President’s Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities
May 5, 2015
Meeting Minutes
Attendance: Wendy Beckwith, Chandler Bullard, Sylvia Foster, Linda Guttman, Georgia Kerns, Jeff Parsons, Tobey Partch-Davies, James Piet, Kei Saito, Lonn Sattler, Tara Scholder, Judy Stevens
I.…..MINUTES
· In reference to the April 7th meeting minutes, Wendy asked that an additional item be added to the bullet point that references snow removal under the Physical Access Working Group section.
“There will be an opportunity for constituent feedback during the development of the snow removal route.”
o Members approved the minutes with this additional item.
II. MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
· Members were asked to bring forth their student, staff and faculty nominations for membership.
· Georgia will stay on as co-chair for another year. Nominations are being sought for a second co-chair.
III. BUDGET UPDATE
· Members voted to approve $250 to co-sponsor the September 30th, MUB Lecture program with Kevin Briggs and Kevin Berthia who will talk about their suicide prevention program.
o Funds will be coming from the FY16 account.
· Georgia noted that Jamie Nolan has informed the commission co-chairs that a portion of all commission budgets for FY 16 will be set aside for speakers/programming.
o The Advisory Council for Community, Equity and Diversity (ACCED) will be charged with approving funding allocations.
o Commissions will need to submit a proposal to ACCED for fund request beyond $500.
IV. UPDATE FROM ACCED MEETING
· The link for the investigative report on the incidents involving the assistant basketball coach has been removed from the president’s web site; however, the report can still be found using a Google search. This issue will be addressed.
· To prevent this type of overexposure from happening again, a small team of people (to include Jaime) will be charged with reviewing documents/reports to assure that faculty, staff and student identities are protected and that reports do not include inappropriate descriptors.
· The task force being developed will include representation from all commissions, as well as UNHM and the Law School and objectives will stretch beyond the recommendations presented in the McLane Title IX report. A working group will be meeting over the summer to map out the parameters for the listening sessions that will take place during fall semester.
o Tobey and Kei are both interested in being a part of the task force.
V. AWARDS REVIEW TASK FORCE
· Lonn reported that a web site will be developed to act as a portal for all student, staff and faculty awards. The group is working to build the infrastructure of award contacts, descriptions and criteria over the summer.
· All awards presented from the commissions will need to show a connection to the UNH Strategic Plan. Lonn proposed using wording from the Visions and Values area of the plan identified under the heading “culture of inclusion and diversity”.
o He will send out the draft to members for review/feedback.
VI. UPDATES FROM WORKING GROUPS
PROGRAMMING WORKING GROUP
· The group will bring forth their ideas during the September meeting for the commission to either co-sponsor a speaker or to hold a resource fair for International Education week.
PHYSICAL ACCESS WORKING GROUP
· Lonn and Chandler met with staff from Facilities and provided them their list of accessible doorway preferences on buildings located within the core campus parameter. Facilities would like to assure that one door with electronic access is always kept free of snow and ice. Strategic pick-up and drop off points will also be added to the proposed snow route.
o Further discussions will need to take place between Housekeeping and Facilities with regard to snow removal duties in and around accessible door pathways, as well as plans for curtailment days.
COMMUNICATIONS WORKING GROUP
· Due to the absence of members, no update was provided from this group.
VII. NEW BUSINESS
· Wendy provided information on the upcoming 25th anniversary of ADA, which is scheduled for July 26th. She asked commission members to sign the online pledge to work towards expanding and upholding the ADA. There is no financial obligation involved with signing the pledge.
· She would also like to see the university sign the pledge and will send the link and information to Jaime as well as her contacts at Northeast Passage.
· To assure the commission meets its yearly goals, during the September meeting, members will revisit its priorities for the commission and determine if working groups need to be revamped or added.
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Respectfully submitted
Janice Pierson
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