Staff Senate Minutes
March 14, 2007
The Staff Senate met on March 14, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. in Reynolds 210. Senators in attendance were Jill Bond, Wilma Williams, Wayne Garner, Brenda Garrett, Dr. Roger Guevara, Art Horne, Diane Johnson, Pat King, Kellye Ogle, Beth Scroggins, Linda Smith, Cledis Stuart, and Houston Taylor.
Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order by President Houston Taylor. A motion to accept the minutes was made by Art Horne and seconded by Pat King and Beth Scroggins.
Old Business
Art Horne asked about an update from the Health Promotion Committee. It was reported that the committee had spoken with Roger Giles and are considering conducting a general interest survey. Challenges for this endeavor would include funding and employee participation time.
Committee Reports
Building and Grounds Committee
The Student Government Association and Brian Berry have expressed interest in placing bicycle racks on campus. The committee voted to proceed with placing these bicycle racks. Jasper Lewis spoke to the committee concerning improving lighting and general grounds improvement plans.
Staff Awards Breakfast
Tickets for admission to the Staff Awards Breakfast have been distributed. It is requested that these be returned to slot 13 as soon as possible. The Breakfast will take place on March 26, 2007.
Fringe Benefits Committee
There have been some wording changes to the plan documents indicating that insurance will not cover charges by ineligible providers.
New Business
Houston passed out copies of a document proposing changes for the university Discipline Committee. The committee serves as the review/appeal body for consideration of cases related to student or student organization misconduct when the Dean of Students has imposed disciplinary action or has affirmed disciplinary action imposed by a student affairs staff member.
All appeals whether student or student organization will go to the Discipline Committee. The two main proposals are that the change reflects the new responsibilities of the Dean of Students taking on primary responsibility for the review of misconduct allegations by student organizations and the attempt to appropriately spread the workload among the staff of Student Life.
The second most important aspect of this would be a minimum of 3-6 hours of annual training in student judicial affairs and conducting appeals/reviews that meet basic fairness standards and provide sufficient guidance to appropriate response to various requests and/or demands from attorneys representing students.
Other
Nominations for the upcoming Staff Senate Elections are due Monday, March 19th at noon. It was suggested that we check into the possibility of voting on-line instead of with paper ballots.
The majority of the feedback on the proposed Thanksgiving holiday work hours (working two 10-hour days on that Monday and Tuesday, and having a mandatory four hours of leave taken in order to be off Wednesday) was against this. Most comments indicated that taking off on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving should be up to each individual to use their leave time if they wished. The Thanksgiving holiday schedule will remain the same.
During Spring Break week, we will observe the four 10-hour days as we do in the summer and take off on Friday.
A question was presented to the senate- “Why do we have a $500.00 deductible on our insurance instead of a lower deductible and co-pay?” General discussion agreed that the reason was because of the cost. Lower deductibles are more expensive.
Houston mentioned to everyone that Carla Williamson’s brother had passed away and to keep her and their family in our thoughts.
Adjournment
The motion to adjourn was made by Dr. Roger Guevara and seconded by Diane Johnson. The next meeting of the Staff Senate will be held on Wednesday, April 11, 2007, at 2:00 p.m.
