UNM President David Schmidly is recommending changes in Human Resources and University Counsel policies in light of the media outcry after head football coach Mike Locksley’s Sept. 20 physical altercation and the investigation that followed.
Schmidly sent a letter to Athletics Director Paul Krebs recommending that the HR representative in the Athletics Department report to the University’s Division of Human Resources. He also said that the Athletics Department management, administrative staff and coaches need to have further training through HR.
Schmidly sent a memo to University Counsel Patrick Apodaca asking for additional resources to be allocated to the Office of the Custodian of Public Records “in order to minimize the risk of errors in responding to public records requests in the future.”
Schmidly said he did not ask Krebs and Apodaca to implement the changes by a particular date; rather, he asked the two administrators to create training plans and review their current processes before recommending specific changes to be made.
University Spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said in an e-mail that the transition is at “the beginning of the very beginning,” so no time is set for the changes to be implemented.
“We’ve announced that it will occur,” she said in the e-mail. “But there are no changes to report or comment on as yet. And I have no idea about a timeline, though the intention is to have this done quickly.”
In the letter to Krebs, dated Nov. 5, Schmidly said a central HR representative in the Athletics Department would help AD employees understand HR policies.
“This change in reporting relationship will ensure appropriate oversight of the position and provide the Athletics Department with more immediate and effective access to the full range of Human Resources services and support,” Schmidly said in the letter.
At a press conference Nov. 4, Krebs said he did not know he was supposed to report the Locksley incident to HR and instead asked athletics representative for human resources Shannon Garbiso — who is not an employee of the University’s Division of HR — to conduct an internal investigation.
In the memo to Apodaca, dated Nov. 6, Schmidly said the Custodian of Public Records was not prepared for the inundation of public information requests that came after the Locksley incident.
Several media outlets — including the Sports Animal (610 AM) and KRQE News — said that their requests for information and documents pertinent to the investigation were not answered in a timely manner.
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