CWU LIVING HISTORY PROJECT
Gloria Craig
Interviwer: Milo Smith Technician: Jean PutnamSmith: This is another interview for the Central Washington University Living History Project. Our interviewee will be Gloria Craig. a long time administrative secretary on campus. Your interviewer is Milo Smith and the camera and audio recorder are being operated by Jean Putnam. Dale Comstock is an official observer at this session. The date is Monday, March 3rd, and we are meeting in the Barge Teacup Room at the Alumni Office. Good morning, Gloria.
Craig: Good morning.
Smith: OK, you know this is coming. Will you please start with a brief personal history of your life before coming to Central?
Craig: Yes. I was born in Yakima, Washington during the Depression, and I was the younger of two children, both girls. My father was one of fourteen children and was in the lumber business all of his adult life. In fact Dale knew my father. They’ve been neighbors to my father and mother for quite some years. My mother was the eldest of eight children, and she fulfilled the traditional female role of homemaker. Our family moved to Prineville, Oregon during World War II. Lumbering was considered an essential industry at that time because of the War. There were four operating mills in Prineville that needed men who had my father’s talents. We later moved to the village of Gilcrest, Oregon, 1 say village because it was a company owned lumber town. It’s located in the mountains fifty miles south of Bend, Oregon for those of you who know where that is. I graduated high school there, and was valedictorian, fortunately. Although the town was small, we had a very good school, and I credit a great deal of whatever success I had in later life, to the communication and English skills that were taught to me by Miss Dorothy Houseman. She was demanding, but dedicated, and she possessed an absolutely unshakable faith in the value of education. This was Pre 1990. She also believed that children deserved equal educational opportunities regardless of the size, or the location or the industrial base of the community in which they lived. In other words, you didn’t have to be in an academic setting to be entitled to that kind of education. And I’ve stayed in touch with her through all these years. Every Christmas we correspond, and it’s been an absolutely wonderful association. And last year when I graduated from Central with my Bachelors Degree. I sent her a graduation announcement, and she in turn, in her congratulatory note, reaffirmed her belief in mc, and stated her pride in my achievement. Though I wanted to go to college then, and I was academically qualified, there was simply no money available. There was no financial aide at that time. No kind of notification of the few scholarships available, because of our rural location, we didn’t even get the notifications until after the closing dates, and there were only maybe three available at that time, a different era. Also there was another factor here, to he considered my own personal circumstance, and that was there had never been a college graduate in either my mother or father’s family, and as both the males and females had followed pretty traditional paths with the men in the work force and the women at home, higher education simply had not been emphasized. But my loving parents, bless their hearts, they supported me in m’ desire for further education and, they helped borrow enough money for most of one year at an accredited business school, and that was in Portland, Oregon. There I met and married my husband. We were married in our teens and I’m still very happily married to the same man. We have two grown children, and three grand children. All of whom, I hope, are going to be college graduates, by the way. I came to Central in 1966. My professional experience included roles as Executive Secretary, office manager, bookkeeper, and sales representative for five years with the Bureau of Land Management in both Oregon and Alaska. And I worked in timber sales, land management, and fire protection. At age twenty I was supervising three women, most of whom were older than I and a couple of them in very remote locations. But I worked for an absolutely wonderful area forester. He had two hundred. twenty-five million acres of public domain land in the then Territory of Alaska, under his jurisdiction. And so it was quite interesting. I had four years in real estate and insurance in Ellensburg, and then I had two and a half years in the Office of Prosecuting Attorney in Benton County. That also included Civil Law because it was a third class district, and they were allowed to have a civil practice along with that in order to supplement the salary. Is there anything further in that theme that you’d like to know?
Smith: What was your motivation for seeking a job up here and giving up our position down town?
Craig: I was very dissatisfied in the real estate sector at that time. There were a few people in the industry who lacked the kind of integrity I wanted to be associated with. and if you can’t have pride in what you’re doing. I didn’t want to do it any more. And it just happened that the position up here came available.
Smith: You know there’s an old saying that if you’re a successful real estate salesman or a magazine salesman, you’ll never be good at anything else.
Craig: Well. I definitely don’t want to leave the impression with anyone who might be listening to this tape that all real estate people have no integrity because that’s not the case. I know some very wonderful people in the real estate office I worked in, Leonard Thayer, Bob Case and those kind of folks have all, very substantial individuals, who contributed greatly to Central by the way.
Smith: Now, you do not have to answer this question. hut it would be valuable for people thirty years from now who look at this tape, can you remember, Gloria, what your introductory salary was when you came to Central?
Craig: Being a woman and a feminist at heart. I can absolutely assure you it was three hundred and ninety dollars a month. And that was excellent for this locality, for a female in a traditional female role. There weren’t too many women operating outside the traditional female roles because I came here in 1966. When I left the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, we were still being denied any kind of creature comforts, or any identity beyond that which was associated with the typewriter.
Smith: What was your initial work assignment here at Central?
Craig: Well, I need to establish the background. In 1966 Mr. Kenneth Coursen had moved in to Business Manager at Central for thirty-three years retired, and the very week that he retired his administrative secretary of twenty-five years died. Her name was Marguerite Hanson, and she done an absolutely beautiful job. They were of the old school however, it was still operating largely the school had operated prior, and subsequently to World War I. they had seen the school through World War II, hut they were still a little close to the chest with all of the information. President Brooks had then been at Central for about five years and it was time for a change in the Business Office. Mr. Arthur Mathew came to Central from Galesburg. Illinois as Business Manager, and he brought with him updated ideas and a team philosophy. I applied for the administrative secretary position which had been posted in the paper, and I was hired to begin work on June 2nd, 19...excuse me, June the 6th, 1966. It was very exciting because the campus was in a growth pattern, and a lot of the old barriers were being broken down and it was exciting and vital. An urban renewal project was just reaching completion and it almost doubled the size of the campus. When it was finished the rest of the land around Hertz hall, to the east, the west, and the north of Tenth St. to Fourteenth St. between D” and Chestnut St. were acquired by Central in this Federal Program. Subsequently the houses were removed and, of course, had been replaced by many academic facilities. One of which is the magnificent science building which is presently under construction, and, it will be a fifty-eight million dollar project, and it will certainly put us well into the twenty-first century. The other facilities that are presently in place were Dean Science Hall, the library, Farrell Hall, Language and Literature Building, and the addition to Holmes Dining Hall. Remember, too, that this campus was bisected at that time by two major transportation features: Eighth Avenue to the south was also Highway 10. and at that time that was the major connector between Seattle and Spokane, then to the north between Hertz Flail and Dean’s Science Hail, the Milwaukee Railroad cut through. And every time you would calibrate instruments in Dean Science hall, the railroad train would go by and then they would have to be calibrated again. Then also the high rise dorms, which were just being completed the year that I came. That put them along with the steam plant, on the other side of’ the major highway, and I can tell you that at hunting season, it was an absolutely incredible experience to try to get south of the campus. But interestingly, the city didn’t have a fire truck with the capability of reaching the top of those nine story buildings either then, so the college then had to assist in the funding for the purchase of their fire truck. The construction of 1-90 in the 1970’s and then the sale of the Milwaukee Railroad Line in the 1980’s solved those two problems. Central was able to get the trail that subsequently became the John Wayne Trail, the portion of it that was on campus, we moved very quickly to acquire that for the institution. And, of course, much is happening there now. During my years in the Business Office I served three Business Managers, two Vice-presidents, and the internal auditor, who managed, collectively, they managed the physical affairs of Central: Its construction programs, the buildings and grounds. auxiliary services, which is comprised of dining services, housing and parking, and then the internal auditor portion which is a system of checks and balances, which assure that the institution meets legal requirements of the state and federal government. And this could often be very testy. People sometimes don’t understand the rules and think that they’re being picked on or persecuted, or whatever. But our Business Manager, our Vice-president for Business and our internal auditor were men of extreme integrity and they made it as convenient and comfortable as possible for those who did have to pay money hack, or to answer whatever questions and address the needs that surfaced. I enjoyed working with everyone of those people. I thought that I had a hand in helping people through a difficult situation. We worked together as a team, Mr. Courtney Jones, and Bill Allison, and Ezzat Mina. They’re all very dear to my heart, and we worked very hard through extremely traumatic years, but we were a team and got the job done. Then the late 1960’s and Seventies and all of you here will remember, those who observed(?). They were years of dissent and discontent, and they were well beyond just the normal challenges of succeeding generations which is always dissent and discontent. Well, largely it was related to the Viet Nam Conflict that just went on and on with the, as I recall, the first observers, they were called, went in 1957, and we were not Out of it until 1975. That’s an incredible period of time to have a nation at risk. Many people questioned the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia, and they exercised every process available to express their feelings. Enrollment increased dramatically, partially due to the fact that being drafted was delayed as long as a young man was in enrolled in school. Some administrators interpreted this as a trend, and you all remember this. They predicted the enrollment would reach 15,000 between 1980 and 1990. Well, of course. that didn’t happen. In fact the end of the Viet Nam Conflict in 1975 caused us a very severe drop in enrollment, and a resulting faculty reduction in force caused great consternation for a while on campus, twelve names got rearranged before things settled down. I do want to mention a few things that stand out in my mind concerning that particular era. One of them was the occasion with Jane Fonda, the actress. Returned from a trip she made to Hanoi, North Viet Nam, reasons which are, oh, very blurred to me. but she appeared in the SUB, and she was met with very mixed emotions. Many thinking, particularly veterans of World War II, that she had given aid and comfort to the enemy, and she was the personification of the woman they called Tokyo Rose in World War II. Also during that period, Dale, you have to particularly remember this, that there were threats to blow up some of the buildings on campus, and mostly they were targeting the R.O.T.C. Building. So many of the male administrators and faculty volunteered to stand guard and did so in several of the buildings. Locking steel rods were attached to some of the sensitive files, such as the personnel files in the personnel office, excuse me, the President’s Office, and they took other precautions against terrorism and mischief. We didn’t have any violent marches like some of the campuses across the country, but it was here and it was real, and it was sincere.
Smith: Now, Gloria, you identified the position of the internal auditor. Who held that position?
Craig: Mr. Ezzat Mina, he was from Egypt originally, but he had a very solid background in accounting and physical affairs, and he was absolutely dedicated to that position. He just retired this year, well, in 1996.
Smith: Now, you named two Business managers of the three. Could you give us the third name for history’s sake?
Craig: The original Business Manager was Mr. Arthur Hanson and then when Mr. Stan Bohne was hired to replace him, the titles were changed. They felt that the scope of the job had increased to the point of being a Vice-presidency. At that time they maintained a Business Manager position because, again, some of the duties that were required to be fulfilled, and so the Business Manager then was Mr. Jim Riffey, and then he was followed by Mr. Allison.
Smith: Good. That’s always good for history’s sake. Now, was your initial position here on campus a civil service job?
Craig: Yes.
Smith: Did it continue to be all through your years?
Craig: No. At the time the position occupied by Mr. Stan Bohne was elevated to a Vice-presidency, the statute in the State of Washington kicked in. That statute says that among those exempt from civil service shall be faculty, the President, his Vice-presidents, their confidential secretaries, etc. At that point I was no longer eligible to be a civil service member and became exempt and administrative.
Smith: At any of those times that you were a civil service employee, were you unionized?
Craig: I was not. I was never approached to by anyone particularly, recruiting for the union, and at that particular time, I believe it was mostly your trades that were involved with the union on campus. In my own personal perspective, I probably would not have joined because I was too closely aligned to the administration and I would have felt that it would have been easy for me in some way to compromise their position, were a strike to be called, or any of that. I would have felt I needed to continue my work in order to support their work. However, I come from a long line of labor union people. Lumbering business is very big in labor unions.
Smith: What office? No, I’ve asked that question. What was your last official title?
Craig: When I left the institution my official title was administrative assistant to the President, secretary to the Board of Trustees. Around 1973, and I’ll just lead into that this way because this is...I’II let you know how I evolved to that position. Around 1973, I decided to take advantage of the policy which allowed staff to take a class a quarter. Mostly at that time it was to be sure that my skills were current. 1 had then been in the labor market twenty years and things do change and I wanted to make certain I was representing this institution the way it should be represented. Later I decided that 1 needed to expand my education background further because I wanted to be in a position to compete for the job as secretary to the President as Mrs. Mildred Paul. an absolute jewel and hard working, wonderful woman, she was the incumbent and she had entered the retirement window. As it turned out, Milly worked for President Garrity when he first came to campus and that was in 1978. And then she retired in April of 1981. And due to illness she left right away before she could be replaced. Then President Garrity and his contingent were in China. They were working on the establishment of an exchange agreement, our first one with that country for Central with Anhui University in Hufei, China. And so the recruiting procedure was slowed down a very lengthy time, and it wasn’t completed until some time later, but I was the successful candidate, and I assumed my responsibilities in the President’s Office in August of 1981. 1 believed that I was reads’ for the challenge, and I did bring with me the knowledge that Olympia was making noises like we were going to be experiencing a budget cut in the upcoming year. But cut was the kindest word you could have used for it. My initial introduction as secretary of the Board of Trustees... The Board met twice a month for the first few months because I was in my new position and I thought that I was ready for the budget blood-bath, as it turned out to be. But when the smoke cleared it was June of ‘82, and Central had suffered three successive budget cuts totaling ten point seven per cent of the total budget. Incredible. It was incredible. I watched the President and his executive committee, and faculty, the Deans, Department Chairs. They labored for hours trying to preserve the core of the University which is, of course, the academic mission. A good share of the budget is allocated to salary, so everything possible was cut that wasn’t a salary. They cut supplies, equipment, but then, of course, they had to start with the lay off of people. Many literally turned gray during this period, their hair, their skin, their eves. It was extremely stressful, and not understood by some people, the hours of planning and working and in depth consideration that was made to keep the institution as strong as we could, while taking this kind of a whack. At the end of it, we lost the speech and audiology program, and we had to close the lab, or training school as they called it, at Hebeler. Part of the distress that was caused by closing of Hebeler had to do with the faculty members there at that time. They were not tenured, and, of course, the fact of tenure is something that has to be honored by the administration as well as the faculty who have tenure, so it was felt they had to protect the tenured faculty, also for the broad core of the University academic mission. But getting back to me, the night the Board acted in this regard to take these two actions was one of the saddest times I ever spent on this campus. The emotions ran so high, and the Board members, Bob Case, three were able to make it out of the five, we had a quorum that night, Bob Case was the local member of’ the Board at that time. Linda Clifton and Sterling Munro were, they were entirely empathetic with all the reasons why we shouldn’t close, but the budget cuts had to be made with the least harm to the overall academic mission, and that decision rested on their shoulders. The meeting was not over until after one A.M., and we went to the Group Conference Center where we had had to have it because we needed more room then the normal Board meeting room. We had eight inches of new snow, and it was totally fitting to the mood and the night. What else can happen, and it did. Only two tenured faculty had to be terminated, and many of the lost positions were taken care of by attrition, re-assignment and then reduction of powers in whatever offices they could. And as many non-essential, what they call non-essential personnel, that meant that you’re waste basket didn’t get emptied every day, maybe once every three days, were lost. And as soon as we could, we put them back in, but it took a while to do that. At the end of the appeal processes which were started as a result of all of these actions by the people who were affected by the closings and lay oil asbestos was discovered in Bouillon Hall, where we were then housed, and we had to move out. And it was here to Barge Hall. Well, the asbestos was either removed or encapsulated, and, of’ course, encapsulation simply didn’t hold very long. Ten years later they found asbestos again and the occupants had to move out. But while we were in Barge at that time the first word processing equipment arrived, and we had been after that for so long we were thrilled. I was one of the first five to get to try out the Decmate processors, which is what we were looking at. They were reasonable, they would do the job, but we would get automated, and that was the idea. Shortly thereafter it was determined that we would institute a uniform system of Decmates throughout the offices on campus. Several of us had anticipated this so we had taken classes over at the Business Education Department, so we would know what word processing did, and computers did. And then as now, the technology leaped forward so fast that Decmates were out dated in a few short years computers took over, and we were ready for that too, because we had had an introduction. I’ve always believed though that Central was correct in trying to keep the administrative systems uniform, so that staff could move among the offices with very little distress, and we were trained all on the same equipment, so if you got a promotion you didn’t have to be retrained. I think that that stood us in good stead. Now, of course, computer literacy is an absolute given on campus, as it should be.
Smith: Now, Gloria, we mustn’t assume that people are going to know, twenty years from now, the kinds of duties that you performed, and I’m going to ask you only about two positions. When you were the executive secretary to the Business Manager, what were some of the types of duties that you performed?
Craig: Because of the nature of fiscal and financial affairs of the institution, we were always involved in the budget process. We did not, I did not personally devise the budget, but remember we did not have word processing. That thick tome which sometimes runs an inch and a half thick that goes to Olympia, had to be produced by myself and my counterparts, and we were all very happy and willing to do that. So there was a lot of the just drudge, clerical work, but because of the nature of the people from whom I worked, they always encouraged me to work a little beyond myself Stretch, if you can do the job, please go ahead, improve yourself broaden your horizons, be ready for the next step up. We worked with personnel records, at that particular time we had to bring back the insurance portion of the campus that had to do with liability and so forth, so we managed that through the office, the personal insurances were handled over at the personnel office, but ours was the rest of the insurance for the institution. I did that, oversaw that function, and of course, records retention and management. I was...the internal auditor interviewed who were having a difficult situation with the University. for whatever reason, were having to answer some very difficult questions. Because Mr. Mina was from Egypt his accent would sometimes get a little thick when he was under stress, and so I was interpreter. I would say, Ezzat, you meant to say, and if it was right what I would interpret, he would say, “Yes.” If it was not, he would restate it and we would do it again, always making sure that when all was said and done, I would do a transcript of whatever, we didn’t call it deposition because it was not under oath, but ever testimony had been given, was given to the person who gave it. so that they could correct me if I had misunderstood what they had said. That was very interesting, and also very demanding. Also we had weekly meetings of the Business Affairs Managing staff the Business Manager belonged to the inter-institutional committee on business officers, that was a sub-function of the inter-institution committee of Presidents, the Council of Presidents now ifs called. All these things that have to go on behind the scenes to make sure that the academic mission of this institution is supported by the fiscal base from which it has to operate. Pay the salaries of the faculty. Make sure that the students have a place to live, good place to eat, that the dining services are correctly managed, that they have the right foods, and so forth, and this has come a long way. We had all that to deal with. We dealt with the personal problems of students who would come, and before they could tell us why they couldn’t pay their tuition, cried and told us that their grandfather had just died, and that Sort of thing. A lot of inter-personal relationships, which we enjoyed because we all have those problems, and I always tried to treat them like I’d want to he treated if I were the one on the other side with the tears in my eyes. It was thrilling, exciting, and wonderful. All of my years on campus, I was encouraged to stretch beyond where I was and do whatever I could and was happy to do so.
Smith: Now, as the President’s executive secretary, could you give us a picture of a typical day-to-day chores that you performed in that office outside of serving as the secretary for the Board, but in the office for the President what were the day to day duties?
Craig: To put it in the proper context, I have to go backwards with this. To answer your question specifically, I managed the time and resources of the Office of the President, fiscal and personnel. Now, beyond that, we have to understand that the Board of Trustees is primary. I have to answer that, I have to address it first because the Board of Trustees hires the President however, and so therefore he reports to the Board of Trustees. However, I report to the President, who hired me, hut I also am the secretary to the Board by election. So we need to establish the groundwork here about the Board of Trustees, if I may take this out of sequence. The other part of my job with the President’s office was to serve as secretary to the Board of Trustees, if elected, they did have the discretion to elect someone else if they wished to, but I was elected to he the secretary. Other institutions may have a separate secretary for the President and the Board, or one of their own members may be the secretary, hut if that happens usually it’s still my counterpart, who will do the work, but they will not have the title and they will do it behind the scenes. When I started there were five members of the Board of Trustees, and in 1985 the legislature changed the membership to seven, so I accumulated two more. The Trustees, to set the tone here, the Trustees are appointed by the Governor to be the stewards of public trust when it comes to the institution of higher learning, and they serve six year terms. They can only be removed from office during those six years by resignation, if they choose to do that, or from proven malfeasance or misfeasance in office. And this is not clearly understood by a lot of the people. There is a reason that people would not know that unless they had a gripe against a Board member or so forth. Their responsibilities include hiring a President, approving the hiring of the faculty and other staff, except for where the’ delegate that authority, again (?) you choose to employ. The work with faculty and establish a curriculum, and they set the University policy, approve the budget, the major capital projects, and they always maintain to themselves the right to name the buildings. They certainly would receive all recommendations, hut the right to name them, they held to themselves. They serve without compensation, but they do have great authority. As far as I know, there are no specific credentials for one to have to serve as a member of a Board of Trustees, but to serve effectively I can tell you that the person must have a very profound interest in the university and its mission, its faculty, its students, and its staff. And if you don’t have that and are not willing to make that commitment, you should probably seek to serve in a public capacity in some other way than he a member of the Board of Trustees. It’s been my privilege to serve twenty members of the Board, and through almost fourteen exciting, sometimes chaotic, but absolutely always interesting years. Each member brought his or her own management style and experience to the Board, and I’ve learned a great deal from each of them. When I retired their gift to me was a personal check from each one, the total of which, paid for one quarter’s tuition and fees as they supported me in my goal of achieving my degree. and that was pretty amazing. When I get to the duties of the President’s Office. having said that I managed the time and resources, my duties were so aligned with supporting the President and the Board, I did every clerical function imaginable including running copies when they needed to be run. We produced an agenda for the Board, we produced twelve copies of that, one of which always went to the newspaper. There were never any top secrets that couldn’t he shared with the public, we operated under the Open Meeting Act. All our Presidents had absolutely open door policies, and each of them assured every parent when they would come for Parent’s Weekend, “If you have a problem, or a concern regarding your child, and you can’t get the answers, you call me.” And they did, and the Presidents never reneged on that commitment, everyone of them followed through, and often I would do the groundwork on which they could proceed to follow through to answer whatever questions. There were no limits put on what I did. I did anything, and everything that was professionally required of me to do and beyond that. I think I enjoyed an actual friendship which is important.
Smith: Now, Gloria, many of us will remember the fact of your graduating with your degree. How did you ever find time to earn it?
Craig: As I mentioned, in 1973 1 took the first class that was largely to update my knowledge and skills and make sure that I was still effective. It wasn’t a matter of finding time as much as it was a matter of making time. I felt that it was so important to me because I didn’t want things to leave this campus that were not state of the art, up to date. and accurate. I wanted to he as professional as I could be. So we had to do it on a make up time basis, and as I came earlier and didn’t take a lunch hour, originally. I managed to achieve the rank of, as I should say of junior. but in the middle of my junior year. it was toward the end of the Eighties and things had become so extremely chaotic and stressful at the lime due to a number of things, one of which was the loss of our accreditation, our special accreditation through the teacher education program, and many other conflicting issues. My stress level had been saturated and I felt that it was not realistic for me to continue to take a class a quarter because by then I had decided. “I am going to take a class a quarter, perhaps I can achieve my life long goal of a University degree.” And at that time I thought, probably, I would not work all the way to age sixty-five because I was afraid that perhaps my stress level would begin to take its toil on my health if I worked that long, and I thought, “OK, the perfect way of transition from a very busy life as a professional, to something more leisurely, might he to go to school full time and finish that degree. So perhaps I’ll retire early enough that I will still have the mental acumen and the physical energy to do so.” And I did and it was absolutely a thrill.
Smith: Gloria, while you were attending classes and still the Presidents secretary, do you feel that there were any of your professors that were intimidated by the fact that they had a person of your rank and position sitting in front of them?
Craig: First of all. Milo, remember that I was still occupying a position which was largely traditional to females, and therefore with some I was just a secretary. I feel that was probably not true of most faculty, as much as it was still business people. You ‘d get a call and people would say. “I talked to some secretary.’ People who speak in those terms truly do not understand the broad scope of responsibility and influence that many secretaries have. And I would venture to guess that I had a sphere of influence at least as large as most faculty, if not beyond because I dealt daily with Olympia. probably weekly with Washington, D.C. And in that vain, I might say also that I was privileged to give two presentations through the Association of Governing Boards on the National level, one in New Orleans and one in Washington D.C. I don’t recall anyone ever making any kind of discrimination against me or any bias, or especially personal bias. Fm a person who has a fairly strong identity of my own and I don’t think that any of them would question why I was there. If I was there to give them a hard time, why would I bother, number one because I was already entrenched in the President’s Office, so I must be there to learn. As I’m there to learn, it must mean that i don’t know what they’re talking about or I wouldn’t be there wasting their time or mine. So, no, I don’t believe that I was ever treated any differently other than to look at me sometimes and wonder why I was bothering to do this. I was having a very successful career, but, no I had no (?).
Smith: Now, sitting in classes. Gloria, with students considerably younger than you were, did you ever feel that they were intimidated by the fact that you were there, and you handled the language so well, and you seemed to be so well informed?
Craig. Well, yeah, and I think that probably they wondered what is she doing here because some of them especially when I was taking the 100 level courses which you have to take to finish off your basic requirements and those broad wonderful courses are wonderful anyway, but I’m sure that the new freshmen might have questioned what was she doing here? Why is she here? And I would think to myself, occasionally, I wonder if they understand that learning is lifelong, and that you are absolutely privileged to be exposed to what is basically the sum total of knowledge of civilization at this point in time. No matter what you might be interested in, no matter what area you wish to pursue as a future career, the base of the knowledge which is collected to this point in time is available right here. right now (?) Now me, I just get goose bumps over that because it is here, and I hope to God I never lose my excitement over having the availability of that learning if I choose and (?) to do that. I’d love to share with you that at least once a quarter I had a student tell me I was an inspiration, and more than once they said, “But. you work so hard.” And I found that extremely amusing because I didn’t have a choice. I don’t know how else I could have learned if I had not worked hard. It doesn’t come that easily to me. I mean particularly concepts that are I don’t work with daily. Certainly language and communication skills, again going back to my wonderful high school teacher, were not as difficult, hut when it came to things like the chemical background (?) rock and all that, I had to seek out students who would give me a hand up. I, in turn, when we were in a math class and we were trying to identify areas on a map was a little more informed than they because I had experience. So it became a real give and take situation and it worked out, I think to the mutual beneficiality. I was thrilled with all this. And in fact, it opened their eyes a couple of times to think there were things they didn’t know about life.
Smith: I will not ask you to make any comparisons of people under whom you served, but I will ask you to comment concerning management styles. Now you were constantly changing your superior. You must have had to have been very flexible to be able to adapt to new management styles with each new Business Manager, with each new President. Did you find that you were walking tight ropes all the time trying to meet these new demands?
Craig: Yes. As a matter of fact it was a challenge, but I enjoy a challenge. I’m probably a chameleon when it comes to that, and it was real easy for me to adapt to any new management style as long as the focus of that style did not conflict with the basic well-being of this institution, to put it in the frame work of Central Washington University. And here again I would like to establish a little of the background on the Presidencies and so forth. Washington State Normal School at Ellensburg became Central Washington College of Education in 1937. Central Washington Univ... excuse me Central Washington State College in 1961, and then Central Washington University in 1977. and that was the last year of the Presidency of Dr. James Brooks. Dr. Donald Garrity came from San Francisco State to become the ninth President in 1978, and it was he who hired me to be the secretary of the President in 1981. To reflect the broadening of responsibilities of both his position and mine, my title was changed to administrative assistant to the President in 1989. When President Garrity left his post at the end of December in 1991, Dr. James Pappas, who was the Dean of Academic Services, was named to be the interim President, and I worked with him until Dr. Ivory Nelson was hired to be President and came to Central from the Community College System in San Antonio, Texas which was in the month of March 1992. Each of these men, on a personal level, expressed to me their desire, and encouragement for me to express myself very freely, to share them concerns that were being shared with me on a daily basis. In fact some people probably thought they had a direct conduit to the President, but I was very circumspect in what was told to me that I relayed to the President. Often, the President wasn’t willing even to hear it. But I tried to address everyone who had a concern with sensitivity, and If I was going to share it with the President, I would tell them so and give them the opportunity to say no or yes. And sometimes they did, and I’d get a no, I don’t want you to share it with the President. But anyway I had a really good relationship in there because, as I have mentioned before, I think each one of them was my friend. They all put the students first, and they all had the basic well-being of Central at heart, and I can support any one of them. While each of the Presidents is different, there is certain characteristic which is typical of people who seek to be a chief executive officer anywhere, and it’s that timbre that I seem to enjoy supporting. I probably, if I had been able to achieve the degree earlier in my life, would have been a chief executive officer, but having that been denied me I certainly had no problem in supporting one who assumed that position. I suppose you could label it, leadership in general. But I think that basically it’s that willingness to literally lay your professional life on the line, and sometimes your real physical life, for the good of the whole institution. That takes intestinal fortitude, to say the least. And when you’re finished with the theorizing, and the philosophizing, and the rationalizing, a decision has to be made. Good or bad, a decision has to be made, and you can’t have a C.E.O. who is incapable of making that final decision. Certainly, each of them takes into account input. to use a computer term. Input from each area concerned, from each individual who has something to contribute. Then you synthesize it, you think about it all, and you consider it, but the bottom line is you must make a decision, and (?). Good or bad, the responsibility, the final outcome is yours, and let me tell you it’s not for the feint of heart. If you believe in the institution as I do you’ll find real fulfillment in helping those people execute the responsibilities and achieve excellence in success. It’s not easy and they need all the help they can get. President Garrity was a sociologist who specialty was criminology, and I think that the discipline from which the administrators come often is reflected in how they perform their duties as President. He taught a class when his schedule would allow, and he stayed in touch with several of his students over the years. And they said each of these Presidents... the basic and all reaching premise on which they proceeded was, the students come first. President Garrity did have a great sense of humor, and he was an Irishman, and he loved people. A particular note in his Presidency in reflecting on when I was preparing to do this tape, I think that number one would have to be the expansion of International Programs, with a special emphasis on the Pacific Rim, as being one of the primary thrusts of Dr. Garrity’s interest beyond the normal duties of steering the ship. lie, Mrs. Garrity, and I all took a year of the Japanese language, and the accompanying culture class, and then I also took the culture class that was offered with the Chinese culture, so that I could greet our exchange visitors appropriately, and they loved it. It was never surprising when it was a student because they expected that of the newly educated, but when it was an older woman, they knew some effort had to be made. and when it was (?)or President of the University, their eyes just bulged because in Japan that’s an elitist position. They are not available to students as our Presidents are here. So it was quite rewarding. The effort was well worth it. And then in 1983 we made the list of U.S. News and World Report’s list of Best Small Colleges West of the Mississippi, which is quite astounding considering that we had just come out of that extremely traumatic budget blood-bath. He also formed the President’s Associate’s Group, and these people contributed both money and time to this University. The funds that they contributed were distributed in grants. Often times that was the only money available for special trips for our athletes, special seminars that faculty weren’t able to get to because of tight budgets, and they were able to submit a grant request and often receive it. He formed the President’s Scholarship Fund from also that outside money and that was to bring top scholars throughout the state as magnets to draw other people to the institution and that was a full tuition and fees scholarship for four years. A very successful program. lie also spearheaded the construction of the Japanese Garden and regardless of many of the letters to the editor, from anyone who might be researching that project a lot of money that was donated came from Japanese organizations who were, the populations of which were ex-Central students in some cases, Central Alums who had gone back to Japan. He was very interested in expanding the foundation and did get it into the millions of dollars. And he was the President in charge of planning for the remodeling of Barge Hall, and the initial planning for that new science building under construction. Interim-President James Pappas worked very hard to open the channels of communication from faculty to administration, they were having a difficult time at that time with several things that were happening. He kept everyone involved in working towards the common goal while we waited the appointment of’ the arrival of the new President. And he regularly teaches in the Douglas Honors College, so each of the Presidents still keeps that contact with the students in the class room setting also. He is also (?) the Dean of Academic Services. He was a great assistance to President Nelson when he arrived and undertook his orientation and helped him become acquainted with the campus community. President Nelson, on the other hand is an analytical chemist, and he is the first African-American President of a four year public institution in the State of Washington. That in itself was quite unique and a very interesting experience, and very fulfilling experience. I was happy to be of support to him at that time. While I worked for him the high points that I do remember, he engaged campus in an in-depth strategic planning exercise, much to the chagrin of those who had to really set down on paper, what their Departments were all about, and what was of primary importance to them, and what did they need to have supported over all. Here again, everyone was held accountable and had to make some hard decisions. It’s an ongoing exercise, but it’s absolutely primary to the budget process, and he believed in that. He also was invited and did serve on the State sponsored commission on student learning, and that’s the body in Olympia which is engaged in setting the course of education the State of Washington into the 2 1St century and probably beyond (?). He brought to campus at large a state of full computer literacy. It had been started previously, but he made it happen, and as far as I know, managed to get a computer on every faculty member’s desk. He also had more computer labs established, and for the students and in more accessible locations for them. And then he helped to achieve the final funding for the new science building to go forward. He too, has a great sense of humor, and he was easy to work for. I think he probably has done many other special things since I left, but I only speak for his first few years because (?) and I promised the Board (?) The Presidents can’t do their job alone and I hope everyone who might look at this tape understands that, hut they’re the ones on the firing line when ever a tax paver has a complaint to make. Without exception those 1 worked for kept their commitments to parents to keep the well-being of those students, their children, at the top of the priority list. And I also have to mention, my great affection and absolute total respect for the wives of these Presidents, Virginia Garrity and Patricia Nelson, Denise Pappas, too. They followed in the grand tradition that was established when I was acquainted with Central’s first lady, and that was Lilian Brooks. They’re the true unsung heroes, and if you ever doubt it, just follow one of them for one week. People would sometimes say,” If I earned a hundred thousand a year. I could run this institution, too. And at that point, on occasion, I got on my soap box and explained the realities of that hundred thousand a year. The twenty-four hours a day that sometimes the President, and his wife, who receives no remuneration, are called upon all the activities that accompany the ongoing education mission in the institution. The drama, the music, the arts, the athletics, I don’t think that one area was ever denigrated, or thought less of or ignored by these Presidents, and their wives. And in some I figured out that probably, because they get no overtime you realize, so the week ends when they go to the alumni groups and the President’s Association, factor that in, and I think they make, probably, $1.98 an hour. So, I would question whether or not just any of us could walk in off the street and do the job.
Smith: Now, Gloria, as we begin to close our interview, are there subject areas I have not touched on that you’d like to make comment in closing?
Craig: Well, other than the things that I’ve already mentioned, perhaps the high point of my own personal experience. I do want to share a few things because they, again would get lost over the years, and rightfully so. It’s not so important to know who did it. as to know that it got done. But one of the first things that I did when 1 went to the President’s Office was a continuation of work started by Mildred Paul and myself and JoAnn Mitchell, who was then secretary to the Provost, others who worked with institutional policy on a daily basis. There had never been a comprehensive policy manual (caused by, collated, and accessible to the institution and the outside world. And we all felt it should be done and they tried hiring people to do it, hut it never came to happen because people who were not associated with the institution didn’t understand what they had to produce, or how to produce it. And so I took that on as my personal project that I would try to achieve early on in my tenure in the President’s Office. But, of course, with all the budget cuts and everything that got in the way and the two a month Board meetings, it had to take a back seat, hut I did work at it, and when I finished I had a codified, coherent University policy manual, and institute of methodology for keeping it up dated and in use. And together with my co-worker, again strong individual, who is still working here, by the way, Judy Couture, who did most of the keyboarding and the text because remember all that had gone before was not on any kind of a disc, it had to be regenerated each time. They had a mag, what they call a mag-card machine, but number one you had to find the cards then you had to have a machine to put it on, and then you had to know how to run it. So, the bottom line was, it took me almost three years to complete the project because no release time was available, and I was already coming in on Saturdays. So that was not really a realistic time because I did have a family to take care of But I ended it by coming in between six and eight A.M. on week days. and it was with a great sense of accomplishment that Judy and I hand carried the finished product to each campus office in a red binder that says, “University Policies Manual”. And is now I understand. they’ve put it off line, too. so now it’s totally accessible.
Putnam: What year was that?
Craig: That was in 1985. I think when I finally finished it. So I had gone in in ‘81, and of course, what that represents is every policy that the Board of Trustees has said is institutional policy, and it’s available in the library to students, it’s available in any campus office to a person who comes. You want to know the committees and who the make up is and what their function is, it’s there. The Board Constitution and By-laws is there. The WAC, we even included portions of administrative code, portions that pertain to Central, it’s there. And at one point when they were working on a draft early in 1974, they took a draft to the Board, but it was simply, Millie didn’t have the opportunity or the equipment or the time to codify it, and it was an interesting little clip in the Board of Trustees minutes along at that era that said, “President Brooks and Assistant Attorney General Fritz Clarke would meet and codify this manual.” And, of course, that was just another thing that just a secretary was able to do even though it was almost ten years later. The other high point for me personally, I, as an intern, I gave the two presentations on a national level. I managed to convert the minute taking process for the Board of Trustees from shorthand to computer before I left. Then I was given the responsibility in the planning procedure for Barge Hall to make the major meeting rooms 304 and a Board Meeting Room 412, and the Board Conference Room 410 serviceable, meaningful, comfortable, into the 21st century, and make it functional as well. And that to me was one of the biggest thrills of my life. When we finished it, those rooms are totally conducive to having meetings, we were able to get the screens that come down out of the ceiling so a person could come and five minutes before the meeting and say, By the way, did I tell you I needed a screen?” It used to be then that meant you had to get to the library to get a screen, or you had to wait until somebody brought one in, and so forth. Anyway, I was able also to put a fully functional kitchen there, so that if indeed the President’s Residence was ever taken off line, there was still a place that we could have meetings and whatever kind of social function that you would need to have. They have matching furniture so that they can inter-act with one another. It didn’t make one room totally a social room, or they could move furniture around and have all manner of options in that. So that was exciting, and something of long-lasting value, I think. Then it was (?) to tack on in the late 1950’s, then it had to he removed because of earthquake damage. (?)once a month. (?But to )put it back on. And reestablished the integrity of this building. They also added the words “Washington State Normal School’ over the main entrance. That was exciting for some students who had seen that on an early photo, I think, probably similar to this one. Then, of course, the bottom line, (?) retired, and that was exciting to be able to occupy the space that we’d planned for so long, and then came June 8th, 1996 when I was handed that University Degree. I think that probably, that was extremely important beyond just myself because, as I said, there were (?), particularly for women, for myself through one more generation, on my mother’s side of the family. (‘?) So that was exciting and I felt a responsibility to those people and will always be grateful that the Board supported me so totally and that President Nelson participated in handing me the degree.
Putnam: What was our degree in?
Craig: My degree is a Bachelor of Science, and I finished it in individuaI Studies because I had done Administrative Office Management, which had been my major. I felt I’d had a rather successful career. I wanted to broaden that thinking ahead that I might need to read some (?) for women meeting (‘?) advantages, or possibly self-confidence that I had to (?). And to do that I needed to get two other women to study. So my program was called Individual Studies, Women in Management. And a Bachelor of Science. And my committee was comprised of Dr.. Ross Byrd, who is the Chair of Business Education and Administrative Manager Programs Dr. Laura Appleton, in Sociology and Women’s Studies Program and Dr. Dolores Osborne, who is also in Business Education and Administrative Management. None of whom will give anyone a free ride. You’ve made your grade, or you don’t get it. And that’s fair. I have no problem with that.
Smith: Gloria. I believe I’m right, ‘our mother did live to see your granting of the degree wasn’t it? Did she?
Craig: No, she died.
Smith: Didn’t she die shortly before?
Craig: Six days. Six days before I graduated.
Smith: Oh, I’m sorry.
Craig: So we had her funeral on Wednesday of finals week. My grandson graduated high school on Thursday of finals week, and then, of course, my graduation was on Saturday. (?) But she knew I was getting it. She knew I had made cum laude, which I was also very proud of And so I felt that she went to her grave knowing that we had done it.
Smith: She certainly knew before she died that you had completed the work for the degree.
Craig: Absolutely.
Smith: Well, that’s good. That’s consolation.
Craig: Part of the reason I would like to just sum up, just saying that I believe myself to be among the most blessed people of the world. I had an absolutely marvelous career in which I not only obtained successful fulfillment, but I enjoyed the loving support of my biological family, as well as warm, wonderful human relations with in my extended family at Central. And I call on these strengths still today and every’ day. A few words of wisdom, which I really feel I need to do. I say them to those who might see this tape. respect yourself and others. I believe that all work is meaningful, if there’s a job to be done, and has meaning and you should do the best you can every singe day. Try to enjoy what you do and keep your sense of humor, above all, smile. Nobody likes a grump. Don’t take yourself too seriously, and remember that any given situation may be more than a simple matter of either this or that, and perhaps you can negotiate for a win-win situation for everyone. If you can’t change it, then try changing the way that you look at it, but don’t waste your time or anyone else’s productive energy...
END OF TAPE