[In these minutes: 1. Boynton Health Discussion, 2. FERPA Update, 3. U Pass Presentation, 4. Campus Lighting Update, 5. OSD Update]

STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (SCSA)

MINUTES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2000
2:30 - 4:00
300 MORRILL HALL

[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a meeting of a committee of the University of Minnesota Senate or Twin Cities Campus Assembly; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes represent the view of, nor are they binding on the Senate or Assembly, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.]

PRESENT: Jesse Berglund (chair), Jane Canney, Percy Chaby, David Lenander, Mark McCrory, John Romano, Cory Stingl, Jason Stingl, Diane Wartchow, Donna Whitney.

REGRETS: Sabeen Altaf, Deborah Bang, Jeremy Dressen, Terry Hietpas, Ted Labuza, Shane Naslund.

GUESTS: Matt Clark, Edward Ehlinger, Tina Falkner.

1. BOYNTON HEALTH DISCUSSION

Ed Ehlinger distributed information gathered from a Spring 1998 survey of 1500 graduate and undergraduates at the University. He then walked the committee though the handout noting that the statistics received match those from other schools. He then turned to a second handout regarding information on Boynton Health Services in particular. From the figures, he noted that there has been a rise in the demand for mental health services. Reasons for this include many psychological problems emerging during the college years and that students are more open to coming forward for treatment.

To try and meet the demand, Boynton has increased the number of patient appointments and added extra staffing. Also, the scheduling calendar has been placed on the web. Then, when someone cancels an appointment, it is shown on the web. Patients are then instructed to look at the web on a regular basis to see if openings exist. Patients can then call the office and request that timeslot. This is much more efficient than trying to call students and inform them of the openings since most students are not at home during the day. Eventually, Boynton would like patients to be able to schedule their own appointments through the web.

One problem has been a 10-15% fail rate in which patients do not show up for their appointments. Unlike a medical clinic where other patients are waiting, Boynton staff end up wasting this time until the next patient arrives. To cut this fail rate, a fee has been implemented as a way to encourage patients to call and cancel appointments in advance.

He then returned to the handout and discussed the types of problems being treated, the reasons that students are giving for their use of the services, and responses to the increase by Boynton.

He did mention that while the wait times are higher than the ideal, these periods are consistent across the community's mental health clinics. Unlike other private hospitals which can stop taking new patients, Boynton has a commitment to take all student patients. One change that has been made is the eliminating of non-students seen at Boynton. He then noted that students who used the crisis line were given a same day evaluation.

Q: Is Boynton seeing an increase this semester also?

A: The demand is there because wait times are starting to increase for services.

Q: Do the University Counseling and Consulting Services (UCCS) and Boynton work in collaboration?

A: UCCS and Boynton work closely together to make sure that there is no overlapping in programming and to refer patients to the appropriate service to help them with their problem.

Q: Do you know if students do not use the services because of the long wait times?

A: There is no real way to assess this. The current staff cannot meet the needs of all students. Boynton is trying to refer out patients with long-term needs so that more time can be devoted to patients who need briefer help.

Q: What is the difference between UCCS and Boynton?

A: Boynton deals with mental health problems and diagnoses. UCCS handles problems with test anxiety and career choices.

Q: How do students learn about UCCS?

A: Materials on the service are included in the orientation packets. Outreach is provided through marketing, advertised workshops, and residence hall information sessions.

Q: Can students be treated in groups?

A: Yes. A variety of areas offer weekly group meetings which allows more students to be reached in a shorter time frame.

2. FERPA UPDATE

Ed Ehlinger said that the language that was approved by SCSA was forwarded to the President's Executive Committee for approval. The committee had some questions regarding wording and background, as well as whether the policy should apply to the entire University or just the Twin Cities Campus. The General Counsel's Office is also being worked with to see if contacting parents is a legal right of the University.

When the proposal was presented to the Regents, there was a mixed reception because many of them are also parents, which was the one group that wanted the University to report violations; students, faculty, and staff felt that no reporting was necessary.

Jane Canney said that MnSCU is still considering whether or not its institutions will contact parents with violations. At present, Indiana, Penn State, and Iowa have decided to contact parents while Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Purdue will not. Most reporting will also occur from residence halls since students need to be on campus to fall under any policy.

Ed Ehlinger said that even knowing the Regents' position, the task force still does not feel that the policy should be changed before bringing brought to the Regents for action in April. If changed, reporting might become an administrative nightmare when trying to determine which behaviors are reported, to whom, by whom, and until what age.

Q: Was this policy brought to the Senate?

A: No. The task force only asked for feedback from the committee and the next Senate meeting is after the date that it will be presented to the Regents.

3. U PASS PRESENTATION

Matt Clark stated that because of the success of the 10^th Ave Circulator and a referendum last spring, a group has been investigating the possibility of a U Pass program. President Yudof supports this effort but wants to make sure that students also support it before anything is approved.

For this program, Metro Transit was asked to submit proposals, the first two of which were rejected since the student cost was too high. The third proposal, which includes a $5 mandatory student fee to cover all transportation costs and then a $50 per semester bus pass, was finally agreed upon by the University. The mandatory fee would be an administrative fee, not one allocated through the student service fees process, and would be managed by the Transportation Advisory Committee

Implementation of the program would begin in the Fall of 2000. A federal grant would supplement the program of the first few years, after which time the mandatory fee would be increased to $11 to cover the operating costs of the service. Short-term benefits would include less campus congestion and a decrease in debt-services from new parking ramps and underground lots. Long-term benefits of the service would allow the University to discontinue its own campus circulators and let students ride Metro Transit buses for which they would have the pass. Commuter rail, once completed, would also be accessible with this pass.

Q: Would faculty and staff benefit from this program?

A: They would also be able to buy passes, but at a higher rate because they would not be assessed the mandatory fee and they have pre-tax benefits.

Q: Which buses would be included in this program?

A: All Metro Transit buses, transit link buses, and rail service once constructed.

Q: Would this fee be added to a student's financial aid package?

A: Vice Provost Craig Swan is working on this piece.

Q: What kind of fee would the $5 be?

A: It would be an administrative and therefore not be subjected to the student service fees process.

Q: Would the $50 fee increase every year?

A: This fee would be kept level for the first few years to gauge usage levels. At some point it might need to be increased since costs might be greater that the revenue being generated.

Q: What is important about the federal grant?

A: This grant will allow the University to charge an initial $5 mandatory fee to start the program. When this grant expires, the mandatory fee will increase incrementally until all costs are covered.

Q: If this program is implemented, will information be made available to incoming students at orientation?

A: Yes.

Q: What is the target date to start this program?

A: Fall 2000.

Many other committees and campus organizations are behind this proposal, including the president of SAFE. Therefore, Matt Clark is trying to bring everyone together in a united front by early April. He then said that MSA has a resolution that they will be voting on next Tuesday, which can be forwarded to the committee for approval.

Many committee members felt that this plan is good public policy, so Jesse Berglund asked the resolution to be sent to Becky Hippert, who would then forward it to the committee and record the vote.

4. CAMPUS LIGHTING UPDATE

Percy Chaby read the resolution for the committee. He then said that safety for all University community members while on campus at night is a concern. He recently walked through the East and West Banks of campus. He noted that there were are only 4 call boxes on the East Bank of which none are on the Mall or close to Sanford Hall, people need to know where they are to be able to use them, and no lighting exists along East River Road or the river flats. These are all high traffic areas which are not safe for the people who use them.

To address this issue, he has a meeting scheduled between himself, Jane Canney, Bob Janoski from Campus Safety and Security, and the Police Chief for Friday. He will stress that the attempted rapes that happened at Morris do not need to happen here if action is taken.

Q: What kinds of changes are needed to see an increase?

A: Another walk-through would probably be needed with Campus Safety and Security to record problem areas and then address the biggest needs first. In Dinkytown the city council and police force do this type of walk-through each year to see what changes are needed. The same process should be implemented for campus.

Q: Are there standards for other public areas that could be used at guidelines in this resolution?

A: I do not know of any of these standards, but someplace like the Minneapolis Park Board could be called for this type of information.

The committee suggested that the resolution be redesigned to include a percent increase in call boxes and lighting on campus in a specific period of time, such as by Fall 2000. The committee then approved the spirit in motion, noting that additional language changes would be made.

5. OSD UPDATE

Student Service Fees Process
Jane Canney said that the preliminary deliberations have finished and public hearings will be held this week after which time the committee will make its final recommendations. Concern has been raised this year regarding faculty members serving as voting members of the fees committee. An administrative decision regarding this concern will be made after the final fee recommendations are submitted to McKinley Boston. If problems are found in the process, the entire fee proposal could be sent back to the committee to be redesigned.

Q; What is the controversy regarding faculty voting on the fees committee?

A: While the Regents' policy calls for faculty members on the fees committee, none have been appointed for the last six years. When faculty appointments were completed this year, they were made after the subcommittees had already begun to meet with student organizations. At a meeting with the Committee on Committees (C on C), who appointed the faculty members, it was stated that students who are appointed late cannot vote on the fee proposals and therefore faculty should be held to the same standards. C on C agreed that this year the faculty members would serve as non-voting ex officio members of the committee, yet the faculty members did not agree. The debate concerns the committee regulating its own actions or being strictly bound by the Regents Policy.

Q: Is there a specific fee that is being contended this year?

A: All fees are being debated, but MPIRG has been active regarding its funding, although the subcommittee recommended that its current funding level be continued for next year.

Save Our Students (SOS)
Jane Canney distributed the third and fourth SOS printings to the committee and mentioned that there is a website listed on the information. These last two printings have been done in cooperation with Boynton and UCCS in response to the demands in their services this year. The publication serves as another educational tool for faculty, staff, and students at the University. Any topics that people have can be sent to her to be included on a list of upcoming printings.

A committee member said that information on the student/parent help center should also be included.

Housing
Because of the Seton Hall dormitory fires, the University is looking more closely at safety in its residence halls. In terms of fire safety, the Twin Cities is ahead of the coordinate campuses, yet there are more multi-level buildings on the Twin Cities campus as well. The plan is to have sprinkler and alarm renovations completed by 2006, but the University is looking into ways to speed up this process.

Greek Issues 2000
The Campus Involvement Center (CIC) has started an initiative to look into health and safety concerns in Greek houses. Many times the University is called when Greek houses receive violations from the Minneapolis Housing Board or the Police. The University wants these entities to ticket all violations to show how serious these problems are. Also, if these organizations are not going to maintain their facilities, they will be closed, as others have been, and there are many other groups and companies who would be able to use this space.

One Greek house had a fire start in an upstairs bedroom in December. Luckily no members were in the house at that time otherwise injuries might have occurred, in addition to material damages. Recently, this house had an open house for other Greek organizations to walk through and see the extent of damage that can occur when little accidents happen in poorly maintained facilities.

Q: What is the University's place in regards to Greek housing?

A: The University wants to address the health and safety all its students, even those that decide to live off campus. The University sees this as an opportunity to interact with Greek organizations and demonstrate responsibility when managing residences, although this is not the University's jurisdiction.

Q: Does the University maintain contact with the national Greek organizations?

A: Yes, as well as alumni groups also.

6. CAMPUS UPDATES

MSA - Percy Chaby reported that 2000 elections rules were approved as well as constitutional changes pertaining to semesters. He and Ben Bowman recently attended the Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS) conference at Michigan State, after the University not being represented for four years. Many new ideas were brought back and MSA is looking forward to the next conference this summer at Purdue. As for elections, there are now seven tickets running for MSA president and vice president.

There were no reports from GAPSA, Crookston, or Morris.

7. OTHER BUSINESS

Percy Chaby said that he met with Dan Teschke from Men's Athletic ticket sales to see what can be done to make events more accessible for students. Dan said that one barrier has been the dorms themselves since their no soliciting policy applies to the University as well as outside companies. Percy mentioned that a monthly newsletter, listing all men's and women's event dates and times as well as contact information, to place in mailboxes might be one solution. Another suggestions was also using the University's events calendar.

Committee members then started to discuss the recently-adopted policy regarding prohibiting on-line notes in terms of violating free speech rights, copyright issues, and intellectual property concerns. Because of the amount of debate, it was decided that this would be placed on the April agenda.

With no further discussion, Jesse Berglund thanked all members for attending and adjourned the meeting.

Rebecca Hippert
University Senate