FINAL COPY approved by EC 7-19-05

 

Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

June 21, 2005

 

Attendance:   (Those present indicated by an underline)

Officers:  President Kilborn, Past President/President-Elect Schoenberger, Secretary Gasparino, Treasurer Motin, Treasurer-elect Larkin

IFO Board Members:  Hill, Kilborn, Fisher

Unit Representatives:  COB SubbaNarasimha, COE Hornstein, FAH Condon COSE Akubue, COSE Representative-elect Kasi, COSS Ore  SPEC Vacant

Negotiator:   Langen

 

1.      Call to order at 3:20 PM.

 

2.      Approval of Minutes - Done in Senate on May 10.

 

3.      Treasurer’s Report

 

      Treasurer Motin gave a Treasurer’s Report.  Her report indicated there was a discrepancy in the records from last year of just less than $100 not accounted for.  She asked if a motion could be made to ensure the Executive Committee agreed to the present balance going forward.  Treasurer-elect Larkin stated he and Treasurer Motin transferred $20,000 into a CD.  This subject, too, was moved to 8.h. on the agenda for further discussion. 

 

4.      Negotiations/Action Report – Negotiator Langen gave a negotiations report.  He stated the Negotiations Team is meeting on June 30 and July 1.  FA President Kilborn asked the Executive Committee to think about positive action we can take in the fall.  For example, one idea someone had was for faculty to wear their “Stop the Slide” buttons on move-in day and be available to answer questions regarding the campaign.

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5.      Announcements

 

a.   Executive Committee list - Susan Motin is going to resign as the Special Services representative and will find a replacement from Special Services.

 

  1. Terms of office for EC members – FA President Kilborn reviewed the terms of office for the Executive Committee stating the FA President and FA Secretary begin on June 1; the FA Treasurer begins on July 1; and the IFO members and college representatives begin on September 1.  Past-president Schoenberger said we may want to change the term for the college representatives to the first duty day.  Treasurer-elect Larkin said any changes to the terms of office could go through the Constitutional Review Committee (of which he’s a member).

 

  1. FA and IFO Calendar – FA President Kilborn distributed and reviewed this calendar with the Executive Committee.

 

  1. FA office hiring – We have started to interview the nine candidates for Donna’s position. Next week, we’ll call in the top candidates for a second interview.  Donna will provide training. 

 

  1. Grievance training – FA Past-President Schoenberger said this is an area the State Executive Committee has been working on.  The committee has been receiving a lot of complaints from all campuses about the difficulty in acquiring new grievance officers because people have not been trained in this area.  Past-President Schoenberger stated the committee decided to put together a training “retreat” from September 29th through October 1.  Each campus would pay $300.00 for three people and $75 for each additional person (all campuses can afford to do this).  The State Executive Committee wants to have a “real” grievance manual since the current manual goes against federal law.  FA Past- President Schoenberger said we should determine who from our campus should go and how many people in total should attend.  This subject appears under New Business on the agenda.

 

  1. Restrictions on reimbursement for travel – FA President Kilborn received an e-mail on her department listserv and brought it into her meeting with the Provost.  The Provost said our agreement is through this academic year -- as agreed in Meet and Confer -- for all justifiable expenses to go through him if the Business Office does not approve them.  The agreement ends July 1.

 

  1. Tuition increase – FA President Kilborn stated the Provost announced a 4 percent tuition increase this academic year, and they’re announcing this to other bargaining units as well

 

  1. Budget contingent additions to base – (This document was distributed.)  The Provost advised the elements on pages 2 and 3 are approved and will go into effect vs. waiting until September.  What has been added are positions; i.e., a three-quarter FTE for an advisor, a coordinator for International Studies (to approve visas).  This will go forward.  If you have any questions or concerns, the Provost would like to hear them; therefore, please e-mail FA President Kilborn within the week so she may pass them along to the Provost. 

 

i.    Higher Education Research Institute:  2004-2005 SCSU Faculty Survey Report - FA President Kilborn stated we can revisit this subject at our next meeting if the committee would like to.  We have a much higher than the national norm for conflict regarding diversity and are much higher for sexual harassment with faculty; this concerns the Provost.  About 10 percent more faculty than the national norm are thinking about leaving.  FA President Kilborn will put this topic on the next Executive Committee agenda and will also distribute this report to Senate in the fall. 

 

FA Past-President Schoenberger said if we’re going to discuss this, we need to discuss the good things as well.  Steve Hornstein said we need to be careful about this data and not to jump to conclusions.

 

j.         Searches:  FA President Kilborn gave an update on searches.  The COSS Interim Dean search has resulted in the appointment of Sharon Cogdill.  The COB Dean search has been failed, and no decision has been made about the interim dean.  The COE Associate Dean search has been failed, and there will be a new description and a search for the position in the fall.  A search for Rex’s position in Academic Affairs will take place next year.

 

k.       NCA faculty co-chair – She will e-mail all faculty to see who is interested in Kate Steffens’s job as faculty co-chair for NCA and will come back to the Executive Committee.  FA President Kilborn stated a job description (to include reassigned time) is needed and she will request this information from Kate.

 

6.      Call for new agenda items

 

a.   Request for FA President to send out e-mail congratulations to all faculty listing those people who get tenure or promotion.

 

7.      Unfinished Business

 

a.      Letter to the St. Cloud Times concerning anonymous postings to “Story Chat” – This topic was not discussed since Frankie Condon is on vacation (and Tracy Ore is no longer on the committee).

 

8.      New Business

 

a.      Wil Harri’s accounting guidelines

 

Motion we require the Executive Committee’s approval for any expense over $800 and require two signatories on all such checks – the FA Treasurer and the FA President (Motin/Larkin).  Passed

 

FA President Kilborn said we’ve been encouraged to have our accounts audited. FA Treasurer-elect Larkin recommends having an accounting professor or student whom we would pay do this.

 

b.      Grievance training – FA Treasurer-elect Larkin is concerned about the length of the training.  FA Past-President Schoenberger seems to think the training will only be for a Friday evening and Saturday morning.  FA Treasurer-elect Larkin feels it would be much cheaper for Frank Conroy to come up here, and we’d pay for his mileage; and FA Past-President Schoenberger responded by saying the committee wanted there to be communication between the campuses.  The committee wants all grievance officers to receive the same training.  FA President Kilborn reiterated we need to know the length of time for the training and who will conduct the training as well as why it will not be held locally.  Treasurer Motin stated it would be nice to know the grievance cases we’ve had and the ones we’ve won and lost (and what the problem was).  It was confirmed this training is for our Grievance Committee, and FA President Kilborn will find out more information from the IFO and will confirm who can attend and report back. 

 

The agenda was moved to 8.f.

 

f.        Fair share and faculty governance

 

      Motion to go into Executive Session (Schoenberger/Hornstein).  Passed

 

      (Executive Session was held.)

 

Motion to move out of Executive Session (Hornstein/Schoenberger).  Passed

 

c.      Faculty “responsibility” – FA President Kilborn said the Provost stated there is a lot of pressure on MnSCU institutions to ensure faculty post their hours beginning in the fall.   The Provost said the timing of this was unfortunate because of negotiations.  An investigation of the faculty member who allegedly worked for another employer during faculty hours is moving forward.  FA President Kilborn asked the Executive Committee to think about how we might proactively encourage faculty to be accountable and to lessen the “push from the top.”  Susan Motin suggested “virtual” office hours.  This issue will be discussed at our next Executive Committee meeting.

 

d.      Grade Policy – Not discussed.

 

e.      Consensual-relationships policy – Not discussed. 

 

g.      Committee for communications policies/processes for Office of Clinical Experiences (OCE) – Not discussed.

 

h.      Transferring $20,000 into a CD – Not discussed.

 

i.    Request for FA President to send out e-mail congratulations to people who get tenure or promotion – Not discussed.

 

9.      Adjournment at 5:25 PM.