Approved Minutes For Meeting On June 16, 2010

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Date: June 16, 2010

Program:

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

2. Roll Call

Members Present: Tuesday Ashner, Steve Buhman, Janet Douglas, JP Dunn, Pat Eckert, Jon Geiger, Alfred Jackson, Barbara Lokaitis, Mike Reiman, Meredith Rhoads, Amy Rose, Charlotte Sarao, Rod Sievers, Gloria Yuncker.

Members Absent: Natalie Branca; Layla Murphy.

Proxies: Carla Coppi for Lori Stettler; Pat Eckert for Vern Goode; Gloria Yuncker for Sue Tin.

Visitors and Guests: Paul Bennett, Tracy Bennett, Rita Cheng, Susan Edgren, Carl Ervin, Kristine McGuire.

3. Guest

JP Dunn welcomed Chancellor Cheng, who was asked to speak about her vision for SIUC in the next 12-18 months. Chancellor Cheng thanked the Council for the opportunity to meet with them. She stated that she is attempting to meet with as many groups and individuals as possible during the early weeks of her chancellorship in order to have a deeper understanding of life at the University. She believes it is early in her chancellorship to be thinking through a defined vision. However, she does plan to give a State of the University address in the early fall and give her impressions at that time. There are three major areas that she has been giving much thought. The first is stabilizing the University's financial situation and having transparency in the budget conversation. She would like to engage people in planning for the next year or two with operating on less resources. There should be a better understanding across the campus of the resource base. Better economic times will come, but the institution will still have to tighten its belt, use its resources wisely and determine what it can do without. In the long run, any decisions made must not damage the institution. She is also very conscious of the fact that cutting too much could cause damage for several years to come. With respect to personnel, Chancellor Cheng indicated that [the administration] will continue to hire diligently and prioritize hiring. There is a potential for furloughs, but that will not be a consideration until the University becomes aware of the depth of any requested budget cuts (currently 4-5% is possible).

Chancellor Cheng commented that a second area she has been giving much thought to is student success, accessibility to the institution and the enthusiasm among high school and transfer students about coming to SIUC. Once they are here, [the focus then becomes] making sure they are successful and graduate. She noted that increasing graduation and retention rates will be very important to the overall enrollment growth. Chancellor Cheng reported that she has been examining the area of Enrollment Management and has made a director change. There are currently 26 reporting lines to that director, so the staff there are being engaged in conversations about any changes that may have to take place down the road to make that operation more responsive to prospective students and parents. Chancellor Cheng reported that a third area she is very conscious of is the research aspect and mission of the University. There are some world-class activities taking place at this institution, and she does not want to see, during this budget climate, any loss of star researchers to other universities or any inability to provide the institutional support and matching dollars that are necessary [to the University's research mission]. At the same time, she does not want to focus so much on the budget as to scare off prospective students, faculty and others who have the ability to go other directions.

Chancellor Cheng reported that she will be making a trip to the Springfield campus, as well as take a tour of the farms here and other areas around the region. The University just came through a very successful accreditation, and the review team commented to her that they were very impressed with the programs, the dedication and the quality of the staff. Their suggestions were two-fold; as they were unable to get a sense of the financial situation, they would like to be informed next year as to how the University is faring. Also, they would like the institution to engage in some planning under the new chancellor to think throughSouthern at 150 and beyond. SIUC will celebrate its 150th year in 2019, but from a planning perspective, the Southern at 150 document at this stage is short term. Therefore, the campus needs to engage in some long-term visioning that will help go beyond 2019. She noted that there has not been a good assessment done with respect to tracking the goals ofSouthern at 150, so there will be conversations about that as well.

There was a short question and answer session, at which time issues such as how the University would repay any borrowed funds; the possibility of closing or working half days on Fridays during the summer; and the proposed changes to the A/P term to continuing policy were discussed.

4. Minutes

The minutes of the meetings on May 19, 2010, were approved as presented.

5. Adoption of Meeting Agenda: C. Sarao moved to adopt the agenda; seconded by J. Geiger. Motion carried.

6. Reports

6.1 Chair 
JP Dunn reported that there has not yet been a constituency heads meeting, although the Chancellor's office is working to get those scheduled. Also, he received from J. Baggott drafts of two documents a "University Code of Conduct" and "University Code of Ethics," both for the SIU system. JP Dunn distributed copies of the documents to Council members and asked that any comments be sent to him within the next week. He explained that the Board of Trustees requested the University adopt a system- wide code of conduct and code of ethics. According to the letter he received, a working group was assembled by the President's office to draft the documents. Any comments received will be considered in the finalization of the codes, which will go to the Board approval. S. Buhman asked if the Council had a representative on the committee. JP Dunn did not believe so. P. Eckert asked if the documents were condensed because there is a conflict of interest statement that people are asked to sign. She wondered whether the working group used some of the language already out there and is attempting to consolidate all the pieces into one document. JP Dunn responded that the documents refer [not only] to the conflict of interest policy, [but the] ethics training and research and human subjects. C. Sarao questioned whether the documents include wording from the Student Conduct Code because they refer to students as well. JP Dunn believes the drafts include everyone associated with all three campuses. J. Geiger asked whether [approval of] the documents would mean that employees would no longer have to go through the ethics training. JP Dunn did not believe that would be the case.C. Coppi found it odd that no one has a recollection of [these policies] being rewritten. She suggested that since JP Dunn only just received the documents, he should do some background investigation to find out: i) what/where was [the Council's] representation; ii) what exactly is the impetus for creating the documents; and iii) do they supersede or incorporate other documents. She asked that JP Dunn get some background and report back at the Council's July meeting. [R. Sievers] noted that often these kinds of documents are written for the system by the President's office, and often the Council does not participate. C. Coppi pointed out that the Council has been asked to weigh in on other system documents such as the plagiarism policy and the sexual harassment policy, so the group has participated in re-writes of drafts of prior presidential system-wide policies. R. Sievers believes what [the President's office] is attempting to do is consolidate the various individual policies for the different campuses at a system level and then have each campus [develop their own procedures] for implementation. JP Dunn asked Council members to read over the documents, and he will come back with more information.

6.2 Board of Trustees 
JP Dunn reported the Board held an emergency meeting at Edwardsville on June 10 to approve borrowing for the campuses. Special approval by the Board is needed, as the funds will be used for payroll.

6.3 Human Resources (HR) 
T. Bennett reported [during the Q&A with Chancellor Cheng] that the proposed changes to the Conversion of Term to Continuing Administrative/Professional Appointment Policy is currently on J. Baggott's desk to bring to Chancellor Cheng. T. Bennett noted that J. Baggott was chair of the A/P Staff Council at the time the changes were proposed and could provide the Chancellor a history on how the changes transpired.

6.4 Representatives to University Committees

6.4a Ombudsman Advisory - Carl Ervin 
C. Ervin presented his report (included as appendix 1 to the minutes).

6.4b Recreational Sports and Services Advisory - Paul Bennett 

P. Bennett presented his report (included as appendix 2 to the minutes).

6.4c University Women's Professional Advancement - Kristine McGuire 

K. McGuire presented her report (included as appendix 3 to the minutes).

6.5 Standing Committees

6.5a Approval of Standing Committee Assignments 
JP Dunn reviewed the standing committee assignments for 2010 (included as an attachment to the agenda). P. Eckert moved to approve the standing committee assignments as presented; seconded by A. Jackson. Motion carried.

6.5b Recess to Elect Standing Committee Chairs 
JP Dunn called for a short recess and asked committees to meet briefly and elect their chairs.

6.5c Executive Committee 
T. Ashner reported the committee met and reviewed the minutes from the May meetings, as well as determined standing committee assignments. She noted that they attempted to give everyone their first or second choice. Also discussed was a motion for the Haiti Project, which will be presented later in the agenda. JP Dunn announced that he will invite the standing committee chairs to attend Executive Committee meetings as part of an expanded executive committee.

6.5d Committee on Committees 
A. Rose reported she was elected to chair the committee.

6.5de Constituency Relations 
S. Buhman reported that he was elected to chair the committee.

6.5f Operating Paper 
R. Sievers reported he was elected to chair the committee.

6.5g Staff Benefits 
C. Sarao reported she was elected to chair the committee.

6.5h Staff Welfare 
A. Jackson reported he was elected to chair the committee.

7. Old Business - None.

8. New Business

Based on the presentation given by Dr. Uche Onyebadi in May regarding the Haiti School Project, J. Geiger moved for approval of the following motion (seconded by T. Ashner):

"The SIUC Administrative and Professional Staff Council supports the efforts of Dr. Uche Onyebadi and the Haiti School Project to raise funds from faculty, staff and students for construction of at least one primary school in Haiti."

A. Jackson asked whether an attempt is being made to combine the other fund raising efforts for Haiti into one project. He is aware that several student groups have their own initiatives. T. Ashner believes the students are raising money for relief efforts. U. Onyebadi's goal is to build an SIU primary school and supply it with equipment, etc. He believes it will cost approximately $100,000 to build such a school and would work through the embassy to have it equipped, buy uniforms for the students and pay the teachers. The campaign, which U. Onyebadi hopes to launch in the fall, is to ask every faculty, staff and student to give $5 towards this goal. He approached the Council and asked for a motion of support. T. Ashner indicated the funds would go through the SIU Foundation. K. McGuire noted that the Foundation retains 6% of all gifts to go toward administrative costs. Of that 6%, 1% is given back to the unit that received the money to run their operation. T. Ashner added that this is standard procedure with all development operations at all universities. Motion to support the Haiti School Project was unanimously approved.

9. Announcements

C. Coppi announced that she, C. Ervin and A. Jackson serve on the programming committee for Saluki First Year, which is a very powerful retention tool for the University. Part of the Saluki First Year is a common reader, and this year they have selected a theme to coincide with the 5th year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The common reader will be 1 Dead in Attic, a Pulitzer Prize-winning compilation of emotionally riveting, yet hopeful articles taken from the New Orleans Times Picayune that were written during the catastrophe and throughout the year afterward. The book will be given to the entire freshman cohort, but all faculty and staff are encouraged to read it as well. There will be a series of programs and celebratory activities around the book, including Cajun bands; presentations by the author and by SIUC faculty and staff who have been to New Orleans many times to help with the relief efforts; and a documentary on the animal rescue efforts.

10. Adjournment