Harper College Faculty Senate

Professional … pragmatic … principled … progressive

Summary Minutes for September 21, 2006

(approved  October 5, 2006)

 

Executive Board:  Michael Harkins, President; Tom Dowd, Vice President; Jim Edstrom, Secretary; Linda Campbell, Treasurer; Dave Richmond, Grievance Officer; Julie Fleenor, Past President

 

I.          Call to Order at 12:25 p.m.

 

II.        President’s Report

·        The strike vote is being held today.

·        Michael indicated that he would like to appoint Kris Piepenburg as the new Senator at large to fill the vacancy created by Dave Richmond’s election as Grievance Officer.  Carole Bomba so moved; Kathi Nevels seconded.  The motion was approved.

·        The President’s office has suggested a joint lunch of the President’s Council with the Senate Exec, but it was felt that we should wait until after negotiations have been completed.

·        Michael Harkins and Tom Dowd attended the most recent Local 1600 House of Representatives meeting on September 15th.

·        The issue of changing the school colors is on the agenda for the next meeting of the Board of Trustees.  It was pointed out that the school spirit song mentions the current colors.

·        There was a discussion of the faculty who will speak at the Board meeting.

 

III.       Officers’ Reports

·        Tom Dowd reported on the Local 1600 House of Representatives meeting.  He encouraged everyone to attend the upcoming Board meeting and to vote today.

·        Dave Richmond indicated that we will not be pursuing a grievance on promotions at this time.

 

IV.       Consent Agenda

A.        Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the Senate meetings of May 4, August 31, September 7 and September 20 were examined.  A couple of minor corrections were made to the minutes from August 31 and September 7.  Dave Richmond moved to accept the minutes as corrected; Sue Bajt seconded.  The minutes were approved.

 

B.        Committee Reports

·        Patti Ferguson reported that the Unity Committee will meet on Mondays and Fridays for the next two weeks.  They will put together a Q&A session for the new and untenured faculty.

·        Rich Johnson reported on continuing efforts to meet with members of the Board of Trustees.

V.        Informational

·        Michael is continuing to talk with Payroll about ongoing problems with Oracle.

 

VI.       Old Business

·        Contract negotiations were discussed.  Kris Piepenburg is working on fact sheets to post to the Senate website.  He presented a draft fact sheet dealing with office hours.  It was asked whether faculty on sick leave are liable to lose benefits; the answer was no.

·        The climate study was discussed.  Rich Johnson moved that the Faculty Senate release a hard copy of the Climate Study commissioned by the Faculty Senate to the faculty members of the HLC Content Expert Group on Campus Climate, Rich Johnson, David Richmond, David Braunschweig, and Kris Piepenburg, who will in turn present a copy of the document to the chair of the Content Expert Group, Dean Sally Griffith, with the provision that the document be used solely as evidence in preparation of the HLC Self-Study Report.  Jim Edstrom seconded the motion, which was then approved. Rich then moved that the Senate post the Climate Study on the Faculty Senate webpage.  Kathi Nevels seconded.  The motion was approved.

·        The white paper was discussed.  Jim Edstrom and Carole Bomba are working on this.

·        Kris Piepenburg reported on the HLC.  He asked Senators to respond to the findings summary that is online.  The deadline for doing so is Friday, September 29.

·        Michael reminded everyone of the importance of unity as the contract negotiations continue.

 

VII.     Adjournment

Kathi Nevels moved to adjourn; Sue Bajt seconded.  The motion was approved, and the meeting was adjourned at 1:40 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Edstrom