Yesterday I spoke about hiring practices at the Round Up (and other campus newspapers). One commenter (thanks Mom!) thinks I may be putting my foot in my mouth to suggest individuals with no experience can’t get the job done. I think experience is not necessary, and have not said new Round Up editor Mark Morris is unqualified for the position. But experience can make a huge difference in training time and getting an organization up and running.
Indeed, the thrust of my argument regarding campus newspapers is that experience is to be supported and encouraged. While WNMU might hire some shmuck off the street to be student editor (me), NMSU actually has a pool of not only qualified, but experienced journalists from which to choose.
Thus begins the second part of our series on the Round Up. Remember Jacqueline Armendariz, our enterprising intern at the Silver City Daily Press? This summer, she’s covered a murder investigation, wrote a breaking news story on flooding in Santa Clara, and has pursued the more mundane, day-to-day stories of a small-town daily with enthusiasm.
Will she be working at the Round Up again next semester? Apparently not. She applied for the news editor position, which she didn’t receive. She won’t be going back as a news reporter, and, after she was turned down for an arts editor job, the position was reposted because of a “lack of qualified candidates.”
Jackie is one of the brightest young reporters I’ve met — she keeps me honest here at the office, always asks tough questions, and has a keen insight into the news gathering process.
Another casualty of the hiring process is Carlos Mariscal, the design editor for the Round Up for the Spring 2006 semester. Mariscal is currently an intern (page design and layout) for the Clovis News-Journal. He applied for the same position for the Fall 06 semester, and waited 29 days from the time he was interviewed to the time Morris informed him he did not get the position. As in Armendariz’s case, the position was reposted afterward. According to the NMSU Student Employment Services Handbook (Section X, “Posting”):
Additional applicants should not be solicited until it has been determined that a sufficient number of qualified applicants is not available in the initial pool.
Why repost the position, when (as in Armendariz’s case) qualified applicants for the job were interviewed? Mariscal even held the position!
That brings us to handbook section XIX, “Termination,” which states:
Student employees may terminate for a number of reasons. However, there are five broad categories under which the student employee’s termination will fall:
A. End of Employment Period – All student employees are automatically terminated as of the job end date specified in Ventana at the time of hire. It should be noted, however, that an incumbent has the right to continue working if the position has not been dissolved.
(italics mine)
What happened to Mariscal here? He was the incumbent, and the position was not dissolved. Am I missing something here?
More thoughts after the weekend — as the saga that is the Round Up continues.
Rebecca Bennett
Hi, my name’s Rebecca Bennett. I’m a three-semester veteran of the Round Up, one served as a news reporter and two as the copy editor. I must agree that the hiring practices at the Round Up are less than stellar, and though I have little control over the issue anymore (I relocated to Seattle out of my continual desire to uproot), it still pains me to see that once again, nice guys finish last.
The fact that the implosion of the Round Up has reached the blogosphere never fails to baffle me. It also speaks volumes of the ability the Round Up has to form important and lasting friendships that are so critical to getting a career and maintaining one’s sanity later in life.
What I smell with the Round Up situation is a big, stinking pile of nepotism. Flagrant, egregious, written-on-the-wall nepotism. Mark has seen fit to staff his newsroom with people who don’t know the AP Stylebook from the latest issue of Cosmo. I’ve seen the writing of many of the new editors, and I can’t say I’ve been impressed with any of them.
Granted, who am I to say that I’m a great writer, either…but I know when my interest waned, and I knew which people required most of my attention in the editing phase. Two of them are section editors in the coming year and I’m afraid that my hesitance in not sitting them down and telling them flat-out that what they were writing was the literary equivalent of diarrhea caught in a diaper.
It bothers me a great deal to see the best people for the job isolated. It’s sort of like breeding criminals; give them no outlet to react and what happens is a chain reaction of emotional outrage. But I wish Carlos and Jackie all the best; I count them among my close friends and hope that better opportunities greet them in the coming years.
There are certainly better things out there than southern New Mexico can offer, anyway. TRU seems to have a recurring theme of its formers employees leaving it far behind for greener pastures.
Jennifer Munkelwitz
I’m Jennifer Munkelwitz, also 3-semester veteran of TRU, two of which I was the design editor (Carlos was my successor).
I’m glad to see people are talking about the hiring practices of TRU outside of those in our immediate “family” of recent graduates or current staff members. Or I guess I should say what’s left of the staff.
I’m heartbroken to see what The Round Up is becoming. We worked so hard to keep honesty and integrity alive in the newsroom. Our careers were on the line with every word printed; the responsibility of being the “Student voice of NMSU” kept some of us there over 40 hours a week.
Those who worked so hard deserve much better than this. I’ll admit it; Carlos upstaged me as an editor within the first hour on the job, haha. I can say with some certainty that after all of this drama he’s been through in the past weeks he wouldn’t trade his time at TRU for anything. It’s the same for many former TRUppers. I’d hate to see that change.
Frank Thayer
As head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, I recognize that the Round Up is an independent student newspaper; however, the department thinks that TRU is an essential part of the journalistic training our students get while at NMSU. Experience has shown that hiring unqualified students does not benefit the newspaper, the student body generally or particularly those students who seek careers in journalism. We hope that reasonable heads will prevail and that TRU will return to hiring students with appropriate academic preparation and with a true desire to commit journalism on a regular basis. I’m optimistic that the new editorial staff will review its practices and work to continue the excellence of past years. Yes, and I feel I have some privilege to comment as I put in some of my student years as a Round Up staffer, and I can attest to its value as career preparation.
Jayna Boyle
As a recent graduate who worked alongside Jackie and Carlos at the Round Up, I must say that I am so disappointed to see that their talents are not recognized. Jackie and Carlos were both valuable members of our staff and their contributions did not go unnoticed. I can safely say that without them on staff, the quality of the paper will certainly drop. And equally as important as their skills, Jackie and Carlos were both team players who got along wonderfully with everyone on staff. It really saddens me to see the Round Up, a wonderful avenue for NMSU journalism students to sharpen their skills, blocked off from two individuals who were willing and eager to return this semester. There are not very many places for journalism students to get their work published, and without the Round Up, it’s going to severely limit Jackie and Carlos, and whoever else gets shut down.