Professors, deans, chancellors and administrators make daily
decisions that affect student life at UCLA, but in general the
affected individuals have little say about who is chosen to make
these decisions for them.
Current searches for the new vice chancellor of student affairs
and director of the Office of Residential Life ““ positions
that will have a great influence over much of the student body
““ will be conducted with the input of just four students.
Steve Olsen, vice chancellor of budget and finance, is chair of
the search committee for the new vice chancellor of student
affairs. The committee is composed of ten individuals — two
students and eight administrators and faculty members.
Elizabeth Serna represents the undergraduate student body and
Charles Harless, president of the Graduate Student Association,
represents the graduate student body.
The committee first met in March to identify a pool of possible
candidates. Once the solicited applicants responded, the committee
reviewed applications and narrowed the pool down to ten
candidates.
Nine of these candidates have been interviewed, and once this
phase is complete the pool will be narrowed down one last time.
The remaining finalists will be invited to campus so they can
interact with members of the UCLA community.
Olsen noted that although he is not sure what is typical during
other searches for new administrators at UCLA, his committee is
taking a more deliberate and careful approach due to the
position’s visibility.
Olsen said he is “happy with the way things are
going.”
Law student Jen Ro is not so happy with the way hiring is
conducted on campus. She thinks that it is absolutely necessary for
students to be more involved in this process.
“I don’t trust the administrators and I think they
hire people who don’t address any of the things we are
interested in as students,” she said.
The search for a new ORL director to replace Alan Hanson, who
held the position for 24 years, is handled by a search committee
similar to the one run by Olsen.
Soncia Lilly, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs
administration, is the chair for this search committee. It will
report to Robert Naples, the assistant vice chancellor of student
and campus life, who will become involved in the final decision
once the committee comes up with its recommendations.
Naples said the committee has narrowed the field down to a short
list of candidates and is planning to begin on campus interviews
during the last week of September.
Like the search committee for the vice chancellor of student
affairs, the committee charged with hiring a new ORL director
includes one representative each from the undergraduate and
graduate student bodies.
Ro believes the hiring process would be improved if student
hiring committees were implemented.
“Not (committees) where (students) get to write an opinion
but where they actually get to vote and are a sizeable number and
where they actually have power,” Ro said of the changes she
would like to see.
Li Yu, a fifth-year microbiology student, also supports student
involvement in the hiring process, but she worries that they may
not be informed enough to make educated decisions and that she
couldn’t “rely on their judgement.”
While two student representatives on each search committee may
not seem like enough to some, it is considerably more student
representation than is present when hiring decisions regarding
faculty are made.
Donna Vredevoe, vice chancellor of academic personnel, said when
a professor wishes to be considered for tenure they apply to a
committee of their academic peers. This committee reviews many
aspects of the professor’s career, including student
evaluations of every class they have taught at UCLA and letters
submitted by former students.
The professor is reviewed by many more committees that
communicate back and forth before they report to Vredevoe, who
makes the final decision.
When a professor receives an offer from another school and
wishes to be retained by UCLA, negotiations occur within individual
departments since they have control over their individual
budgets.
This process is more customized than the tenure process, and
student input is even more limited ““ only in some cases are
students’ opinions solicited by the department head.
Vredevoe commented that many things are considered during the
retention process, such as the university’s mission and the
role the particular professor plays in it and whether UCLA is able
to match the interested university’s offer, but sometimes
this is not possible, especially when competing with private
institutions.
Two recent cases of professors not getting tenured or retained
sparked student protest.
Ten students fasted during the spring of 2001 in response to the
university’s refusal to grant tenure to geography Professor
Joshua Muldavin.
This summer, students held a rally to protest the
university’s failure to retain Pauline Agbayani-Siewert, a
tenured professor for the school of Public Policy and Social
Research.
Since these rallies, no changes have been made in the
university’s tenure or retention policies.
Student opposition to the lack of input they have in the hiring
process is nothing new to UCLA. In 1997, when the university chose
its new chancellor, some students were upset about how little say
they had in the decision.