Summary of April 11, 2005 Staff Senate Meeting
The meeting was called to order at 2:40 PM.
· Senate Chair Bill Forman reported on what was happening with budget issues. The Executive Committee had met with Mike Curtin and Susan Ingram. We asked for constituent feedback regarding Staff recommendations on salary and tuition increases.
· The majority of feedback suggested that anything less than a 5% increase should be given across the board to all employees receiving a satisfactory performance evaluation. The majority of staff also said that the tuition increase should be as little as possible.
· After looking at the cost to the University, the Executive Committee unanimously recommended a 4% salary increase with a 9.75% tuition increase. Bill said when he talked to Dr. Ramsey about the recommended salary increase, Dr. Ramsey said that it would be 3.5% and there was “no wiggle room”.
· The Legislative session was extremely positive for U of L – most projects were funded at the level proposed. Last year, we had to give back $3.1 million and Dr. Ramsey was able to recover that money in the state allocation.
· There should be a recommendation at the Trustee’s meeting on Thursday on hiring the EVP of Health Affairs. The name of the finalist was not revealed.
· There was a question about what Bill’s response was to Dr. Ramsey’s salary quote and Bill said that he did not respond because he did not feel additional comments were appropriate. A Senator expressed concern that there should have been a response and a continued fight rather than just rolling over, that was just far too passive. The topic of forming a union came up and Chair Forman asked that Sheryl Meier Chair an ad hoc Committee to look into that. Senators interested in participating in that group should contact her at .
· Some students are circulating a petition for no tuition increase.
· In seeking ways to increase communication, Bill and the Senate Officers have been seeking ways to improve our efforts. He asked if Senators would be interested in Town Hall Forums for Q & A without minutes being taken? The idea was met with lukewarm acceptance. Julien Carter is also trying to make himself available with specific office hours monthly for Staff Senators.
Faculty Senate Representative - News for April from the notes of Dr. Bob Staat.
· The meeting was opened with a memorial to Dr. John Dillon. Dr. Dillon was remembered as a very dedicated educator at the Speed Engineering School where he continued to contribute even in retirement. His achievements as a very capable administrator for U of L were also noted.
· The Academic Programs Committee in conjunction with the Planning and Budget Committee presented a proposal for an accounting certificate from CBPA to prepare individuals for the CPA exam. The proposal passed unanimously.
· The Redbook Committee had the second reading and discussion of the Speed School of Engineering personnel document. It was approved with a unanimous vote. Amendments to the Redbook relative to grievance procedures and the process for tenure review of the Law Library faculty were read for the first time.
· Planning and Budget Committee presented their recommendations regarding the budget. Following significant debate the following recommendations were adopted.
1. The Faculty Senate Planning and Budget committee endorses the recommendation from the Leadership Team for a 9.75% increase in tuition to be coupled with a comparable increase in scholarship and need-based financial assistance for students.
2. The Planning and Budget Committee endorses the recommendation from the Leadership Team for a 3.5% salary pool to fund performance-based salary increases for tenured and probationary faculty with a range of 2-5% for meritorious faculty. Mechanisms for distribution of these funds are described in Unit personnel documents.
3. The Planning and Budget Committee requests the Provost to direct each Unit to submit and receive approval for a Unit salary distribution plan for term and part-time faculty prior to release of any performance-based salary increase funds for the Unit. This is to ensure appropriate salary increases to term and part-time faculty and enhance the ability of the University to attract the highest quality individuals to these positions.
4. The Planning and Budget Committee endorses the recommendation from the Leadership Team for distribution of salary equity funds to tenured and probationary faculty, provided that Units are provided the ability to contest the benchmark salary study findings based upon: 1) lack of sufficient information from the study as it applies to identified divisions within the Unit, or 2) special knowledge of Unit or Departmental factors which mitigate against a direct application of the study's results. The Planning and Budget Committee requests the Provost to direct each Unit to submit and receive approval for a Unit plan for salary equity funds distribution prior to the release of this pool of funds to each Unit.
· Provost Willihnganz spoke for both herself and the president who was at an all day affair in Frankfort. The final touches are being applied to the list of aspirational benchmarks for UofL and, to no one’s surprise, we are significantly underfunded. The Provost issued a note of concern relative to tuition. UofL is the only 4-year state institution to hold the line on an under 10% tuition hike which was what the legislature wanted. The CPE may be forced to take back the tuition setting ability which may not in our best interest. The Provost noted that some fees may have to come back to selected students such as a clinic fee in nursing or a recital fee in music ... something our ULSD students already know about. The salary raises among the state schools looks to range from 3.5 to 4.5%. Please be reminded that last year most school gave smaller increases than UofL.
· The CPE has just finished their new mission statement and is asking us to respond rapidly with an action plan. Basically we are to give our mission relative to our location and to answer the CPE’s 5 questions in a manner appropriate to a metropolitan research university. If you would like more info on this, go to the provost’s web site and access docushare. She concluded her presentation with a summary of the status of the Shelby Campus. The first priority is to retain the campus atmosphere. The ideas are to use the campus for CE and conference activities as well as security and defense issues which may include a forensics lab (read that as Homeland Security) and for the location of the Center for Predictive Medicine (read that as the BL-3 lab).
Student Senate Representative – Justin Morehead
· Student Government has been busy working on budgets and the tuition increase.
· Students are unhappy with the tuition increase because it is making college too expensive for some. They are also unhappy with some proposed fees like the Student Health Fee (which is not approved yet). The Student Senate continues analyzing proposed fees.
· Starting at the end of the year, students are going to start pressuring Frankfort for more money to be put toward higher education. With 20,000 students protesting, they hope Frankfort will notice. They realize that Universities have to keep good staff and faculty and improve campus life.
· New officers will be installed May 3rd.
· Finals Fiesta will be on 4/26. Staff is invited to join the students for free food. The Student Activities Board is planning Student Appreciation Week.
· Justin was reminded that 30 – 35 cents of each dollar of tuition goes back into financial aid.
Standing Committee Business – Reports should be available on Docushare
Credentials & Nominations – Loren Beard
Committee appointments were recommended and seconded:
Valerie Browning to the AVPUA Search Committee
Ginger Brown to the Faculty Senate
Tony Soards to the Parking Appeals Committee
All passed without dissent
There were two petitions to amend Staff Senate By-Laws read for a first reading:
1. CONCERNING: Pertaining to Article 1. Officers, Section 6 Duties of the Secretary/Treasurer.
BACKGROUND: Human Resources has changed the name and function of the University-wide Fringe Benefits Committee to the Human Resources Advisory Committee.
RATIONALE: To ensure that the Senate continues to have appropriate representation on all University-wide committees.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The following items were changed and/or corrected to provide a clean working copy of
the by-laws:
PROPOSED: Petition to Amend the By-Laws pertaining to Article 1. Officers, Section 6 Duties of the Secretary/Treasurer. Add K “that the Secretary/Treasurer should represent the Staff Senate on the Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC)” .
“To be added in once final review is completed”.
2. CONCERNING: Pertaining to Article VII, Standing Committee of the Staff
Senate, Section 5c.Finance and Economic Welfare Committee. Also pertaining to Article VII, Standing Committee of the Staff Senate, 5c. Finance and Economic Welfare Committee Section 2. Composition.
BACKGROUND: Human Resources has changed the name and function of the University-wide Fringe Benefits Committee to the Human Resources Advisory Committee.
RATIONALE: To ensure that the Senate continues to have appropriate representation on all University-wide committees.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The following items were changed and/or corrected to provide a clean working copy of
the by-laws:
Article VII, Standing Committee of the Staff Senate, Section 5c.Finance and Economic Welfare Committee. Delete the words “a member” in the second sentence and replace with “the chair”.
Also in Article VII, Standing Committee of the Staff Senate, 5c. Finance and Economic Welfare Committee, Section 2. Composition. Change the name of the University-wide committee from “University-wide Fringe Benefits Committee” to “Human Resources Advisory Committee”.
“To be added in once final review is completed”.
Executive Committee – Bill Forman
As Mike Byrne retires, Bill Forman recognized him for his years of service to the Staff Senate.
Finance and Economic Welfare – Ruby Backert
No Report
Plans and Policies – Beverly Daly
No Report
Services and Facilities – Angela Lewis-Klein
Report on Docushare
Staff Grievance – Nancy Barr
No Report
Staff Policy Review – Bridget Burke
Bev Daly brought the recommendation from SPR since Bridget is at a conference.
There was a discussion of the recommended changes that SPR would like to see included in the policy. The recommendation passed with 1 opposed and 4 abstentions.
Bev thanked SPR and former Chair Dawn Diehl, and the past SPR Committee for all their hard work.
SPR also recommended and seconded the following statement for addition to the Appeal Policy: “When an appeal specifically involves the Human Resources Department, The President and/or Provost will designate by copy, an appropriate designee to oversee the appeal process to completion”. The policy passed with 2 abstentions.
University-wide Committees
Athletic Board meets next week.
Melissa Long-Shuter reported on the University wide Budget and Planning Committee They are meeting every Friday and that have discussed graduate stipends, faculty market adjustments, general budget issues, planning issues and a mission statement for the CPE.
No other reports –
Staff Senators are reminded to forward all reports for Standing Committees and University-wide Committees to the Staff Senate Secretary/Treasurer for inclusion on the Docushare site.
Vice President for Business Affairs - Larry Owsley
· Mr. Owsley wished the Senate and Senators Happy Anniversary.
· He wanted to give perspective that he and the Administrators understand that Staff, Faculty and Students have legitimate concerns. However, the University is trying to recover from $39 million in budget cuts. He knows that issues can feel sharp, there are deferred maintenance issues that he would like to stop deferring. Mr. Owsley said that the Administration has to balance addressing issues and he committed to do that for Staff.
· Mr. Owsley said that it is that time of year again…be patient…buildings are being brought on line to be cooled instead of heated. Three chilled water lines had broken and had just been repaired.
· Campus Health Initiative – What a good program this is proving to be and there are really nice new facilities in Crawford Gym for voluntary advising/counseling and exercising. Someone asked how far behind are they on assessments? Mr. Carter said that he believed them to be about 2 weeks behind, but he would check and get back with the Senator.
· Someone asked what was the time-frame on the payoff on the CHI? There should be some early indications after about 15 months but it is a long-term payoff in decreasing health care costs.
· A question was asked about the fires in campus housing. Mr. Owsley said that the University Fire Marshall inspections as well as sprinklers protect most campus housing and other buildings. People need to pay attention to fire alarms and leave their buildings when they sound.
· A question arose about DPS having the ability to announce weather warnings inside U of L facilities. There are weather radios available from DEHS or more can be purchased if Staff members want to contact: .
· IT Staff has a VOIP proposal to purchased equipment that has the capability to announce alerts to every phone on campus. Mr. Owsley to check into this.
· Is there a way to have an officer at the parking garage on Chestnut to help traffic get out from about 4:00 – 5:30 PM? Mr. Owsley to check into this.
Associate Vice President of Human Resources - Julien Carter
· There is a Campus Health Initiative Open House on April 21 from 12:30 – 2 PM. Meet at the pavilion at Cardinal Park, then everyone is going to walk the track and on to Crawford Gym. Everyone is invited.
· There are a number of RFPs out – Finishing up on Health Insurance RFP (with and without Pharmacy) – it was extended due to amendments. There should be an announcement next week for HRAC to set up a meeting for presentations.
o Pharmacy RFP
o Group and Optional Supplemental Life
o Dental
o Long-term Disability
o Long-term Care
o Short-term disability
o Home and Auto Insurance
· There is a salary RFP committee working to make U of L able to update market salary ranges and individual position salaries. Salary study will not be as involved this time. HR wants to have the capacity to have software and consulting contract so the HRAC can work on these issues. Communication will be important!!!