Staff Council Executive Committee Meeting with Interim President Boyd
Wednesday, September 25, 2002, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Present: Pat Arkema, Ella Born, Charlie Eastham, Jeff Evans, Dave Martin, Bonnie McIntosh,Donna Muller, Janice Simmons-Welburn
1. The Executive Committee members introduced themselves to President Boyd.
2. Interim President Boyd’s Comments
a. President Boyd mentioned several things that he would like to see done in an effort to reach out to the people in the state. He believes that the university needs to be seen in all counties of the state and that the viability of the state is directly linked to the viability of the university. President Boyd discussed the need to reverse the trend of decreased state funding for the state universities. He believes we need to raise the priority of the universities in the minds of the people of the state, and then the state legislators. President Boyd suggested the following tasks that he would like to see done during the next four years.
1) Resurrect a county contact program that was started in the '60s. It is a labor-intensive task. The university would do the contacting for the Board of Regents (BOR) and would be contacting alumni, patients, parents, and friends of the university.
2) Achieve a bigger bang for our outreach by using television and radio coverage to get an effect.
3) Resurrect the speaker's bureau. Include honors students who are doing research and encourage them to speak in their hometowns. They could report on the teaching and research at the university. Sponsoring faculty could possibly join them.
b. Dave Martin asked President Boyd if he would comment on the proposed tuition increase. President Boyd said that he firmly believes in access and keeping tuition as low as possible. The trend for tuition increases is national but he would like to see Iowa reverse this trend. President Boyd also feels that we must put special emphasis on the availability of financial aid.
3. Staff Council President's Comments
Dave Martin reminded everyone of the Fall Forum with President Boyd at noon today. Dave also mentioned that he attended the recent Board of Regents dinner for the staff excellence winners. He said that it was a very nice occasion.
4. Updates and Discussion Topics
a. Pat Arkema mentioned the joint budget committee proposal. She said that even though faculty have not yet appointed members to the committee, she and Paul Muhly decided to go ahead and start meeting jointly. There was a meeting last week to discuss the issue of general funds being used for athletics. Another meeting is scheduled for next week to discuss health care costs. President Boyd said that he does believe a joint committee is a good idea and that staff should go ahead with it.
b. Pat Arkema also discussed the Coca-Cola funds budget. She provided a handout showing how the funds for the current year have been dispersed and she said that there are many worthwhile requests for the funds. The university is now in the process of negotiating a new contract.
c. Charlie Eastham discussed the joint budget committee meeting that took place on September 20th and addressed the use of general funds to support athletics. He mentioned that one of the major points discussed is that the amount of funds that is given to athletics has increased substantially. A question was raised: Could this increase be flattened or stopped?
President Boyd mentioned that early on the practice was used to promote gender equity. He believes that the athletics program should be self-supporting. He would, however, like to see the women's programs be protected.
d. Dave Martin mentioned that the Staff Council University Relations Committee would be meeting jointly with the Faculty Governmental Relations Committee.
e. Janice Simmons-Welburn discussed her involvment with the steering committee for the campus capital campaign. She is participating in the kick off scheduled for October 9th. She has met with Della McGrath and Sam Becker to strategize how to get more staff involved. Again, Janice mentioned the stress would be put on the numbers of donators, not on the amount given. Pat Arkema mentioned that there has been some who have expressed concern with the approach of using home visits to solicit donations. Sue Buckley said that the intention is to create the opportunity and access to giving, but with absolutely no pressure to do so.
5. Sue Buckley's Comments
a. Sue said that HR has developed a proposal to perform credential checks at the point of hire. Degrees, certifications, and licenses would be checked. The proposal has gone to the HR Unit Rep group and will come the Staff Council in October.
b. Sue said that at the request of the Staff Council Human Resources Committee, Bob Millsap has drafted a policy of the process of reclassification of merit employees to P & S. This draft will go to the HR Unit Reps and then be shared with Staff Council.
c. For those who had not yet heard, Sue reported that the Board of Regents, at their recent meeting, approved the university's plan for IT reassignments. The next step is for letters to be sent to those individuals who will be affected.
d. Sue also mentioned that the HR Unit Rep meeting tomorrow would be the kick off for the group's reorganization. The first task will be for every unit to identify their lead representative. The Lead Rep would then identify all other HR reps in their unit. The ultimate goal is to have every staff member aware of who it is in their unit that is their HR representative.
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Future Executive
Committee Meetings: |
Future Meetings,
Interim President Boyd: |
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Thursday, October 10, 2002* |
Monday, October 28, 2002** |
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Thursday, November 14, 2002 |
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 |
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Thursday, December 5, 2002 |
Monday, December 9, 2002 |
*All Executive Committee meetings are 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
**All meetings with President Boyd are 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,