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 |
II.
President’s
Report
Michael
asked for a motion to amend the agenda and go directly to item VII New
Business: Current Issues in Higher
Education – Dr. Elliot Kaufman (Rich Johnson motioned, Patti Ferguson seconded.) The motion was approved.
New
Business
Current
Issues in Higher Education – Dr. Elliot Kaufman
Dr. Kaufman is
President of the Super Senate at UIC. He
discussed issues in higher education today that are facing colleges in IL,
including Harper. Michael noted that the
Senate’s discussion with Dr. Michael Grossman prompted us to create the
Academic & Student Affairs Committee.
Background:
U
of I has a robust shared governance system; each campus has a Senate. There are requirements of the administration
and Board to consult the faculty. U of I
has a real opportunity to influence the outcome of administrative and Board
decisions.
The
Senate meets with the chancellors and provosts for candid discussions. The chancellors and provosts make remarks and
answer questions from the floor of the Senate at open Senate meetings.
The
administration sees the Senate as a senior faculty group that they can bounce
ideas off of. The Senate president meets regularly with the Board. Ultimately the Board has the final decision.
Dr.
Kaufman discussed issues facing higher education institutions, for example
resource
problems / operating budgets. The UIC
accounts for half of U of I’s multi-campus operating
budget. The state portion of U of I’s resources has declined over the years; funds have been
sought in order to grow and maintain quality.
In recent years, the U of I has hoped for a flat budget with no
cuts. Inevitably, the U of I has had to
raise tuition.
Dr.
Kaufman answered the following questions:
What
is to prevent the administration or Board from bypassing your group? - Nothing, but they tend not to do that. There are also sections that are mandated
where we need to meet mutual agreement.
The administration and Board do not need the faculty getting up and arms
over process; the issues alone are enough to deal with.
The
Harper Senate is embarking on a model of improving communication with the Board,
how can we do this smoothly? - It needs to be managed. It depends on your present relationship with
the administration. The UIC Senate meets
with the President regularly and keeps him abreast of issues; there are no
surprises for us. You have to change
your culture.
You
mentioned that your President would not have to deal with the Senate as often if
you were unionized, why is that? – Having a contract would mean less to talk
about and negotiate.
You
mentioned educating the Board on shared governance. Do you have prepared materials for that, or did
you ad lib that discussion? - It was mostly ad lib. We did this a few times for the Board and also
with the faculty. You don’t want to be lecturing
to the Board too much; it’s bad enough that we are so often quoting the
statues.
Was
there ever a time at U of I or UIC when the environment was not as collegial? -
There are always flare-ups when the faculty
feels that they have not been included. And
in managed education or a corporate model, we have had pressure with flat years
and cuts. We have had administrative
bloat; and we reduced our administrative bloat by 25%. Unfortunately, what that meant was that we
fired a lot of physical plant workers. We
now have an 800 million deferred maintenance problem. At our last Trustee meeting, we instituted a
student assessment fee $250/semester per student that will go toward the
deferred maintenance expense. We’re down
to less than 20% of our resources coming from the state.
What
is the sense of the faculty with online education? – There is concern from faculty. The
At
Harper, we are unionized and we are in a confrontational culture; can you
comment on how we can move forward. – Demonstrate to those that are resistant
that you are all trying to accomplish the same thing. At U of I, we do a lot of social things; invite
them to the Senate and to lunch. We’ve
had dinners before Senate conferences. Use
the social side of things. Go to all
Board meetings; talk to Trustees. Eventually they will feel a need and an obligation
to be present at Senate meetings etc...
President’s
Report cont…
Michael
gave an update on pensions.
Chris
Padgett has been appointed to begin working on the Senate web page starting in
May.
Next Monday 4/24/06, the Senate Exec. will have lunch with the President
and Vice Presidents at
III.
Officers’
Reports
Kim Fournier read Jim Edstrom’s update on shared
governance committee appointments and reappointments.
IV.
Informational
Spirit
Colors -
Pat Ramsey updated the Senate on the Student Life committee’s proposal to
change the College’s spirit colors from gold and maroon to blue and grey. The Student Senate voted on changing the
spirit colors, but it is unclear how the vote came about. The view was expressed that everyone in the College
should have a chance to vote on spirit colors, that the issue is too big for
one committee to handle. Clearly this is
a contentious issue.
It was noted that the Harper baseball uniforms have
all ready been purchased in blue and grey. It was commented that the push to save the
spirit colors is eight years too late. Sue
Overland noted that maroon is no longer a stock color for many sports uniform
vendors. This change in colors has happened
over time; current Board policy acknowledges the marketing colors as blue and
grey. Some athletes feel like they are
excluded from the College since most of what we see on campus is blue and
grey.
Pat Ramsey noted that the Student Life committee
will meet again on the first Wednesday in May.
Paul Guymon said that he asked Travaris Harris what
action the Student Life committee had taken, and Travaris
indicated that the proposed spirit color change was not coming forward to the
College Assembly as a proposal in a PAR form, as it should. The decision seems to be moving outside the
shared governance system.
V.
Old
Business
Negotiations
Update
Dave Richmond noted that 142 faculty came to the all
faculty meeting. The negotiations team
has unanimously approved a recommendation (from Perry Buckley and Jim O’Malley)
to appoint the Unity Committee. Negotiations
are tentatively scheduled to resume June 12th. We need to complete the list of home emails
for the summer. The Unity Committee will
primarily use the Senate website as a means of communicating with faculty
concerning the status of negotiations.
VI.
Adjournment
at
Next Senate meeting:
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Fournier
Secretary pro
tem