Thursday, December 3, 1998

Members Present: William Blair, Joyce Blinn, Deb Boyce, Marilyn Braatz, Deb Burris, Sidney Childs, Claudia Clark, John Clark, James Elsasser, Mike Failor, Pat Green, Linda Hamilton, Keith Hofacker, Sandy LaGro, Paul Lopez, Mary Lynne Pozniak, Bonita Sanders-Bembry, Jane Schimpf, Matt Webb, Deb Wells, Mary Beth Zachary

Members Absent: Craig Bedra, Dianne Cherry, Judy Donald, John Hartung, Dawn Mays, Penny Nemitz, Jan Peterson, Cheryl Purefoy, Jan Ruffner, Tim Smith, Kurt Thomas, Robin Veitch, Duane Whitmire, Calvin Williams

Substitutes: Michael Fitzpatrick for Sharon Hanna, Nadine Johnson for Laura Waggoner and Gene Palmer, Sid Sink for Shelley Appelbaum

Guest: Scott Borgelt from the Monitor

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 1:30 by ASC Chair, Deb Boyce

Corrections to November Minutes: Addition to the Professional Development Committee
activities: The committee is developing a grant program to help Administrative Staff attend conferences and other professional development activities. In addition, the committee is planning a "mini-conference" to take place on campus spring semester.

The Professional Development Committee's "Professional Connections" initiative is up and running. Assignments will be made. Under the Grant Program, applications for grants for a maximum of $500 will be available. Also, a mini-conference of 1/2 day is being planned.

Approval of Minutes: Keith Hofacker moved and Linda Hamilton seconded, and the amended minutes were approved.

Chair's Report:
Members of the most recent Legion's meeting were told that 415 freshmen had not yet registered. Three hundred fifty freshmen had registered. The Legions asked the ASC to tell any freshmen who they know had not yet registered to contact Steve Richardson (in the Provost's Office). An article will be in the BG News the week of December 7. (Note: As of December 7, 1998, students were advised to go to their respective college offices to register.) The goal is to get all the freshmen to register before the holiday break. It was brought out that upperclassmen are also experiencing registration problems.

President Ribeau's goal is for a 2.5% increase in the incoming freshmen each year as part of his plans.

Dr. Anne-Marie Lancaster sent a message that the international student who was the subject of a BG News article about long-distance calling had had the charges and taxes refunded. Also, those students who had been charged taxes on their calls will be having the taxes refunded. Taxes should never be charged on phone calls. But students should be aware that after 30 seconds elapse students will be charged even if the call is not answered. The same policy applies to international calls but the time frame is 2 minutes.

President Ribeau asked ASC to be alerted about the "College is Possible" information campaign that stresses that it is still financially feasible to go to college. He asked ASC to present the material to its constituents:

Summary Information and Talking Points

? This fall over 1200 institutions of higher education came together to form the Coalition of America's College and Universities.
? Together this group with the support of the Dept. of Education and the American Council on Education (ACE) has launched a national education campaign established to ensure that all Americans have the resources necessary to make an informed decision about whether and how to attend college.
? The campaign bears the name of the three word message aimed at the American public..."College is Possible".
? Featuring a website [www.CollegeIsPossible.org] and a U.S. Department of Education 800 number (1-800-433-3243), the Coalition hopes to simplify not only the process of applying to and selecting a college, but also identifying the means and resources to help make college possible.

Key Points revealed by the American Council on Education (ACE) Study on College Costs:

1. A Recent Study by the American Council on Education (ACE) (Spring 1998) revealed that while students and parents believe that higher education is critically important to personal, many drastically overestimate the cost, often by as much as 212%.

2. Although tuition pricetags did rise significantly in the 1980's and early 1990's, annual increases have stabilized at 5%.

3. Of students attending four-year colleges, 75% pay less than $8000 a year, and more than half pay less than $4000.

4. Realistically, there is a big difference between college coasts and what people actually spend after grants, scholarships, and low-interest loans.

5. The ACE study also found that Americans underestimate the resources available to them, as $60 billion is available to students in financial aid from federal, state, local, and institutional sources to help them make college possible.

6. Seven out of ten students qualify for financial aid and many actually receive a substantial amount.

7. The study found that parents and students need more information on the various components of college costs and why they are on the rise.

8. At public universities like BGSU, there is a direct correlation between decreasing state appropriations and increasing tuition. As an institution that receives approximately 52% in state subsidy, we have become state-assisted rather than state-supported.

9. The cost of excellent programs and exceptional facilities (student recreation center, library, student union, residence halls, computer labs) puts a significant strain on the university budget. These costs, coupled with the legal and administrative costs associated with complying with state and federal regulations, present substantial strains on the University's limited resources.

10. Ohio lags behind the national average and many of our neighboring midwestern states in sending high school graduates on to some type of higher education.
Ohio (60%) (of the 40% who are not going on to attend college, some might believe that a college education is financially out of their reach).
Illinois (69%); Michigan (68%); Kentucky (65%); National Average (65%); Wisconsin (64%)

The University Planning Council which is assessing strengths and weaknesses at the university, establishing annual priorities, looking at the 5-10 year goals is working on a web site.

Chair-Elect's Report: no report

Secretary's Report: no report

Committee Reports:

External Affairs: Marilyn Braatz thanked those who participated in the Holiday Parade. Regarding the spring semester plans, the committee had talked with the Office of Student Affairs on ways to reach out to students. Student feedback had indicated that students would like to see more faculty and staff at collegial events. It was suggested that ASC members might want to select an event in the spring and go as a group. Keith Hofacker said that there are group rates (25 or more) for events at Moore Musical Arts Center. The committee will meet Dec. 16.

Personnel Welfare: see "New Business"

Professional Development: made additions to the November minutes

Salary: is continuing to gather data to help advance salary comparisons with peer institutions and to establish benchmarks for administrative staff. Gene Palmer has worked with the University of Akron to compare salaries of the two institutions. It was also mentioned that administrative staff has representation on the President's Committee dealing with salary issues: Bryan Benner (a past ASC president), Shelley Appelbaum, Cheryl Purefoy, and Joe Luthman (ASC's choice).

Scholarship Committee: will meet Dec. 7 in the Canal Room at 1:00. There will be an upcoming raffle with the Grand Prize being a destination somewhere outside of Bowling Green that requires air transportation.

Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Staff Teaching Compensation Policies: is in the process of formulating recommendation.

No Reports from Amendments, Awards and Special Recognition, and Internal Affairs

Old Business: none

New Business:
(1) Pro-rated Merit Proposal: Since future salaries will be based on 100% merit, certain information in the current Administrative Staff Handbook (page 43) must be reworded to reflect that change.

The following will be incorporated into policies and procedures related to salary/merit increases.

Bowling Green State University salary increases for administrative are 100% merit based. Continuing University funded full-time and part-time staff members are eligible for consideration for full merit. In addition, staff members employed for one calendar year or less will be considered as follows:

Administrative staff members employed by December 31 are eligible for consideration for a full merit increase for the next year.

Administrative staff members employed after December 31 are eligible for consideration for a merit increase on a pro-rated basis.

[Pat Green proposed and Sandy LaGro seconded?] to bring the proposal to a vote?

Discussion followed. There was concern about to whom the proposal is forwarded. Do the HR, Provost, and President's Committee all need to look at it and pass on it?

A motion was made by Pat Green to vote on the Proposal. Sandy LaGro seconded. The motion was passed by voice vote.

(2) Revised Performance Evaluation Process
It is a stop-gap measure designed to help the mid-term evaluations be more user friendly given the fact that the merit criteria have not yet been established on which to decide who is meritorious. The process involves using the current form or a narrative outlining the employee's progress toward goals, noting adjusted (if necessary), and indicating that satisfactory performance is being made.

Discussion followed about whether the current evaluation form and process is too cumbersome, whether the form should be scrapped since it has been in use only a short time, the usefulness of the form as a way to encourage (or force) dialogue and to get a higher response in evaluations sent to Human Resources (currently 80% are being received).

Amendment #1: A motion was made to amend the process as stated in the proposal: Paragraph #4 ...The year-end review will take place as scheduled and should determine whether the employee's performance was satisfactory in meeting agreed upon (inserted) expectations (meritorious), unsatisfactory in meeting expectations (non-meritorious) or exceeded expectations. Units will have the option of either using the existing performance evaluation form or an enhanced narrative to complete the year-end review." Pat Green seconded and the amendment was passed with a voice vote.

Amendment #2: Deals with the documenting of unsatisfactory performance (Paragraph #3)...In extraordinary cases, when the supervisor determines after the initial meeting the performance is still inadequate, then the supervisor shall provide a written statement to the administrative staff member again outlining the problem and corrective actions. This statement shall be signed by the supervisor and the administrative staff member, and a copy shall be sent to Human Resources and the second level supervisor (inserted)...The amendment was passed.

Sid Childs moved to send the proposal as amended. Keith Hofacker seconded. The motion was passed.

Good of the Order:
Claudia Clark said that the last grief group for the semester will be meeting on Monday December 7 at the Counseling Center.
James Elsasser encouraged ASC to attend and support the hockey games.
The Customer Appreciation Sale at the Bookstore is in progress.
Sid Childs said that the Kwanzaa celebration will be held on Friday Dec. 11 at 5:30 PM in Olscamp Hall room 101B.
Bonita Sanders-Bembry said that the Gospel Choir will be holding its Fall Concert.
Keith Hofacker said that concerts will be presented by such groups as the Women's Chorus, A Cappella Choir, Orchestra and others.

Keith Hofacker made a motion to end the meeting. Deb Wells seconded it. The meeting adjourned at 3:00.