Professional … pragmatic … principled … progressive
Summary Minutes for
(approved
|
Executive
Board: Michael Harkins, President;
Paul Guymon, Vice President; Jim Edstrom, Secretary; Dan Loprieno, Treasurer;
Sue Overland, Grievance Officer; Julie Fleenor, Past President |
Actions
Taken
Michael
asked for a motion to amend the agenda to go immediately item 1 under Section
VII—“New Business” dealing with insurance.
Paul Guymon so moved; Sue Bajt seconded.
The motion was approved.
VII. New
Business
Karen
Ruggles from the College’s insurance broker and Angela Bowling from Human
Resources reported on the latest information concerning health insurance. Karen Ruggles indicated that Blue Cross/Blue
Shield had originally asked for cost increases of 0.6% and 5.3% in the PPO and
HMO programs, respectively; as it turned out, there will be no increases, and there are prospects
for further savings in the form of another HMO choice called “BlueAdvantage
HMO.” This new HMO will make 110 medical
groups and 84 hospitals available to interested employees who could stand to
save up to 11% by choosing it. The
question was asked as to whether they foresee the cost of HMO Illinois going
up; Karen Ruggles responded in the negative.
Another question was asked as to whether the College had given anything
up in order to negotiate the 0% increase.
Karen and Angela replied again in the negative. They added that the 0% increase applies to
the College and employees alike.
Karen
and Angela then left the meeting at
II. President’s
Report
·
Michael reported
on Michael Grossman’s visit to campus.
Professor Grossman is the President of the UIUC Faculty Senate.
·
Michael proposed
appointing two Communications Liaisons—one (David Braunschweig) to deal with
internal campus communications and the other (Janet Friend-Westney) to deal
with external communications. It was
asked who would be responsible for the Senate newsletter; Michael replied that
this would be Janet’s responsibility.
Jim Edstrom moved that the liaisons be appointed as proposed by Michael;
Paul Guymon seconded. A question was
raised as to whether there should be only one liaison as outlined in the Senate
bylaws. Some concern was also expressed
over the fact that Janet will be retiring.
Michael expressed his willingness to revisit the issue, and it was
agreed that the Senate will do so in January.
The question being called, the motion was approved. Dave Braunschweig asked that his abstention
from this vote be recorded.
III. Officers’
Reports
There
were no officers’ reports.
IV. Consent
Agenda
The
minutes from the Senate meeting of September 1st were distributed
and examined. Dave Richmond moved that
the minutes be approved; Kim Fournier seconded.
The minutes were approved.
V. Informational
Paul
Guymon noted that he is working on the issue of how academic reorganization is
affecting Senate representation. He
asked for volunteers to help with the issue.
Jim Edstrom and Dave Clydesdale volunteered. Jim will also send out a call for more
volunteers.
The
adjunct faculty contract was discussed.
Sue Overland described her impressions, and she emphasized the
importance of familiarizing ourselves with this document. Dave Richmond is working with Sue to develop
an understanding of the contract, and he handed out a list of its highlights.
Jim
reported on the recent meeting of chairs and coordinators. They had discussed the issue of course
scheduling recently brought up by Rich Johnson in the Senate, and their strong
consensus is that they want the Senate to act vigorously on this matter in
defending the role of the chairs and coordinators.
VI. Old
Business
Michael
reported on the list of members he proposes to appoint to the Negotiations
Team. They are as follows:
Chief Negotiator: Perry Buckley
Assistant Negotiator: Jim O’Malley
Other members: Linda Campbell, Greg Clemons, Tryg Thoreson,
Dave Richmond, and Mike Vijuk.
Sue
Overland moved that the Senate approve this negotiations team; Kris Piepenburg
seconded. The question was raised as to
whether the Senate should wait until the next meeting to take a vote on this
issue. After some discussion, it was
agreed that the Senate will hold a special meeting next week (September 22nd). Jim will send out an e-mail announcing that
the proposed members are posted on the Senate website.
Rich
Johnson reported on the role of chairs and coordinators. He noted that the local problem regarding
additional English 101 classes has been resolved. The manner in which it was resolved
underscores the professionalism of the chairs and coordinators. It was suggested that the motion dealing with
chairs and coordinators that had been proposed at the last Senate meeting be
redirected. Rich will work on this. There was some concern over an idea that has
been expressed to the effect that passing resolutions lacks meaning unless
there is some clear action proposed. It
was suggested, in fact, that passing resolutions is an important function of
the Senate; it enables the Senate to express the position of the faculty on
significant issues and provides an opportunity to ensure that the Vice
President of Academic Affairs and other administrators are not insulated from
faculty. Rich indicated that he will work
on wording. Mary Gawienowski, Kurt
Neumann, Caryn Levington, and Jim Edstrom volunteered to work with him.
Dave
Richmond handed out the draft of his faculty opinion survey concerning academic
reorganization. He will ask for more
input over the next week.
Michael
again encouraged everyone to contribute to COPE. He has copies of the contribution form
available.
Tryg
Thoreson spoke on the issue of how many candidates for positions are to be
submitted by search committees. The
Senate, the Human Resources Committee, and the College Assembly have all
previously supported the idea that such committees should submit one name for
hiring, but Breuder has rejected the idea.
Tryg asked the Senate for a statement on the subject, and he handed out
a possible draft. After some discussion,
Carole Bomba, Sue Bajt, and Andrew Wilson volunteered to work with Tryg on
refining such a statement.
VII. New
Business
Michael
noted that in the interests of time Paul Holdaway will report on Dean and VP
evaluations at next week’s special meeting.
“Forms” will be discussed at the next regular Senate meeting on October
6th.
VIII. Adjournment
Dave
Richmond moved to adjourn; Dave Braunschweig seconded. The meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Edstrom