Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
January 13, 2004
Attendance: (Those present indicated by an underline)
Officers: President Fisher, President-Elect Schoenberger, Past President Larkin, Secretary: Williams, Treasurer: Buske
IFO Board Members: Hill, Johnson, Kilborn
Unit Representatives: COB SubbaNarasimha, COE Hornstein, FAH Kilborn, COSE Akubue, COSS Ore, SS C. Inkster
Negotiator: Langen
1. Call to order at 3:21 PM.
2. Call for new agenda items
-- 7.f. Administration’s status report on settlement agreement
3. Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Buske distributed a Treasurer’s report for the period of December 2003 and stated the budget is in good order.
FA President Fisher stated a motion was passed at the last IFO Executive Committee meeting to approve the IFO staff contract. At this point, we can find out how much will be taken out of the funds we have for back pay.
4. Announcements
a. Faculty Searches (attachment 4a)
FA President Fisher shared with the committee Provost Spitzer’s response to her letter on complying with the settlement agreement regarding the FTNP position in the First Year Experience Program and accounting.
b. Director of Affirmative Action & Social Equity Job Description
Provost Spitzer sent FA President Fisher an update of the final job description after Meet and Confer. Provost Spitzer made the changes we had suggested (not all of them) and sent the job description to MnSCU. The job description has come back and is “classified” under MnSCU, so a salary can be associated with it.
c. University Council 12/15
FA President Fisher and Judy Kilborn (as the chair of the Strategic Planning Committee) attended the meeting. They reported it was an interactive session – with the Bargaining Unit Presidents and the Strategic Planning Chair being very active. The Chancellor has been visiting local chambers and is trying to address the situation of the base that seems to be dwindling down (funding formula and base). They’re also looking at financial aid (same principal as voucher system) – out of every $1 in grants, 52 cents goes to private schools. Steve Ludwig reported the stadium is on schedule to open next fall, and the Atwood modifications are on schedule. FA President Fisher spent a lot of time talking about what has been happening in Senate – including the various FA committees.
Judy Kilborn reported on Priority Strategic Goals. She stated President Saigo and Provost Spitzer were pleased with the progress we’ve made with regard to strategic planning and the Faculty Senate.
d. Brainstorming Session Notes of 11/13
A committee member commented they were surprised by how often it was stated in the notes that we make certain we are prepared before going into Meet and Confer.
FA President Fisher stated we are still on schedule for the Executive Committee retreat to be held on Thursday, February 12 (from 2:00 until 5:00 PM in the Primrose Room). She asked Judy Foster if she would be available to facilitate the retreat; however, she is not available because of her class schedule. FA President Fisher suggested we add this subject as 7.g. to the agenda.
The agenda was returned to 4.b.
b. Director of Affirmative Action & Social Equity Job Description
FA Secretary Williams distributed copies of the job description to the committee. FA President Fisher stated she believes the Provost has made her written revisions. She stated just because this job description has been revised, it doesn’t mean we can’t have further discussion. Provost Spitzer indicated that the job description can still be modified.
e. AFL-CIO meeting
FA President Fisher stated she was invited to an AFL-CIO meeting on Saturday, 1/24, and, in turn, invited FA President-elect Schoenberger and Bill Langen. She talked with Jim Pehler who is interested in this meeting as an attempt to organize and develop an effective strategy.
5. Minutes
a. EC Minutes of 11/25, 12/9 (attachments 5a)
Motion to approve EC minutes of 11/25 (Kilborn/Schoenberger). Passed
Motion to approve EC Minutes of 12/9 (Schoenberger/Hornstein). Passed with corrections
FA President Fisher questioned the 12/9 minutes and confirmed the wording should have been “It was reported that the IFO was unanimously in favor of asking for information for how the Zmora lawsuit settlement is being implemented.”
6. Unfinished Business
a. Sanctioned Meetings
A memo regarding sanctioned meetings was distributed to the committee. FA President Fisher talked with Jim Pehler regarding the discussion they had and stated she wanted this issue to be referred to Ed Lane, attorney for the IFO; therefore, Jim Pehler asked she write a memo and bring it to the IFO Executive Committee meeting. She tried to represent both views (main issue #1 was her view and main issue #2 would be another valid view, and she attached all of the materials including the e-mail from Frank, Pat, and Russ and also attached the subcommittee’s proposed policy and memo she thought was pertinent). FA President Fisher is going to the Executive Committee and will ask for a motion to refer this letter to Ed Lane for an opinion.
b. Chancellor’s Work Plan
FA President Fisher contacted the President’s office to find out the President’s response to the Chancellor’s work plan, and it’s on the website -- it is multiple pages. Since we may not be finished with this issue, we will leave it under Unfinished Business.
c. IRC (attachments 6c)
This is the material the committee asked FA President Fisher for – there is a letter on IRC concerns. There is also a memo from President Saigo terminating the committee. There is also another memo from the IRC. Therefore, it was agreed we should hold onto this information until this memo is distributed at our next Executive Committee meeting. We will keep this issue on the agenda.
7. New Business:
a. TQE Grant (Hornstein)
Steve Hornstein stated we may remove this issue from the agenda for the time being, since FA President Fisher is going to speak with Provost Spitzer.
b. Delegate Assembly Resolutions (attachment 7b)
FA Past President Larkin provided this document relating to the Delegate Assembly and potential resolutions. FA President Fisher distributed the Delegate Assembly registration form and a resolution form. She stated she needs to get a list of Delegate Assembly representatives. We have 42 delegates -- more than any other state university (Mankato has 40).
Motion for contract goals to be sent back to the Contract Committee to review and frame as Delegate Assembly resolutions and bring those to Senate for response by February 17 (Kilborn/Schoenberger).
Motion to amend motion to remove the part of the motion “to bring back to Senate” (Schoenberger/Hornstein). Passed
Motion for contract goals to be sent back to the Contract Committee to review and frame as Delegate Assembly resolutions (Kilborn/Schoenberger). Passed
c. Financial Aid Reporting (Schoenberger) (attachments 7c)
FA President-elect Schoenberger received documents from Diana Burlison and Steve Ludwig (I don’t have this in my notes but I’m guessing this is who it was. He’s the one who addressed this issue in Meet & Confer.) and wrote this document. She was going to send the document to them; and, subsequently, Steve sent us a letter. FA President Fisher said this issue is on the next Senate agenda.
Motion for Executive Committee to recommend Faculty Senate form a task force to address the issue of Title 4 Federal Financial Aid Funds Reimbursement (Schoenberger/Hornstein). Passed
d. Grade Appeal and Procedure
FA President Fisher asked the committee if they would agree to a subcommittee hearing the appeal and making a recommendation to the Executive Committee. She stated the FA office will help schedule meetings. Dale Buske, Bill Langen, and Chris Inkster volunteered to be on this subcommittee.
e. Business Central Article (attachment 7e)
FA President Fisher will bring this article as well as President Saigo’s letter to Faculty Senate. A committee member suggested she ask President Saigo to put his letter out on the Discuss List. Fred Hill will look into other possible options to pursue and will report back to the committee.
f. Administration’s Status Report on Settlement Agreement
FA President Fisher called Provost Spitzer about the deadline for this agreement; and he thought it was January 16 instead of today; therefore, he said he would try to get it to her today. A faculty member was concerned about the deadline date of January 13 since it was to have some significance with the court settlement. FA President Fisher asked Pat Arseneault about this, and she said she didn’t know. Therefore, she called Judy Schermer, but she was out of town; so she sent her an e-mail inquiring about the January 13 date. The faculty member also asked if we were working with the most current copy of the agreement; therefore, FA President Fisher will ask Judy Schermer about this as well.
FA President-elect Schoenberger stated we can take the Equity Advocate report from the Board meeting to Senate.
g. Executive Committee Retreat – February 12, 2004
Judy Foster is unavailable to facilitate. FA President Fisher shared two options: 1) the committee take turns facilitating, or 2) someone in the Mediation Program facilitate. Suggestions of possible facilitators are:
Tom Heck
Mary Beth Torborg
Roseanna Ross
Tom Zupanc
Bruce Hyde
Kathleen Maloney
The goal of this retreat is to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of Pre Meet and Confer. FA President Fisher will send the committee an e-mail with the names of the suggested facilitators for their response. It was suggested the food at the retreat be a box lunch for everyone.
8. Adjournment at 5:15 PM.