Administrative Staff Council 2004 – 2005
Minutes: February 3, 2005
208 BTSU

Call to Order: Joe Luthman called the meeting to order at 1:33 pm

Members present: Joe Luthman, Lona Leck, Penny Nemitz, Robin Veitch, Wendy Buchanan, Nora Cassidy, Rob Cramer, Dave Crooks, Michael Ginsburg, Tim Hoepf, Sheila Irving, Ann Jenks, Steve Kendall, Naomi Lee, Gerry Davis, Paul Lopez, Susan Macias, Debra McLean, Teresa McLove, Connie Molnar, Emily Monago, Rich Peper, Diane Regan, Deborah Rice, Rachael Schaffer, Larry Spencer, Mary Beth Zachary

Members Absent: Judy Amend, Jill Carr, Greg Dickerson, Kim Fleshman, Lawrence Holland, Sally Raymont, Celeste Robinson,

Member Substitutes: Jena Ault for Jeff Nelson

Approval of Minutes: There were four areas that needed to be changed: the heading date, the date of the next meeting. the chairs report (section #1) to read 180 days instead of 120 and who the minutes were submitted by. With these changes, Robin Veitch moved to approve the minutes of June 2004. Mike Ginsburg seconded. Minutes were approved with corrections.

Chairs Report: Chair Luthman passed around thank you cards from two of the 2004-2005 Scholarship Recipients and a card from Marcia Latta.

Emily Monago has a change to the handbook that we will talk about later under New Business.

The Engagement Initiative, although aimed more towards the faculty, is an important document for the Administrative Staff as well. Initially it talks about rewards for the faculty, especially in terms of salary, this of course is an important issue for AS as there would be a possibility of salary inequities. Faculty are concerned with the Engagement Initiative, because at this time research and teaching are heavily favored for salary increases. The service engagement is being looked at as it is not so heavily weighted in the merit pool. This initiative may heavily impact new faculty. Luthman brought up using release time to get involved in initiatives; this was shot down. Discussion ensued concerning the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education (CHEE) and the public perception problem that primarily affects the faculty

Two years ago Human Resources was asked to do a ‘turnover study’ for ASC, it was never completed. Chair Luthman asked Linda Dobb and Chris Dalton for this information during the fall compensation meeting, he was asked to wait until PeopleSoft came on line. The problem with waiting was that the information would not be readily available and we, as AS members would have to wait another 3-5 years. Luthman and Leck stated that this was too long to wait. It was then decided that HR would do the study. The study was done using the parameters of vice presidential area. We requested further studies by: Gender, Pay Grade and Age by Decades (20-30, 30-40, etc).

A commercial message: please think about being chair-elect or secretary, they are rewarding positions.

In March we will also have two members of the faculty come and talk about an alternative to the Spousal Exclusion Policy. The faculty committee would like to see this proposed policy be put on hold, in order to collect more data and look at possible alternatives. Presently this policy is scheduled to begin for the continuing employees beginning in ’06. It is already in place for new hires.

March is going to be a busy month as we will also be discussing salary and compensation issues

During our March 3rd meeting, we may have two members of the Human Resources area give a 45 minute to an hour presentation on JAQ’s beginning at 2:30 pm. It is possible though that this program may be switched to the April meeting. This presentation has already been done for Athletics and Dr. Whipple’s area. There have been a number of questions concerning how the JAQ works and this presentation would cover areas like; how the JAQ came about, how to fill it out and how it is graded. We will need to find out how many people would be interested in attending as there will be handouts.

Lopez suggested that the JAQ seminar be changed and put on the docket for the Spring Administrative Staff Reception on March 29th. Discussion ensued. It was decided that this will be looked into. Presently we have an 1½ set aside for the Spring Reception, we are looking expanding the time and having seminars before the reception. The JAQ seminar would be a good program to offer. Also the seminar would be taped for those who would be unable to make the program. Expanding the reception was a suggestion made by Dr. Ribeau last year to Robin Veitch.

Secretary: Elections are fast approaching, please consider running for the coveted Chair or the Secretary’s position. Also if you know anyone that you think would be a good representative on ASC, please talk to that person about the elections. Thanks to Ann Jenks for being the secretary at the January meeting.

Committee Reports:

Amendments: Minor changes in handbook has been looked at concerning how long, if at all a person has to be off ASC before they can run for election again. This will be talked about in new business. Also the committee is looking at the process to add a Treasurers position to the ASC.

External Affairs: Lopez handed out information concerning the Dance Marathon. The DM is trying to get more faculty and staff involved in this important event. There are a number of thing we as AS can do (see attached) to be part of this event. Contact Amy Colvin if you are interested

Internal Affairs: The committee is gearing up for elections. Nomination forms will be going out sometime in the next two weeks. Please consider running for an office or a committee. Again, if you know someone who would be a good representative, please talk to them about being part of ASC.

PWC/Salary: Met on 2/1 and worked on a draft of goals to be presented to ASC at the March meeting. Zhang has completed his analysis of gender and length of time in position and found ‘no significant’ results.

Professional Dev: Sheila Irving has the tape from the 1st semesters ‘Coalition on Campus’ which deals with the sexual assault issue. There are also other potential seminars for Administrative Staff Day.

Scholarship: Scholarship raffle tickets are available on the ASC web-site. Due date is February 28th. Scholarship applications are going out soon. The drawing for winners of the raffle is February 15th and they will be announced at the March meeting.
Faculty Senate: Barb Garay is the replacement for Diane Whitmire who recently retired. Larry Weiss gave a presentation concerning Higher Education in the State Government and how poorly we are being looked at. Larry, with help from the Alumni Association is trying to get alumni, parents etc to advocate for higher education. You can go to the Alumni Association website and click on Advocate for BGSU and get all the information.

Classified Staff: CSC is offering 12-$250.00 scholarships that go only to family members of classified staff. The January 19th meeting lasted 3 hours covering a variety salary issues. The council’s salary compensation committee is drafting proposals for this year and is considering a request for some sort of longevity pay, consistency in the pay raise offered to promotions, re-classifications and new hires for equal positions. The proposed 05 Holiday Closing (December 28, 29, 30) was also discussed and CSC will ask Dr. Dobb to show them documentation on how this would save the University money before being voted on.

New Business: Potential handbook change: how long must an AS member wait, after serving their term on ASC, before they can run again. The handbook presently states: ‘Membership may not hold consecutive three-year terms, and are eligible for re-election after completing a two-year waiting period.’ (Page 73, Section III) Historical background was shared concerning why the statement was added to the handbook. The term limit was put in to be pro active, to a problem that never occurred. Discussion pertaining to elimination of the waiting period basically evolved around the fact that we need continuity. We, ASC, have no place to put any historical information, so we inevitably re-invent the wheel. If we eliminate the waiting period we will be keeping people on who have experience and historical information.

This is the first reading; the second reading will take place at the March meeting. A motion was made to waive the second reading. The motion passed.

Dave Crooks made a motion to “Delete the last sentence on page 73, section III of the handbook”. Larry Spencer seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Senate Bill #24 was discussed. This bill is being put before the State Senate by Senator Wachtmann and Senator Mumper; it will restrict the content in classrooms. The rationale for this bill is because these senators believe that faculty are too liberal. Connie Molnar will be sending a link to the ASC website so we can familiarize ourselves with the content of this Bill.

Good of the Order:
Joe Luthman congratulated Chair Elect Lona Leck on the completion of her Masters Degree
Zachary: The Symposium on Women in Sports that is presently going on in the Union
Lopez: The TV station is taping portions of the Women in Sports Symposium and will be available on MyBGSU. He also spoke about the University Planning Committee that he is presently serving on. He encouraged everyone to go to the Institutional Research spot on the ASC website, look at the Environmental Scan and give feedback. lopez@wbgu.bgsu.edu
Regan: The Tsunami memorial ceremony will be held Thursday, February 10th from4:00-5:00 in Olscamp. Four spiritual leaders have been asked to speak and the Red Cross will be available for questions and donations.
Molnar: Tsunami Relief bracelets are being sold for $2.50 and ALL the money goes to the Red Cross
Lee: The Women in Sports Conference includes 200 women from 22 states and other countries will be honored with plagues to recognize their Varsity experience.
Veitch: Basketball, gymnastics and Swimming events are all going on this weekend. On Saturday it’s ‘Wear Orange’ to the Women’s Basketball Game.
Monago: The Black Issues Conference is this Saturday. The title is ‘Money, Power and Respect’; it is free and open to the public. The guest speaker is, Amarosa, from Donald Trump’s Apprentice.
Rice: College Access Program will be putting on College Bowl Sunday; BGSU will be at Owens and Firelands.
Macias: Volunteers are needed for President’s Day, 7,000 people are expected.
Crooks: Men’s hockey hosted Notre Dame and won. 4,946 people attended…in other words a full house.
Fleshman: ‘I movie’ at BG Festival. There is an awards program, Saturday, February 26th at the Clazell.
Nemitz: Student numbers are once again up at Firelands

Chair Luthman, in closing, encouraged everyone to fill out the Survey for Engagement.

Adjournment:
Gerry Davis made a motion to adjourn. Steve Kendall seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 2:51 p.m.

Next Meeting:
March 3, 2005 (1:30 – 3:00) 207 BTSU

Submitted by: Penny Nemitz ASC Secretary