Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez announced Wednesday his intention to appoint Mary Dluhy as Special Assistant to the Vice President. Last March, Gonzalez created the position of Special Assistant to review the services provided by the University for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Dluhy will not deal specifically with LGBT issues, and Gonzalez said he intends to hire another administrator to fulfill the original responsibilities of the Special Assistant.
When Gonzalez announced the creation of a Special Assistant, he wrote a letter to student publications outlining the duties of the position. “The new staff member will be expected to advise Student Affairs and assist the University on how to best support and further dialogue around the topic of sexual identity for all students within the context of Georgetown’s Catholic Jesuit identity,” said Gonzalez in the letter.
According to Assistant Dean of the McDonough School of Business Sean Robinson, the position of Special Assistant has been changed from specifically addressing the needs of LGBT students to mediating conflict between various campus groups.
A new half-time position, likely to be titled Coordinator of LGBT Resources, will be created and will be more student-focused, said Patrick Metz (CAS ‘04), a member of the LGBT Working Group. The group was created last semester to investigate ways to improve existing services for LGBT students. During the summer, the working group assisted in the search for a Special Assistant.
Todd Olson, associate vice president for Student Affairs, emphasized that the creation of a position to focus on LGBT issues is still planned. “This represents a move from one half-time position to another half-time position. This is not a downgrade at all,” Olson said.
Gonzalez’ request to the LGBT working group to hire Dluhy was met with considerable distress, Robinson said.
“Juan [Gonzalez] circumvented the entire hiring process. He was supposed to publish the position nationally in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Today [Gonzalez] said, after talking to ‘experts,’ he only wanted to look locally,” Robinson said.
Robinson said there is a perception among members of the working group that Dluhy’s friendship with University President John J. DeGioia may have put pressure on Gonzalez to hire Dluhy.
“The general consensus was she is not appropriate to hire to work specifically with LGBT students and their issues on campus,” Robinson said. He said that although Dluhy, a licensed social worker, has likely had experience with LGBT individuals through her work in group psychology, she may not know enough about LGBT college students.
Gonzalez declined to comment, citing his plan to hold a press conference today.
Other members of the working group said that Dluhy’s appointment does not conflict with the intended purpose of the position of Special Assistant.
“Although we felt she wasn’t right for the job originally proposed, I’m sure she will be able to help the University in the capacity she has been hired for,” Metz said.
Robinson said there is a generation gap between Dluhy and college-age students. He said students might not approach Dluhy for advice because of the age difference.
Another member of the working group, GU Pride Co-President Danielle DeCerbo (CAS ‘03) said that Gonzalez originally told the members of the LGBT working group that the Special Assistant could only be part-time because of budget constraints.
DeCerbo questioned the decision to hire two half-time administrators in light of the assumed budget constraints.
According to Robinson, both administrators would work 20 hours a week and would both receive half-time salaries with prorated benefits. He said that paying the two administrators would be more expensive than hiring one full-time administrator.
Robinson said that the difference in hiring priorities between the positions was a source of confusion for members of the working group.
“Gonzalez would like to move quickly with [Dluhy], but he wants us to take our time to find the right person for the LGBT position,” Robinson said.
Robinson said that the LGBT position would probably be filled by the end of the academic year if advertisements are posted by November. Universities tend to begin hiring processes in the fall, but do not usually fill positions until summer because of the difficultires of entering or leaving a university during the academic year.
The LGBT working group plans to meet again in two weeks to continue this discussion.
