[In these minutes: Discussion with CAPA and CSC Chairs, campus updates,
Morris chancellor search, Student Legislative Coalition, student evaluations,
SSCC participation in administrative searches]
STUDENT SENATE
CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES
NOVEMBER 17,
2005
[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a committee of
the University of Minnesota Senate; none of the comments, conclusions, or
actions reported in these minutes represent the views of, nor are they binding
on, the Senate the Administration, or the Board of
Regents.]
PRESENT: Josh Breyfogle (chair), Nicolas Allyn, Anthony
Kouba, William Kusch, Rick Orr, Timothy Tangen, Jared
Warren.
ABSENT: Brian Edstrom, Blake Hogan, Dion
Turgeon.
GUESTS: Christina Balder, Matt Bowers, Jaki
Cottingham-Zierdt, Kathy Yaeger.
1. DISCUSSION WITH MATT BOWERS, CIVIL
SERVICE COMMITTEE CHAIR, AND JAKI COTTINGHAM-ZIERDT, COUNCIL OF ACADEMIC
PROFESSIONALS AND ADMINISTRATORS CHAIR
Matt Bowers, Chair of the
Civil Service Committee (CSC), said that his committee serves as an advocacy
group for the 4500 non-unionized civil service employees on the Twin Cities and
coordinate campuses. Two areas that they work on each year are establishing the
pay plan with the administration and revising the Civil Service Rules which
govern all the employees.
The committee itself is currently appointed by
the President, but the CSC will discuss electing its members to get the
constituents more involved. There are three officers – Chair, Vice Chair,
and Treasurer – and the Senate Office provides the staff
support.
They have subcommittees on Compensation, Benefits, and Advocacy.
CSC also works to support the University through the legislative network. It
has a website (http://www1.umn.edu/csc/) and sends a monthly newsletter to all
civil service employees. Meetings are open to the public so he invited members
to attend.
For next year’s pay plan, the CSC has been involved in
adjusting the salary ranges and has created two task forces to look at
performance evaluations and merit pay raises. The committee would like to know
how raises are determined and what method is used. They are looking at setting
a floor for merit pay raises so that units will be able to judge and then
distribute funds fairly.
Jaki Cottingham-Zierdt said that the Council of
Academic Professionals and Administrators (CAPA) represents the 4600 employees
in this classification, which is the broadest group at the University. While
the minimum standard is a Bachelors Degree, many P&A employees have their
Ph.D. Employees in this group are vulnerable since all P&A employees are
contract workers and can be terminated simply by non-renewal of the contract
with no reason given.
CAPA itself was created as an appointed body but
has since become a group whose members are elected by unit. CAPA itself then
elects 23 of its members to serve as senators. It also has a website
(http://capa.software.umn.edu/). Meetings are held on the third Friday of each
month from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm.
She said that she would like to see
more bridge-building between groups on campus. CAPA should know what students
are interested in, what works and what does not, and what are barriers to
education at the University. To help this process, CAPA has included a student
liaison relationship in its Bylaws and provides time on each CAPA agenda for the
student liaison to talk about what the students are doing. She would encourage
the Student Senate to create a CAPA liaison relationship as well.
The
committee thanked the chairs for attending this meeting and explaining what
their two committees do. They were excited about the new dynamics that will be
present at University Senate meetings and the chance for different voices and
opinions to be heard.
2. CHAIR’S REPORT
Josh
Breyfogle thanked Rick Orr for initiating contact with CAPA and Civil Service.
He believes that a liaison role is a useful step for students. He said that he
is working on issues but has nothing to report at this time.
3. CAMPUS
UPDATES
Rick Orr presented the following report from MSA:
- Strategic planning is moving forward and several reports are due in
December
- He has discussed the student evaluation questions being a mandatory release,
but this is not possible under state law as long as the questions refer to the
person teaching the course
- MSA passed a resolution supporting continued union negotiations but failed
to pass a resolution supporting the continued existence of the General
College
- HESO discussed bill HR609 which would cut support to financial aid. While
the cut only cuts the authorized amount, not the appropriated amount, it will
not have much effect at this time, but this cut could lead to future cuts being
easier to approve. The Senate has approved the action and the House is still
voting. MSA approved a resolution opposed to HR609.
Tony
Kouba said that GAPSA approved a resolution on continuing union negotiations
with AFSCME and not using caged-egg products on campus. They have also been
working on arranging transportation to local stores for international students
who do not have transportation or know the area. Lastly, they are looking into
attendance at a funeral as an excused absence from an exam; at this time
non-attendance is at the professor’s discretion.
Jared Warren
mentioned the following items that MCSA is working on:
- Safety tour of campus was completed; additional security cameras will be
installed with grant funds
- Working with the administration on the death of Rick Rose
- Late fall election will be held for open seats
- Strategic planning
- Student Legal Services held a session on campus that covered topics such as
renter’s rights and credit card debt
- Professors were asked to submit book lists for spring semester earlier so
students had time to compare prices
Timothy Tangen reported on
the following topics for UMDSA:
- He is working on a University-wide housing policy
- Parking is a problem at Duluth
- Taxi program, to operate when buses are not running, will be in place
soon
- Night walk took place
- More security cameras are being asked for in parking lots
- Student seats on all-campus committees have been
filled
4. MORRIS CHANCELLOR SEARCH
Kathy Yaeger,
Associate to Senior Vice President Jones, joined the committee to talk about the
process for choosing the students for the Morris Chancellor search. She said
that the Chancellor’s Executive Committee met with the Morris Executive
Committee and developed a list of six student names. These were sent to SSCC,
who forwarded back a prioritized list. Senior Vice President Jones and
Professor Nancy Carpenter, search committee chair, spoke with several students
on the list. Kathy Yaeger does know that one of SSCC’s top choices did
decline appointment, which is why a name from the second grouping was chosen.
The second spot was then used to appoint a student of color for diversity on the
committee.
Jared Warren expressed concern with one of the students chosen
since they did not understand the time commitment, did not know that the current
Chancellor was retiring, and did not have a full interest in the
process.
Josh Breyfogle thanked Kathy Yaeger for providing the committee
with information about the process.
5. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE
STUDENT LEGISLATIVE COALITION (SLC)
Christina Balder said that she
was asked to attend after Emily Cox and Nick Peterson were unable to be at the
meeting. There is a conflict with Lobby Day at the capitol. SLC chose April 13
and reserved the capitol and rotunda while the administration picked March 6.
The administration chose the date since it is possible that the capital request
could be heard early this year, but SLC is worried that there will be few
legislators there on that date.
There will be a rally before going to the
capitol so that student understand the request and what they should be speaking
about. Details still to be determined are the timing of the event, morning
versus afternoon, and whether lunch or dinner will be offered. The event will
also be called Lobby Day instead of Maroon and Gold Day.
SLC has recently
hired a lobbyist who will officially start in January, but who has offered to
provide some guidance before her start date. A new grassroots coordinator is
also in place. If students want to receive updates on the legislative process,
they should register for the Legislative Network, which sends email
notices.
6. UPDATE ON STUDENT EVALUATION QUESTIONS
Rick Orr
distributed the revised student evaluation questions. He asked that SSCC make
any final changes today so that the revisions can be sent to the Educational
Policy Committee (SCEP) for final approval. He said that the goal would be to
implement the new questions first at the Twin Cities and Morris, and then to
work with the unions at Crookston and Duluth.
The committee then walked
through the questions and made several revisions, which will be communicated to
SCEP.
7. DISCUSSION OF SSCC PARTICIPATION IN ADMINISTRATIVE
SEARCHES
Josh Breyfogle said that SSCC will continue to provide the
administration with its recommendations, but receiving feedback as to why
someone was or was not chosen is a key issue for SSCC. For future searches,
SSCC should ask for a discussion before the decision is announced.
It was
noted that a second piece of the search process is the interviews with
candidates. These have started for Vice President for Access, Equity, and
Multicultural Affairs, but there was only one student in attendance for the
first interview. If SSCC wants to have more give and take at the beginning of
the process, it has to be willing to continue with the rest of the process.
This will be important for the Morris Chancellor search.
Josh Breyfogle
then informed members that he was consulted late about the student appointment
to the Associate Vice President for International Education Search Committee.
The administration had already chosen a graduate student from Public Affairs who
has studied abroad. The group has started to meet, but he was offered the
opportunity to appoint another student. Members agreed that while an
undergraduate student would be nice on the committee, there is not time for SSCC
to find someone. The graduate student appointment was then
approved.
8. OTHER BUSINESS
SSCC discussed the December
Student Senate agenda, agreeing to add the Policy on Personal Electronic Devices
and the Resolution on Employee Retention to the agenda, as well as a discussion
of spring semester topics. The agenda was then approved as amended.
Josh
Breyfogle then discussed SSCC responding to an email that was sent from the
President to ask people to report bias-related incidents. As most members did
not remember this message, it was agreed that Josh Breyfogle would forward it
before any discussion took place.
With no further business, Josh
Breyfogle thanked all members for attending and adjourned the
meeting.
Becky Hippert
University Senate