Bijeta Lamichhane
News Editor
The search for a staff member to assist Lowry Center and Student Activities (LCSA) is ongoing. Although the College hired a part time staff member, Jean Graf, she left shortly after accepting the position.
LCSA’s struggle to hire employees is often reflected in both the results they produce and the role of the Director of LSCA Julia Zimmer as the only resource in resolving issues related to student activities. Dean of Students Scott Brown mentioned that Zimmer has “been doing essentially three jobs.” The lack of an adequate number of staff members in LCSA to address students’ issues caused concerns with organizations’ budgets last year. It also continues to make LCSA inaccessible to students due to lack of communication.
When asked about the reason behind the staff member leaving, Brown stated, “We were hiring for a part-time, temporary position, which means that if someone wished to find full-time employment, that would be more attractive. We were hoping we would be able to cover for the rest of the spring, but unfortunately we were not able to.”
Zimmer shared Brown’s reason- ing, explaining that temporary staff members often leave when they are provided with a permanent position. “The position was a temporary position to get us through the rest of the academic year,” Zimmer said. “In these cases, the person often times is given other opportunities that are better fits for them and provide them with a permanent position.”
However, the lack of an adequate number of staff members continues to conflict the communication between LCSA and the students. When Zimmer sent an email about budget trainings on Feb. 18 — with the first training happening the next day — organizations mentioned that they should have been told about the events earlier.
For their part, LCSA continues to search for a staff member to provide assistance in their activities. “We had hoped the temporary position would [suffice],” Brown stated. “[For now,] we will continue with our plans to hire a permanent full-time person — now we are in the prime season for student affairs hiring.”
Zimmer added, “We will be focusing on hiring the assistant director for student organizations, with the goal to have the person start [work- ing by] July 2020.”
In the meantime, LCSA has hired a student intern, Courtney Lockhart ’20, to help students during the bud- get process. Matt Mayes ’20, chair of Campus Council Budget Committee and Isaac Weiss ’20, a member of the committee, are also available to help organizations with questions related to budgeting.