The Associated Students of UCLA is hoping to appoint an interim
executive director by the end of this month, following the
resignation of its current leader in late September.
ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman announced her
decision to step down from her post at the association’s
September meeting of its board of directors. She resigned after
seven years in office.
With Eastman’s contract ending in December, ASUCLA is
currently conducting intensive reviews of potential candidates for
the interim director position.
The association will most likely announce its selection by the
end of this month to allow the interim director time to adjust to
the position, said Randy Hall, a graduate student representative to
the ASUCLA board of directors and chairman of the personnel
committee.
Hall said appointing an interim director before Eastman’s
contract expires will “give some time for the interim to work
with Pat and to learn the day-to-day responsibility of an executive
director.”
Though Hall declined to comment on the identity or number of
candidates being considered for the interim director position, he
said the committee is looking for someone who is already familiar
with the workings of ASUCLA to fill in the post.
“The role of an executive director is a unique one because
you have to satisfy a lot of constituents ““ the
administration, the students, the faculty ““ and we need
someone who is political in that respect, who can work with all
these constituents and find ways to compromise,” Hall
said.
Eastman said as the date approaches when she will be leaving
office, she is trying to “wrap things up for the interim and
the incoming director.”
“Right now I’m trying to write down all the
information I have in my head so that whoever it is that’s
coming in can formulate their own picture of what is going on in
the association,” she said.
“I’m also trying to tie up all the loose ends before
I leave,” Eastman added.
After the personnel committee finishes reviewing the list of
potential candidates for the interim director position, it will
submit its recommendations to the board of directors. Board members
will then evaluate and make the final decision on who will become
the interim executive director.
The interim director will hold the position until the new
executive director is selected. The selection process may take up
to about six months, as it did during a similar search conducted in
1996. That search resulted in the appointment of Eastman to her
current post.
And though the search for a new director will not start until an
interim director is appointed, the association is already
considering how it will proceed with the selection.
Hall said the association will be seeking input from various
groups on campus in the final selection of the new ASUCLA executive
director.
“Every constituency on campus, including the chancellor,
the undergraduate and graduate governments, and faculty and alumni
representatives will have a chance to meet with the
finalists,” he said.
An outside search firm was hired to screen potential candidates
during the search for a new director in 1996, but Hall said board
members have yet to decide whether the board will go through the
same process this time.
In May, ASUCLA board members voted unanimously to offer Eastman
a new contract after the current one expires in December.
Eastman’s resignation came after the conclusion of the
contract negotiations.
Eastman said the contract negotiation was not the only factor
affecting her decision to resign ““ she also wants to move on
and consider other job opportunities ““ but that it
“certainly plays a role in it.”
Eastman declined to discuss the details of the contract
negotiations, but said the result “speaks for itself”
and that “obviously they didn’t offer enough” to
keep her as executive director.
Hall said there was no change from current contract terms
offered to Eastman. According to figures from 2001-2002, Eastman
received a salary of $169,086, with $14,632 in additional employee
benefits.
As she prepares to leave office at the end of the year, Eastman
said she is considering several job opportunities and is
“still involved in negotiations with a couple of
places.”
Eastman added that she will be doing “something very
different from this … It’s not going to be something in
higher education.”