Administrative Staff Council 2004 – 2005
Minutes: May 5, 2005
207 BTSU

Call to Order: Chair Luthman called the meeting to order at precisely 1:30 pm

Members present: Joe Luthman, Lona Leck, Penny Nemitz, Robin Veitch, Judy Amend, Wendy Buchanan, Dave Crooks, Nora Cassidy, Rob Cramer, Gerry Davis, Kim Fleshman, Mike Ginsburg, Ann Jenks, Steve Kendall, Naomi Lee, Paul Lopez, Susan Macias, Deb McLean, Teresa McLove, Connie Molnar, Emily Monago, Rich Peper, Diane Regan, Deborah Rice, Celeste Robertson, Larry Spencer, Mary Beth Zachary

Members Absent: Greg Dickerson, Tim Hoepf, Lawrence Holland, Emily Monago, Rachel Schaeffer

Member Substitutes: Chris Haar for Sheila Irving. Michael Ginsburg for Jill Carr, Wendy Buchanan for Jeff Nelson

Guests: Today’s guests are Dr. Linda Dobb, Executive Vice President and Tom Trimboli, the University’s General Counsel.

Approval of Minutes Paul Lopez brought forth minor changes. Paul Lopez moved to approve minutes. Kim Fleshman seconded. The minutes were approved.

Chairs Report: For our June meeting we will have small group discussions which will include all representatives; outgoing, incoming and continuing. These groups will help to determine the ASC projects for the 2005-2006 year. Please reflect on the year-end summaries and consult with your constituents as to what direction they would like to see ASC continue. The Ombudsperson position held by Robin Veitch will have a counterpart for Classified Staff Council. HR will arrange training and study material for both ASC and CSC. Please encourage staff to direct questions to the ombudsperson. The whole purpose for this position is to provide better service to staff. HR has issued a reminder to check vacation accrual to best ensure no loss in July when totals will be narrowed down to the limits based on 9-month, 10-month or full year stats. Capital Planning will soon receive a letter about ASC accepting a room in South Hall. We would then need to choose how to arrange the room

Chair Elect Report: Staff are reminded to be ever cognizant of their use of university computer hardware and software concerning security issues. At the April President’s Panel meeting, which is held two times a year, ASC posed a question regarding clarification of work priorities. Ribeau believes our top priority must be engagement. We need to speak BGSU’s voice to heighten awareness of our positive contribution to the region and to Ohio. Also at this meeting a practicum student or a work-study student was offered to our organization, and to share duties with CSC, to enable us to more efficiently accomplish basic tasks and to improve continuity from year to year.

Secretary: There were 146 total votes received. The results are as follows:
Chair-Elect Steve Kendall
Secretary Kim Fleshman

University Standing Committees:
Equal Opportunity Compliance Laura Emch
Health, Wellness and Insurance Linda Hamilton
Information Technology Camillle Consolvo

ASC Representatives:
Athletics/Sports Activities Dave Crooks
Student Support Laura Emch and R. Knopf
Academic Support Myron Skulas
Technology Adan Garcia

ASC Executive Committee Representatives:
Athletics Naomi Lee
Academic Connie Molnar
Student Support Celeste Robertson
Academic Support Ann Jenks

Kim Fleshman made a motion to shred votes. Connie Molnar seconded the motion. Motion passed,

New Business:
Linda Dobb came back this month to discuss her original reason for being here, which is how, starting July 2005 we will be getting our paychecks. Our paychecks will no longer be sent to us, we will have to go into MyBGSU, go to Services and my pay will be right there. There will be a letter sent home to everyone with all the pertinent information.

Question: Will there be a reminder sent to us on e-mail like the Bursar does?
Answer: I will think about that

Question: What about computer fraud?
Answer: We have great security but with a hacker, nothing is always safe so don’t forget to LOG-OUT.

Please let your constituents know about on-line pay. The University is trying to get students to do direct deposit also. If a student has 2-3 jobs the program will articulate it.

Question: What about Classified Staff who don’t have a computer.
Answer: Facility Services has added computers so CSC members are able to print their copies.

Tom Trimboli is here to discuss the ‘Code of Ethics’. Looking back 2-3 years this idea originated at the Board of Trustee level to look at how the Senior Management was dealing with different areas. Senior Management then came back with the ‘Code of Ethics’ (conduct) particularly for those people who have the ability to do the buying for the University. They also looked at the Ohio Ethics Commission Website. The trustees wanted more than just a rubric, they wanted something to describe what they were looking for. They want something that will pertain to all areas, ASC, CSC, Faculty, not just fragments. They are not attempting to usurp authority of anyone or anything that we have already in place, but statements need to be developed for Administrative staff. Tom stated that there is nothing in the draft of the code of ethics that states: ‘who are you?’ …’What do you aspire to be?’

Many Universities are working on the same type of ‘code’ that we are discussing. The University of Virginia has a good one that anyone could look at. The Ohio State University is presently working on their code. We at BGSU are lucky because the Board had the foresight to start working on this so we are technically ‘ahead of the game’. An article from Solutions headlines ‘Why the rush to comply with legislation that doesn’t even target you? Good business sense, that’s why.’

Tom explained the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This is a result of Enron and other such companies. Trimboli handed out a number of papers from the following websites: http://www.aicpa.org/info/sarbanes_oxley_summary.htm pages pages 1- 11
http://www.pwcglobal.com/servlet/printFormat?url=www.pwcglobal.com/extweb/ne pages 1-5
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17341-2005Mar8?language pages 1-2
http://www.bostrom.com/solutions/Solutions2-1htm pages 1-3
http://www.acenet.edu/hena/readArticle.cfm?articleID+1284 pages 1-2
and handouts from articles:
Corporate Legal Times, March 2005 edition
‘Lockyer v. Spitzer: The Non-Profit Battleground’
NFPerspectives Volume 14 Number 4 Winter 2005
‘Not-for-profits react to Sarbanes-Oxley’
NFPerspective Volume 15 Number 2 Summer 2004
‘Establishing a moral compass through ethical behavior, values and goals."

All the above articles show a progression of how ethical standards are being sought in all areas of business, including non-profit. Earlier this year Sarbanes-Oxley hit California, so that not only are businesses in California involved, but anyone doing business in California.

It is not always good when government gets involved, an article from the Higher Education and Nation Affairs states; “Senators questioned practices at colleges and universities, tax-exempt hospitals, arts groups, social service organizations, private foundation and many other non-profit organizations”.

Trimboli said that one of the things he had to do when he got to BG was to be appointed by Petro as an assistant attorney general because the university counsel of public institutions has to be an assistant attorney general, legislation has been proposed which would redefine what constitutes a public record. It means that if somebody comes to me and asks me do you have this and I say no I don’t; under the new statute I say no I don’t but let me tell you what I do have. If somebody sends me a letter saying my garbage is not being removed as often as it could under the bill that is being considered, that is public record and I’ve got to keep it, and if somebody asks for it I have to produce it. Now we all know that politicians aspirations sometimes motivate decisions on bills, this bill is being advocated by the attorney general.

Another example deals with campaign stickers. If you have a sticker in your work station it is alright because it looks like you are supporting the campaign. But if you move it outside of your immediate work station, this is not allowed because then it looks like the University is the supporter.

Looking at the ASC Handbook, the Code for all Administrative Staff. This handbook is 28 years old, way outdated. There are places where revisions are needed; as social norms and morals change. Then also there are places in the faculty Charter that do not apply to teachers. Trimboli is advocating that we look at the different groups. Ribeau will be giving the directives for ASC and CSC while the Board of Trustees will take care of Senior Management. We do not know who the Ethics Officer will be, but it will be a difficult position. The Board of Trustees may direct Ribeau to take care of this.

Discussion excerpts follow:
• Correlation between racial and cultural diversity, re-write for broader definition of diversity. Legal decision and Michigan decision should be included
• Many universities wrote friends of court briefs, appealed to the 6th district court of appeals. Petro made us withdraw legal briefs
• Need to re-address more formal grievance hearing process
• Need to stipulate our objections of this code of ethics
• They will march this out only when they want to get rid of someone
• We already have five other documents about code of ethics, seems like window dressing
• Over arching group of documents and getting pushed down our throat
• Newspaper association wants this change and it is public record. All of our documents state that the BGSU Board of Trustees has the power
• Fiduciary law to private life, Sarbanes-Oxley was intended for financial places of business

Committee Reports:

Amendments: not present

Awards and Special Recognitions:

External Affairs:

Internal Affairs: no report

Personnel Welfare/Salary: Various studies will be completed in a few days
Scholarship: 8 students won; Darcie Pike was the $1000 winner with 7 students winning $300

Faculty Senate: Passed the gavel. The budget is bad according to Ribeau, Kent is eliminating 66 positions. The faculty requested salary increases to be equal to university growth but it failed, they then asked for 3%

Classified Staff: They voted that the Ombudsperson would be the prior chair, but this will be re-addressed at the next meeting. University advancement wants representation on CSC

New Business
The Graduate Student Senate Resolution on Ohio Senate Bill was not discussed due to time constraints.

Good of the Order:
It seems that the University Seal has been stolen.

Next Meeting: Next meeting will be June 2, at 1:30 p.m. in 207 BTSU

Adjournment: Dave Crooks made a motion to adjourn. Steve Kendall seconded. The meeting adjourned at 3:15p.m.

Submitted by: Penny Nemitz (with the help of Kim Fleshman) ASC Secretary