May 6, 1999 Alumni Room

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

Members Present: William Blair, Joyce Blinn, Deborah Boyce, Marilyn Braatz, Deb Burris, Dianne Cherry, Claudia Clark, John Clark, Judy Donald, James Elsasser, Mike Failor, Michael C. Giles Jr., Pat Green, Linda Hamilton, John Hartung, Keith Hofacker, Sandy LaGro, Paul Lopez, Gene Palmer, Jan Peterson, Cheryl Purefoy, Mary Lynn Pozniak, Jane Schimpf, Deb Wells, Calvin Williams, Mary Beth Zachary

Substitutes: Anita Knauss for Judy Donald; Scott Seeliger for Sharon Hanna

Guests: Ann-Marie Lancaster, Vice Provost for Technology and Chief Information Officer, Tim King and Joe Frizado from University Computing Council, Jamie Brauer from Residential Computing Connection, and Scott Borgelt from the Monitor

Ann Marie Lancaster gave the Council an e-mail update. She acknowledged the concerns about people not getting e-mail and the lack of confidence about receiving mail. She said that there were some technical problems with the system, but these problems have dealt mainly with the attachments not the server. When the server is not responding, it is often some type of network problem not a server issue.
She said that the system is stable and is being monitored. The Web Page which went down in mid-April will be back on-line very soon.
With regard to the issue of re-activating the old e-mail system to run parallel to the new one, she said that that would be a step backward from a management point of view. It would be better to address fixing the Lotus Notes. People will be motivated to come back to the system when the problems are solved. There were also problems with the old e-mail system. Also, the old system was everything it was going to be, while offices have been asking about availability of functions besides e-mail.
A significant amount of dead mail (100 per day) happens primarily because of incorrect e-mail addresses. Usually, these e-mails would have been returned by the Postmaster to the sender, but there has not been enough time to do that. It would be helpful to send a message to Deb Wells, ITS Customer Relations Manager, indicating "Here's a reply to a letter "... and indicate the reply. That may help them to see where the problem is. Also, send to "TSC@bgnet..." information about mail not received or not being sent.
There have been two purposeful attacks on the system designed to shut down the system slowing down efforts to get the system to run smoothly.
With regard to the Y2K issue, a testing plan is being devised. A system test is scheduled sometime between November and December. Also, they are looking at the replacement of desk tops with Y2K problems.

In the discussion that followed, it was mentioned that there is a group working on Lotus Notes training opportunities for students. The opportunities would be on-line and in the labs. It is hoped to have it up by fall semester.
Drs. Tim King and Joe Frizado from the University Computing Council, and Jamie Brauer (Residential Computing Connection) also spoke to the ASC regarding concerns with the change of e-mail and the drafting of the Responsible Use Policy. They cited lack of input from university standing committees and student groups regarding the need for e-mail changes, defining directions, and the issues of remote access to university modems. They said that students using off-campus services see Lotus Notes as not as reliable compared to Pine. There is also a lack of consistency. One client system set-up will have problems and not another. Dr. Lancaster said that if there are problems with intermittent return mail, please send that information to her.
They shared the resolution passed by the University Computing Council and endorsed by the USG, GSS, and RSA that the prior e-mail system should be activated and to involve the BGSU community on e-mail and information technology direction, to include, but not be limited to, involvement in the newly forming Information Technology Committee. They said that the UCC hoped that ASC would endorse the resolution. Discussion followed. During the discussion that followed, it was mentioned that ASC needed to have representation on the UCC.

Approval of Minutes: Mary Beth Zachary moved, and James Elsasser approved as distributed.

Chair’s Report: The Responsible Technical Use policy deadline has been extended. Forward comments to Judy Adams or Bruce Klopfenstein. The ITC will then convene and will write a draft addressing such issues as privacy and security of the e-mail.
With regard to Presidential updates, the ASC leadership team had breakfast with the President. One topic of discussion was who would be the interim Provost. The President said that he is not necessarily wedded to the Provost model. He might use the VPAA model with some changes. The individual he would choose should understand technology and be collaborative. The search committee will be small, and he hopes to have the new person on board by January 1. He asked Paul Lopez to serve on the search committee.
With regard to merit distribution, the chair said that all but a relative few staff are expected to qualify this year, and what would have been their merit pay is to go into the professional development of these staff next year.
A larger concern is that there are a number of units which still do not have merit criteria in place. This was supposed to have been done before the change to 100% merit pay that was mandated by the Board of Trustees June 1998. Deb said she hopes that a communique will go out soon.

Chair-Elect's Report: none

Secretary's Report: none

Committee Reports:

Awards and Special Recognition: The BG Best awards will be handed out at the Spring Reception on May 13, 1999. The deadline for the Ferrari award is May 20, and that award will be handed out at the Fall reception.

Salary: A motion to suspend the rules to take action was proposed by Mary Beth
Zachary and seconded by Calvin Williams. The action item was a recommendation for administrative staff pay raises of 5-7% for 1999-2000.
The Council's Salary Committee presented charts which compared Bowling Green with ten other state schools using a seven year comparison of common positions. One chart showed that BG ranked seventh among its sister institutions during this decade. The other chart showed BGSU in fifth position for this year. Even though incremental progress has been made, the recommended 5-7% salary increase would bring BGSU closer to salaries commensurate with its cohort institutions, allow the merit process to function as designed, and continue the progress toward becoming a premier learning community. Gene Palmer was thanked for crunching the numbers.

Scholarship: The ASC scholarship winners were Wendy Hoying ($1000), Greg Stoner ($500), and Rebecca Pappert ($500).

Ad Hoc Committee on Performance Evaluation Review: Focus groups went very well.

Ad Hoc Committee on Handbook Revision: Mary Beth Zachary said that Karen Woods is
in the process of putting the handbook on line.

Amendments, External Affairs, Internal Affairs, Personnel Welfare, Professional Development, Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Staff Teaching Compensation Policies: no reports

Old Business: At the second reading of the Proposed Bylaws Change to Article 2, Section 4 of the Administrative Staff Handbook, Mary Beth Zachary moved and Pat Green seconded to pass the change.

New Business: none

Good of the Order: James Elsasser said that ticket applications are being accepted for the BG-Toledo football game.
Mary Beth Zachary said that library book return time is May 14.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Joyce Blinn, ASC Secretary