Approved Minutes For Meeting On March 18, 2009

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Date: April 15, 2009

Program:

1. The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Don Castle. Visitors and guests were welcomed and introduced.

2. Roll Call

Members Present: Phil Bankester, Don Castle, Carla Coppi, Patty Cosgrove, Jon Geiger, Gabriele Hoffmann, Heidi Jung, Barbara Nowack, Mike Reiman, Amy Rose, Mary Stammer, Allison Sutphin, Sharon Walters.

Members Absent: Mike Cubley, Dave Hahn, Dana McKenzie.

Proxies: Jon Geiger for Rod Sievers, Barbara Nowack for Barbara Cray Lokaitis, Sharon Walters for Sandra Rhoads.

Visitors and Guests: Ian Fryers, Corne Prozesky, Marge Selinger, Julia Spears, Lori Stettler, Sally Wright.

3. Guest

C. Prozesky and S. Wright gave a brief presentation about the Student Recreation Center and the programs it has to offer staff members and their families.

4. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting on February 18, 2009, were approved as presented.

5. Adoption of Meeting Agenda: D. Castle indicated the report of the Traffic and Parking Committee will be rescheduled. Hearing no dissent to the agenda, it was approved as amended.

6. Reports

6.1 Chair 
D. Castle reported: i) the Governor gave his budget address at noon. He is not aware of the specifics, but D. Castle indicated he did find a breakdown of the budget on the web which showed the University's allocation being slightly more this year than last. Also, the Presidential Scholarship Fund that was established for the late President Walker, which had been $1 million a year, is not in the budget. Governor Quinn set a four-day furlough for state employees; however, he (D. Castle) was told that the faculty contract excludes furloughs, so it would not make sense to enforce them here. He will continue to watch that issue and urged staff to read about the budget and what is happening in that area; ii) the constituency heads met on March 17. The Chancellor discussed the budget, noting they were awaiting the Governor's address. Consequently, not much in the way of planning could be done up until now. The Chancellor also briefly discussed the progress of Saluki Way, the implementation of Banner and the optimism about enrollment for next year; iii) the chancellor search committee met a couple of times in the last month. They are working to identify candidates to recruit. He believes the committee is entering the phase where different people will be contacted across the country and asked if they want more information or if they are interested in applying. The idea is to create a viable pool of candidates. The search will be full tilt in the fall. Normally, the Council is requested to submit three or four names for the search committee; however, the letter that will be coming to the Council in the next few weeks will request that he be re-nominated to the search committee. According to the chancellor search committee guidelines, A/P get one seat on the committee. P. Cosgrove noted she did not believe it was policy to submit more than one name, but it has been a formal practice. D. Castle believes there is a separate policy on chancellor searches and that the President's office is in charge of the search process. P. Cosgrove recalled when the administration began asking for more names than were needed because it was a major issue and was discussed at length by past Councils. D. Castle believes the requests for additional names stems from a concern that there be diversity on the committee. He indicated that the deadline for applications will be some time before the holidays, and there will be aggressiveness shortly after; iv) he recently attended a meeting at the Stone Center to defend the Council's changes to the Plagiarism Policy. The President's office has the changes/suggestions from all the constituency groups and has revised the policy. There will be a meeting with the other constituency [heads] on March 19 to hear their revisions to the policy. H. Jung asked if there is a newer version of the policy, D. Castle responded there is not one yet, but he may get that at the meeting. H. Jung asked if the document will still be in draft form. D. Castle believes some changes may need to be approved by the Board of Trustees, and, he is unsure, but some may have to be approved by the Chancellor; v) he and Civil Service Council President Mark Wetstein have discussed creating a joint resolution about [what will happen with] the non-contract civil service and professional staff in light of the budget talks. At one time, [the Council] would give input if a raise was going to be merit or across the board; now, regardless of whether it is cuts, raises or other kinds of issues, [unrepresented staff] want an opportunity for input. He hopes to get a joint resolution through the Executive Committee and bring it to the Council in April. If anyone has ideas about how the resolution should be written, let him know.

6.2 Board of Trustees 
D. Castle reported the Board did not meet in March, but will meet next on April 2 in Edwardsville. His guess is that most of the tuition and fees that have not yet come forward will be presented in April and approved in May.

6.3 Human Resources (HR) 

M. Selinger reported that she will be bringing Tracy Bennett with her to the April meeting. T. Bennett will now be sitting in on Council meetings, as she (M. Selinger) will be retiring on April 30.

6.4 Representatives to University Committees

6.4a Affirmative Action Advisory - Julia Spears 
J. Spears reported on the last two meetings of the committee (seeappendix).

6.4b Traffic and Parking - To be rescheduled.

6.4c Chancellor's Planning and Budget Advisory - Phil Bankester 
P. Bankester reported he has not been on the committee very long, but there have been changes to the way it operates. He is unsure how much advisory capacity really exists in that group, though there have been a few ideas kicked around, and they have been asked at large for suggestions. Mostly, the committee has been informed on issues such as enrollment numbers, problems with Banner and how those are being addressed and the new veterans program, which could bring greater enrollment numbers with respect to veterans. The committee had been meeting twice a month, but as of January is meeting only once a month. There was no meeting in March. At the last meeting, there was a great deal of discussion on potentials for budget cuts at different levels and different ways that may exist to save that money. The idea of furloughs was discussed, and it was mentioned that represented groups would need to be contacted to find out if their contracts would even allow that to occur. There was no information at that time if there would be any further rescission in this year's budget or with next year's. He hopes the committee will be given more information at its April meeting.

6.4d Chancellor's Advisory Review - Lori Stettler 
L. Stettler reported the committee has met three times over the course of this academic year. The committee is advisory to the Chancellor, and when students receive sanctions from Judicial Affairs, they have the opportunity to appeal at that level. The committee then makes a recommendation to the Chancellor as to whether the appeal should be upheld or whether there should be a change with regard to [the sanction]. L. Stettler reported the committee so far has heard six cases in the fall and six cases in the spring; all have been behavior-related (e.g., weapons, physical violence).

6.5 Standing Committees

6.5a Executive Committee 
S. Walters reported for S. Rhoads on the March 4 meeting: i) the committee reviewed the minutes from the February meeting and the draft of the meeting agenda for March; ii) D. Castle gave a Board of Trustees report and discussed the chancellor search. He indicated the constituency heads had not yet met this month; iii) with respect to standing committees, S. Walters reported that the Excellence Through Commitment award winners have been identified. She gave the dates of the Chancellor's award reception (April 22) and the Council's reception (April 29) and indicated the committee discussed the award guidelines. The proposal D. Hahn presented from the Staff Benefits Committee last month was discussed. The Executive Committee concurred with the suggestion that D. Hahn work with Becky Armstrong (Constituencies Office) to modify and format the proposal.

6.5b Ad Hoc Elections 

P. Cosgrove reported the elections are ongoing. The committee did receive nominations, though not enough in some sectors. The ballots have gone to Duplicating and should be mailed by the end of the week (some Council members noted they had already received theirs). P. Cosgrove urged everyone to vote. D. Castle thanked P. Cosgrove and the committee for their work in recruiting candidates, as there are several vacancies to be filled. He also reminded Council members that as the new Council is formed in May, there will be a need for officers and committee chairs. Those continuing members should take this under advisement.

6.5c Committee on Committees - None.

6.5d Constituency Relations 
S. Walters reminded Council members about the spring constituency reception on April 29.

6.5e Operating Paper - None.

6.5f Staff Benefits - None.

6.5g Staff Welfare 
H. Jung reported the committee will meet next week to address some of the goals that have not been wrapped up for this fiscal year. D. Castle noted the Council did start the year with some goals for each of the standing committees. He asked committee chairs and committee members to review those and take action on any goals that have not been met, if time allows.

7. Old Business

8. New Business

H. Jung commented she has noticed that the website is not being [monitored]. She recalled there was discussion last year about adding this as a responsibility of the vice chair. D. Castle noted the responsibility was not added to the Council's Operating Paper, but it is a working policy. S. Walters does not believe S. Rhoads is aware that this is part of her responsibility. H. Jung suggested the next Council should be made aware of the policy.

9. Announcements

10. Adjournment