UMass officials wanted to shape the job description, a UMass spokesman said.
AMHERST -- University of Massachusetts officials are moving ahead on hiring a permanent full-time director for campus radio station WMUA, months after the process was expected to begin.
"Student Affairs devoted time to researching and shaping the job description, given its importance," spokesman Edward Blaguszewski wrote in an email explaining the delay.
The hiring process had been expected to begin earlier this year.
Blaguszewski said the university's human resources department is reviewing the job description. Following final approval, the search will begin early in the fall semester, with the hope of hiring a director by the end of the fall.
The current timeline will allow students to participate in the hiring process when they return to campus in September, Blaguszewski said.
The latest steps in the hiring campaign follow the departure of an associate vice chancellor who had been serving as the station's acting adviser since the ouster last year of longtime adviser and program host Glenn Siegel.
Annemarie Seifert, associate vice chancellor for student development, has left the university for a job at the University of Connecticut, Blaguszewski wrote in an email.
Seifert took over the station's adviser duties after Siegel was removed from the position after more than 24 years. He was reassigned to other duties at the university.
"Student Affairs is formulating a transition plan for its student engagement cluster this summer, including plans for interim advising," Blaguszewski said of Siefert's departure.
Siegel's removal from the post followed conflict at the station between student managers and Max Shea, a WMUA community member who hosted a show called "Martian Gardens." He was also trespassed from the campus following what station officials said were violations of the station's "anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies." Shea has since moved "Martian Gardens" to Valley Free Radio in Florence.
The controversy led to a consultant review of the station, which recommended a number of changes implemented earlier this year, including shifting the station's priorities to focus more on students and to rely less on community involvement and programming.
The consultants -- including Gregory Adamo, associate professor in the School of Global Journalism at Morgan State University in Maryland -- also recommended hiring a full-time director. The position was previously a part-time duty.
Community role
There are currently no plans to restore or expand programming opportunities for members of the community at large who were cut in the wake of the consultants' report.
Two students who served as station manager and program manager -- Andrew DesRochers and Haley Chauvin -- graduated this spring, although one station host said Chauvin is now hosting a show as a member of the community.
DesRochers and Chauvin, who served on the station's three-person executive committee, both voted to terminate Shea's program, setting in motion the sequence of events that led to Siegel's removal and a university review of station operations.
The changes that followed the consultants' report included Chauvin's decision to cut polka programming from 12 to four hours a week as part of the reduction in community programming. That move drew criticism from many community members, some of whom had made donations to the station and subsequently asked for their money back.
UMass spokesman Daniel Fitzgibbons said last winter that, when UMass hires a full-time adviser for the station, he or she would review the level of community programming. There's no guarantee that polka programming will return, but there will be a review, he had said.
Todd Zaganiacz, who hosts one of two polka programs that survived cuts, said it's a shame more community members can't participate because the station is currently airing a significant amount of automated programming. Community members would be happy to fill those hours with their own shows, he said. His own offer to come in earlier to expand his two-hour polka program was rejected, he said.
The station's current schedule shows automatic programming running from at least midnight until 8 a.m. every day of the week. Zaganiacz's show begins at 8 a.m. on Sundays.
Zaganiacz said he thinks the window to bring back community support might have closed, and that he's not sure what he will do come fall.
Despite objections of some community members to the programming changes, Blaguszewski wrote in his email that Seifert called the spring 2016 schedule "a great success" and that was "well received by listeners."
The station was closer to offering programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week this spring, Blaguszewski wrote, and the station "expanded learning opportunities for students" and offered a more diverse slate of music.
"It is also impressive to observe the renewed commitment to comprehensive training, production quality and interesting and innovative content," Blaguszewski wrote. "WMUA has a bright future."