Minutes of Administrative Staff Council Meeting

November 1, 2001

Call to order: Chair John Clark called the meeting to order at 1:30.

Members Present: Linda Bakkum, Ann Betts, Amelie Brogden, Nora Cassidy, John Clark, Tina Coulter, Jim Dachik, Carl Detter, Sally Dreier, Laura Emch, Mike Fitzpatrick, Deborah Fleitz, David Garcia, Brady Gaskins, Tony Howard, Sally Johnson, Thad Long, Sandra Miesmer, Jane Myers, Keith Pogan, Diane Smith, Tom Scavo, Robin Veith, Mary Beth Zachary, Robert Zhang

Members who sent substitutes: Mary Lou Stradtman for Sandy DiCarlo, Sue Tomor for Phyllis Short

Absent: Wayne Colvin, Montique Cotton, Kay Gudehus, Sue Lau, Pamela Phillips, Jack Taylor, Clarence Terry, Barbara Waddell

Correction to Minutes: Corrected minutes were sent to ASC members; a typing error was noted.

Guest Report: President Sidney Ribeau addressed budgetary concerns. He stated that Ohio and the Nation are slowing down and in recession after September 11. Ohio, as a manufacturing state, was hit hard. Not like California, North Carolina, and Georgia, where resources are invested in new technologies. The state of Ohio has 45 billion dollars in tax revenues but only 12% allocated to higher education. The Supreme Court school-funding initiative is directed toward K-12 education. Funding was not equitable; our current budget shortfall is primarily due to DeRolph. 54% of cuts will be assumed by higher education, a disproportionate cut. If BGSU takes a 6% cut we should be okay, due to the higher freeze and other saving measures begun last semester. The President of the Ohio Senate is not supporting the Governor's plan. He wants more money cut from the budget. Governor can cut budget but can't generate more revenue. We can address a 6% cut but we are not "out of the rain." Things are very uncertain. Current priorities are to protect jobs and positions and not to propose mid-year tuition increase. Financial aid cannot keep up with tuition increases. Some unionized campuses will be having lay offs. With the enrollment up and management of our resources we can absorb 6%, but operating budgets will be affected. Of the thirteen state universities in Ohio we are in better shape than most. This is due to our fiscal responsibility and increased enrollment. We have no intention of downsizing. Even if the national budget turns around that would not affect the state budget.

John Clark asked President Ribeau about strategic planning for enrollment increase. President Ribeau indicated that we are not planning to grow. With 16,000 students we are at our cap. Regarding the physical plant, we are where we want to be. We would like to decrease class size and student /faculty ratio. Fireland campus will grow with web based and on-site classes. Our goal is to align our enrollment with our resources.

Keith Pogan indicated that when he first came to BGSU there were open forums; now there seems to be only single representation. President Ribeau said open forums were a possibility as there are no secrets about what is going on. 80% of budget goes to personnel. The state is not supporting higher education. Public policy issues are 10-15 years out of synch. Ohio used to be seventh in the country in per capita income; now we are in the thirties. Ohio is going to have to figure out how to generate revenue.

Mary Beth Zachary asked why we are in a downward cycle? President Ribeau attributed it to the legislators. He went on to say that the term limits changed things radically. They are operating on a short-term mentality. There is no long-term investment. They are not able to learn the complexity of the budget in three years. They are thinking about tomorrow, not long term. Voinovich didn't support higher education; he supported two year and tech schools. He supported schools that trained people for jobs that won't exist in ten years. Graduates of four-year institutions know how to learn, but Ohioans are tied to industries that are not growth industries. In northeast Ohio, Akron and Kent had no comprehensive voice during good times, no successful lobby. Governor Taft is listening. Engler is taking money out of rainy day fund. We are not giving up, however; this difficulty will pass. We need to continue to lobby when money comes back into the system. The thinking [among state legislators] should be that we are not an expenditure; we are an investment.

John Clark indicated that the undergraduate student leaders want to go to constituents to lobby for the principle of higher education.

President Ribeau further stated that we need to do a better job of retaining students. We have a 20% loss of students between the first and second year. Revenue would be helped if we didn't have to recruit. It costs more to recruit than it does to retain. According to institutional research, students who leave say it is because they feel alienated from the institution. We need to do a better job of retaining. All facilities need to show they care, and students need to know we are investing in them. We need to do a better job of getting scholarship money. Spring of 2003 may get better. We need to put pressure on industry to put pressure on legislators.

Laura Emch asked what the outlook was for the programs that are based on success challenge money. President Ribeau said this is not baseline money. These monies are special one-time allocations. He told the Vice Presidents not to hire personnel using success challenge money. We have "challenge" money for the next two years. Bowling Green, Ohio U, and Miami U. get the most from success challenge. We are asking that a percentage of the success challenge money be rolled back into the regular instructional subsidy funding.

Deborah Fleitz asked where we stacked up to other states in terms of support. President Ribeau indicated that Ohio is number forty-two. We are in the top ten percent in costs of tuition and fees. There is a lot of independence in admissions and a good mix of institutions, but not as well in funded and sponsored research. We have an allegiance to the institution. In three to five years we hope to convince that additional money is important. In 5-7 years, we might strive for new building and/or programs. We are still planning, even though we don't have the resources.

President Ribeau discussed the new vision and values committee. This is a committee of students, staff, and faculty. They are working on ways to incorporate visions and values into the curriculum. We need to establish during recruitment that students need to get invested in the university. It is too late when students have begun at the institution—values-related problems such as cheating and drinking already may have become ingrained. The committee said that we need to start an early outreach. Students need to view the world in a way that will allow them to be productive. Eileen Sullivan will be having discussion groups. The group, along with President Ribeau, hope that faculty, staff, and community will share concerns and accolades. The role of BGSU will be discussed. Facilitators will have four questions to initiate discussion. These can be viewed on the web. This is not a program to teach a particular set of values. Instead, it will be teaching reason, rationality, ideas, and sound rational discourse. The charge is assessment of values. Students should come with a series of questions about what is important to them. Eileen Sullivan encourages all to fill out survey in a few weeks.

President Ribeau concluded by saying that both he and the Board of Trustees highly value the Administrative Staff Council for the amount and quality of work. He praised the strong constituent leadership. He feels that it is important that ASC has a voice, as it is the only way we can go from where we are to where we want to be.

He stressed that he is committed to staying the course. We can manage our way through these times.

Chair Report: A number of news and discussion items have arisen from meetings during the past month of ASC leadership with University administration and/or other constituency leaders.

Board meeting, October 5th: There were no surprises at this Board meeting. The trustees adopted the health care proposals without significant discussion or argument. In the finance subcommittee session, Bob Waddle reported a projected completion date for the Union renovation of December 28th. Finance subcommittee chair Valerie Newell noted that the increase in student general fee that will result from the Union renovation ($80) precisely matches the target established five years ago, when planning for the renovation began.

Compensation: Spirited discussion of compensation issues took place in Executive Committee on September 25th. The committee concluded that our highest priorities need to be (1) indexed salary range movement, (2) means for range penetration adjustments, and (3) long-term planning for increases in real spendable income. At the meeting with President’s Compensation Committee on October 22nd, Clark and Emch presented these items as requests, along with another request for action on the teaching compensation proposal and further explanation of our proposed revision of non-compensation conciliation. Developments are noted in the following list (also see separate presentation handout):

• Teaching compensation—The chair of the PCC, Executive V.P. Dobb, noted that the best approach to equitable teaching compensation for administrative staff might lie in adjustment to the rates for all "overload" teaching; the committee agreed, and this idea received further discussion in President’s Panel on Oct. 22nd. Although there is significant high-level support for this solution, present economic circumstances might delay its adoption.
   
• Annually indexed salary range adjustments—PCC are in favor of this proposal and have promised to move it toward approval. As the presentation handout indicates, two likely by-products of annual range indexing are no "cap" impingement and, in low merit years, possible percentile drops (not dollar drops) of individual salaries within range.
   
• Hire-in-position salaries not below the 1st quartile without approval—PCC and ASC leadership agreed on this proposal in principle, including a provision that some positions (expected to be short-term) might be exempt. PCC also noted, however, that some "education" of University leaders might be needed. Dobb and Ferguson agreed to work toward this goal.
   
• Annual merit increases for meritorious admin staff greater than the regionally adjusted increase in c.p.i. Again, the PCC agreed to this proposal in principle, though present circumstances might delay implementation.
   
• Maintenance and augmentation of a market adjustment pool, with clear articulation of access procedures—In both the PCC meeting and the President’s Panel, University leaders agreed that policy articulation for market-based salary adjustments should be more clearly organized and comprehensively articulated.
   
• Non-compensation conciliation—Three significant revisions appear in the latest draft prepared by PWC and H.R. The first is a speeding-up of timeline from 30 to 14 days in each step; the second is removal of the area V.P. from step 1 so that s/he may provide an objective "appeal" hearing in step 2. University administration has shown the most concern for the third revision, allowance for an advocate to accompany the conciliation claimant, but administration approval of these revisions looks likely.

Merit discussions: Faculty Senate continues to discuss its compensation committee proposal to cap "regular merit" at 2% and distribute any remaining funds via super-merit. Some contention exists among Faculty Senators regarding this proposal, but President Ribeau has assured us that there is no reason each employee constituency cannot have its own procedures for merit distribution, as long as procedures comply with the Board requirement of a performance-based merit system.

Health-care insurance plan: Open enrollment and enrollment q&a sessions are scheduled through the end of November. All University employees are required to complete and submit the enrollment form. Some discussion has taken place regarding the wording of the disclosure statement near the bottom of this form. Board trustees and University leaders shared a concern that, with health care costs rising everywhere, the better our health care provisions look, the more spouses of University employees might migrate to BGSU as their primary health care provider. Human Resources report that the group with the greatest claims increases within the past few years (in numbers of claims and in dollars) has been employee spouses.

Miscellaneous updates:

• A data table prepared for us by Donna Wittwer, H.R., shows 518 administrative staff currently at BGSU, compared to approximately 530 a year ago. Percentages by years in position and by position within salary ranges remain virtually unchanged from a year ago—73% with fewer than 6 years in position, 9% with 6-10 years in position, and 18% with 11+ years in position; 54% below salary range midpoint, 26% within the 3rd quartile, and 20% in the top quartile to above range maximum. Wittwer will further research the 26% of administrative employees between minimum and 25th percentile and share her findings with us, in hopes that we might determine for which positions a starting salary in the first quartile might be appropriate.
   
• Classified Staff Council has asked permission for University employees to do walking inside the Eppler Complex during lunchtime. The President is in support of this proposal, and possibilities for staff–oriented exercise and health workshops in the same facility also will be explored.
   
• Our salary ranges were raised 3.65% this past summer. Prior to this range movement, Mercer judged our salary range aggregate as the 43rd percentile of our administrative staff market. The range adjustment should have resulted in some growth relative to market, because our 3% increase for meritorious admin staff was the second highest among the 13 state universities in Ohio.
   
• The President and Provost report a lot of discontent and discussion among the leaders of Ohio’s universities concerning proposals to do away with state-funded "challenge" programs. BGSU has done well, Provost Folkins reports, in the success challenge, relatively well in the 4-year-graduation challenge, and poorly in the research challenge and other challenges. "Don’t be surprised," Folkins noted, "if these challenges go away." As the Provost also predicts, elimination of the challenge subsidy programs probably would result in some return of those monies to general subsidy. However, should this occur, he does not expect all of the challenge money to make its way back to Ohio’s institutions of higher education, and any effort to keep a program alive that was founded on challenge grant dollars would be an additional drain on institutions.
   
• Total enrollment growth at BGSU this year has been reported as 3.6%.
   

Chair Elect Report: No report


Secretary's Report: Diane Smith asked that ASC members contact constituents for questions for Linda Dobb at the December ASC meeting.


Old Business: None

New Business: Mary Beth Zachary raised the question with Becca Ferguson regarding the consent statement on the health form She and others questioned the wording "other person" and "copies of records." Becca stated that this wording has been on the form since 1994, and, since the forms have already been run, it is too late to change. We will be looking at statements that we feel we can sign with some degree of privacy. Becca will look into crossing out some items. Statement will change next year.

Faculty Senate, CSC, and ASC have had complaints regarding what should be allowed to be sent out via constituent group listprocs. President Ribeau said he would have Eileen Sullivan look into the matter with ITS and come up with a policy. Kim McBroom thinks it is a great idea to have a general listproc. Messages will be compiled in the PM to be opened in the AM. Dick Haverman will work on that with Bruce Petryshak. Kim McBroom has promised John Clark a progress report. Jim Evans, Faculty Senate, says they will not send any extraneous messages via their listproc.

Jewel Hanna, administrative staff in dining services, has been accruing massive medical bills due to cancer. ASC was asked if they could help in some way. Suggestions were to make donations to a religious affiliation and to find out what Dining Services is doing.

Good of the Order:

Deborah Fleitz announced Saturday night chamber orchestra performing, November 15 Air Force concert, opera Veteran's day weekend—Cinderella.

Tony Howard announced the upcoming Marcia Adams program " Change of Heart," airing in December.

Jim Dachik announced Jim Dachik announced "Story Theatre" opening tonight, based on Grimm's Fairy Tales and 2 weeks from tonight "The Skin of Our Teeth" by Thorton Wilder.

Robert Zhang thanked everyone for returning questionnaires and encouraged those who didn't do so to return surveys by November 9.

Jane Myers encouraged all to attend the BGSU-Miami game at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Sold excess of 20 thousand tickets. Krogers is offering buy one get one free.

Tina Coulter announced 2002-03 scholarships available online in January.

Mary Beth Zachary encouraged all to bring candy for the BG Holiday Parade.

Mary Lou Stradtman informed us that Firelands broke ground for the Cedar Point Center. It will include distance learning and conference rooms on the first floor. This is the first new building since 1972. 2002 enrollment up 48%, transfers up 100%, 61% overall.

Mary Beth Zachary moved and Laura Emch seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 3:17 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Diane Smith
Secretary