gwynhefar | Job woes, aka assistanceship update

So one of my part-time jobs right now is actually an
assistanceship with the university. I work for the
Graduate Student Association -- making sure all the
planned events come off without a hitch, keeping up
with the email and phone messages, maintaining the
website, and all the general administrative assistant
type things that need doing. For this I get paid for
20/week and a tuition supplement.

The GSA is housed in the same building as the Graduate
School, and the former faculty advisor was a Graduate
School employee. He was wonderful. He left. When
the president couldn't find another faculty advisor
willing to take on the responsibility quickly enough,
the Asst. Dean of the Graduate School appointed
herself as temporary advisor. Here's where the
trouble started. Because she didn't like the way the
organisation was being run. And since I was the
person she saw, who answered her emails and phone
calls, I should be able to do something about that. I
passed on her suggestions to the president, who
assured me that she had talked with the Dean and
everything was settled. Until the Dean came to me one
day last month and told me I would have to find
another job, and refused to tell me why.

I was floored, because I'd pretty much been assured
the continuance of the postion until I graduated, and
technically I didn't work for her so she shouldn't be
the one to fire me anyway. I figured that power
belonged with the president of the organisation that
was paying me. Of course, it being the end of the
year, we were in the middle of elections for new
officers. So after finally cornering the Dean and
requesting that she explain exactly why she didn't
want to keep me in the position, I found that she
basically held me responsible for the organisation not
having followed her suggestions earlier in the year.
I'm the administrative assistant. I have no control
over how the organisation is run. I tried to explain
that, and got her to agree to a meeting with the new
officers and the old officers to discuss the future of
me and possibly redefine the responsibilities of the
position.

That meeting took place today. And I was very
disturbed to find that the new president and the Dean
had aparently talked and the meeting pretty much began
with the assumption that I would be replaced. In
fact, they started by discussing what skills the new
person would need (all of which I have, btw, and
experience to boot). In fact, I'm pretty sure that
most of the officers think I'm leaving of my own
accord.

This makes me very upset, because I've done this job
to the best of my ability, and I don't think anyone
else they get will be able to do a better job than I
can. Plus, they won't have had the experience with
the organisation that I have, nor will the new
officers. In short, the entire organisation will be
flying blind. And I'm in the unfortunate position of
having to try and find another assistanceship, when
most of them were taken back in May, so that I can
actually pay my bills. Or else I'm going to have to
take out a much larger loan than I was planning, and
I'm already uncomfortable with my level of debt.

I want to fight this, but I don't know how to do so
without sounding like I'm just begging to keep my job.
I don't know who to talk to. The old president
supports me, but she really has no authority anymore.
The new president seems all chummy chummy with the
Dean, who clearly doesn't like me for whatever reason.
And I have no idea how I'm actually going to afford
to go to school in the fall without this
assistanceship.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know it's going to be a hassle to find a new job, but honestly, I don't think these people deserve you anymore. From everything you've told me and the posts you've made, it just sounds like they've been dicking you around for entirely too long, and if it were me, I'd give them the finger and leave them to try to figure out why nothing is working in the fall when everyone is inexperienced and they don't know what they're doing and "hey who was that person we kicked out a few months ago who actually knew what she was doing?"
It reminds me of a story I was told during my radio days about a guy who was constantly being screwed over by the Program Director of the station. Finally fed up with it, he walked into the PD's office one day, slammed a jar of vaseline onto his desk, then said firmly, "IT HURTS." Then he walked out and never came back to work.

I would -- except that I can't find anything that will pay me as well as they were. They were paying me $14/hour. Nothing else I can find comes even *close* to that. It's all in the $7-$9/hour range. Which means I would have to quit the science library, which is only $6/hr and try and find at least 2 20-hour jobs/assistanceships, at least one of which that comes with a tuition reduction in order to simply pay for both school and bills. Or I can take out even more student loans, and I'm already uncomfortable with my level of debt. And I have about a month and a half to do all this in. When most of the good assistanceships were already taken back in May when I thought I still had my job.

You may just have to bite it and take out the extra loans. On the other hand, I'm not the best person in the world to be giving financial advice, so I'll shut up now. :|

it's certainly the easiest solution. But I'm afraid it wouldn't be smart in the long run. I was very stupid and only worked 10 hrs/week my first year in grad school, thinking I'd ease into the whole thing gradually. Of course, I was also living by myself in an apartment that was really out of my means. So I was basically living on student loans. If I just take out the normal loans I've been taking to pay for tuition, books, and health insurance, I'll be up to $30,000. If I take out extra to help defray living costs, I'll probably be looking about $40,000. That's way over my comfortability limit. It's not like librarians get paid exceptionally well.

The other option would be to cancel my registration and take a semester off to work full time, hopefully save some money and give me a chance to look for a better assistanceship early for next semester. But I'm not sure if that's possible while still keeping my loans deferred.

Hmm... maybe. As I understand it, you can be out of school for 6 months before you have to start paying the loans back. That may vary from lender to lender, though; I'm not sure.

But I've not taken any summer classes this year, so my six months will end sometime in early November, at which point they'll start wanting their money. I'm not sure if there's a way to extend that time frame if you can prove you're enrolled again in the next semester.

What about contacting the other officers and telling them you don't want to leave?

I will definitely be talking to the other officers. I'm also going to try to set up a meeting with the current president without the Dean present and try and figure out both what he's been told about the situation, and what he actually thinks, not what he was willing to say in front of the Dean. If I can convince the current officers that I'm their best option there may be a chance of standing up to the Dean, especially since the only reasons she's been able to come up with so far hinge on me not having done something I didn't have the authority to do anyway. I'm working on forming a gameplan, as well as trying to come up with alternatives should this not work out.

Mostly I was just disappointed and thrown to show up at a meeting supposedly about deciding whether or not to renew my contract only to find that the decision seemed to be already made without my either knowing about it, or having an opportunity to respond to it.

I hate it when other people make my choices for me. I felt the same way about the SCA office -- all this talk and gossip about me had been going on, I knew nothing, they knew what was best etc.

Bullshit.

Fight it as much as you can.

I intend to. Thanks.

Well, at any rate, the officers need to know you're not leaving willingly.

It's just VERY unfair.

Telling the other officers you don't want to leave, and explaining why it would be bad for them, too, doesn't sound like begging to me.

see my reply the the above comment :) I'm going to try and do just that.

Is there anyone you can talk to in the English Department? I know they're not directly a part of this assistantship, but I'm sure there are people who like you and who have some clout with the Graduate School. Aside from that--I think talking to the other officers is your best bet, and you're already doing that. If you have any documentation of the fact that you _did_ pass the Dean's suggestions on to the old officers (saved emails, etc.) As far as a part-time job goes--RCPL often has part-time/temporary positions that require an MLS, and I'd bet they'd take someone in training since those weekend/evening positions aren't the easiest to fill. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this sucky, sucky situation; you are hard-working and smart and responsible, and the Dean is an idiot. :) I am thinking good thoughts in your direction.

thanks. I'll keep you updated on the situation. The problem I'm finding is not so much in finding another position, as in finding one that pays enough for me to live off of while still working around my school schedule. I'll check out the RCPL website. That might be someplace to look. Thanks :)

No helpful advice, sadly, just *hugs* and good luck...

I saw some GA postings to the SLIS listserv in the Medical Library recently. Or have they already been filled?

And MY GOD, woman! $14/hour?? And I thought they paid me a lot as a GA with the library school... o.O

Good luck with talking with the GSA president! It sounds like someone's trying to screw you over - don't let them! I don't think it will sound like begging if you tell them that you want to keep the job - like you said, they may not KNOW that you want to keep the job.

yeah, yeah I know. I was on salary, so I didn't really realise how much I was getting paid hourly until I worked it out.

I say that we get everyone we know together to sign a petition that states you should be able to keep your job. But we wouldn't put that you wrote it so it wouldn't look like YOU asking for you job. If I could boycott them I would, but I don't think I have anything to do with them. :(

Job woes, aka assistanceship update

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