out where we stand with the new boss yet,” he said. “I haven’t heard of any sweeping policy changes being handed out from his office, good, bad or indifferent.”

Staff members said the move to south campus resulted in terrible morale. Several employees quit, he said.

“I remember that the first time I heard about a walk-in ‘One-Stop Shop,’ it was in the context of a satellite office down at south campus,” he said. “A little three-man outpost, with one person from each department out there to help athletes get things taken care of without the need to trek all the way back to campus.

When) I heard that the entire division was moving down there, my jaw nearly hit the floor.”

Sarah May Marinelli, who left the Enrollment Management Division for a job with the political science department, said the move did not improve service.

“One of the goals stated was ‘Speedier, more efficient, businesslike merging of back-office processing operations to speed up (service),” she said. “I believe (the move) not only undermined this goal, but it has created an environment where a large group of knowledgeable, hard-working employees are isolated from the UNM community, placing many of the benefits of being located on main campus out of their reach.”

She said employees rarely see main campus anymore. But Babbitt said this improves efficiency.

“Most employees at the One-Stop location on Main Campus are placed there permanently because of their emphasis and skills related to customer service to the student,” he said. “Processing of documents is also a valued skill that greatly impacts the timelines of students receiving financial aid or transcripts, for example, and all of that work is done at the Student Support and Services Center.”

VP says complaints were few

Shipers said Brown worked to suppress opposition from staff members, who had concerns about changes to benefits and working conditions and the move to south campus.

“It is generally understood, or at least speculated, that she was brought in as an axe-man,” he said. “It is believed that the targets were anyone who balked at unreasonable demands from on high, anyone close to retirement, and anyone they thought they could replace with a new hire at half the salary.”

Margaret Dorneden, who currently works as an administrative assistant for the BA/MD program, said she quit after conditions became unbearable.

“It was mistreatment on a massive scale,” she said. “She was verbally abusive to people and got away with it … I’m 49 years old and I’ve never met anybody meaner than her. It was a daily fear of losing your job.”

Dorneden said Babbitt’s administration has continued in Brown’s footsteps.

“We thought everybody was free, and from now what I hear every so often, whoever is on top is just continuing the tradition,” she said.

Babbitt said he hasn’t received many complaints from staff.
“That is inconsistent with what I hear from staff through the supervisors, and they certainly have the opportunity to remain anonymous if they had these concerns,” he said.

Babbitt said he encourages employees to communicate with him and said he would work to address their concerns.

Margie Cano, financial aid officer, said she is satisfied with her employer.

“I cannot speak for other departments … other than financial aid, but assertions do not reflect the current atmosphere in financial aid,” she said. “Financial aid has not had benefits cut.”

Cano said working on south campus makes her job easier.

“Working on south campus allows us to process financial aid requests efficiently and better serve students,” she said. “We feel we have the support of our management and feel we are treated fairly. We have no complaints over our direct management team and have good working relationships with them.”

Dorneden said no one ever addressed staff members’ complaints.

“I tried going to HR once (to) complain; they said there was nothing they could do,” she said. “She did things her way, and to hell with UNM policies and procedures. You had to do what she said, be a spy for her, listen to other employees and tell her so she could retaliate against them. She would make your life miserable in the hope that you would quit. People were scared to talk about it. They still are now.”

Dorneden said at least 20 employees quit between when Brown was hired in April 2008 and when Brown left the University in August 2011,

“I never got a raise after she came — my benefits were cut,” she said. “I quit and got a job on north campus.”

Shipers said benefits outlined in the UNM policy manual for employees were cut.

“I watched University veterans with 30-plus years of service disintegrate under a constant barrage of unreasonable demands, petty slights, and undercut support,” he said. “Flex time was eliminated. This made it nearly impossible to take care of our educational benefits, as we were unable take classes only offered during the day.”

Babbitt said the employees are not allowed flex time, (time out of work to take daytime classes), in order to free up space for students.

“We provided good service to 93 percent of students utilizing our operations in the last year, according to surveys,” he said, “and it would be difficult to do that if we had many staff on a flexible schedule … Our primary responsibility and commitment is to serve students well.”

Shipers said following the benefit cuts, the employees were moved permanently to south campus.

Dorneden said the staff celebrated when Brown left.

“We had a party when that lady left. Everyone hated her. They were so happy to see her go.”