Official Minutes of the

Executive Board/Central Committee

October 2005

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October 7, 2005

Mauker Union, College Eye Room

3:30-5:00 p.m.

• Call to order

Roll (X=present):

Executive Board                              Committee Chairs

X   Frank Thompson, President                  X    Jesse Swan, Negotiations

X   Jeffrey Funderburk, Vice President                           Paul Siddens, Membership and Past President

X   Becky Hawbaker, Secretary                                           Dean Kruckeberg, Communications

X   Hans Isakson, Treasurer                                    X    Hans Isakson, Academic Freedom

      Karen Couch Breitbach, At-Large

X   Jesse Swan, At-Large

X   Barbara Lounsberry, At-Large

Central Committee Constituency Representatives

X   Barbara Cutter, History                                                         Katherine VonWormer, CSBS

   _______________, Art/Music                                    X    Russ Campbell, CNS

      Susan Rochette-Cawley, English                           X    Jolene Tagtow, Price Lab School

X   Dan Power, CBA                                                      X    John Henning, Ed Psych/HPELS/Ed.Leadership

X   Melissa Beall, Communications Studies                                Kurt Meredith, Curr.&Inst/OSFE    

     Chris Neuhaus, Library                                                    X     Bob Krueger, Philosophy, Religion, Languages         

Ex-Officio

X   Chuck Quirk, Executive Director

Other Members and Guests Present:

• Membership Update, Quirk

Quirk reported <on the current number of > members, resulting from one withdrawal, five people who left UNI for other positions, one retirement, and three new members.  Lounsberry suggested creating a committee for membership events that might encourage increased membership. Powers suggested holding meetings for each unit explaining the new master agreement. Lounsberry, Thompson, Krueger, Power, and Isakson volunteered to serve on a Membership Events Committee.

• Presentation and Approval of the Minutes

Katherine VonWormer was present at the last meeting.  Swan requested that attendance for committee chairs be marked in future minutes. The minutes were approved with these corrections.  Thompson asked for opinions on whether the minutes should be posted and archived on the webpage, but members seemed to agree that emailing minutes to the membership is sufficient.

• Treasurer’s Report

Isakson gave an oral financial statement including a report of a new investment and investment strategy for surplus cash. Isakson advocated for a new copier, fax machine, and printer for the office. He has been advised that the integrated machines may not be preferable, although several members stated that if the machine is used only occasionally and space is an issue, then the combined machine is preferable.  Swan asked if the computer that was previously authorized had been purchased.  Isakson reported that it had and that it cost less than the authorized amount.

• Grievance Procedures

Funderburk presented a confidentiality waiver statement he drafted in response to a directive from the last meeting. Campbell questioned whether the statement should cover the Executive Board or the Executive Board and Central Committee.  Members seemed to agree that more detail might be necessary for the Executive Board than Central Committee and that if the Central Committee had to hear details of a grievance, a separate permission might be necessary.

Isakson/Campbell moved to approve the Grievance Procedures.  Discussion: Lounsberry suggested an amendment: that in #7.2, “provide advice to” should replace “serve as advocate for” and a grammatical change in the same section. This amendment passed.  Swan asked why the ADA and Civil Rights Act are specifically mentioned in this section.  Lounsberry/Swan suggested an amendment in #5 adding “effort at informal resolution of the grievance” as a new first option in the list and renumbering the succeeding sections. The amendment passed. Campbell asked if violation of AAUP Principles and Practices is enough for a grievance.  Lounsberry suggested rewording #1 to make it clearer that the grievant has the option to go to meetings without a UF rep.  This proposal did not have a second. Lounsberry presented three editorial changes. Cutter suggested that the document should consistently refer to “faculty member” rather than “faculty.” Isakson suggested “grievant,” but several members observed that the faculty member is not an official grievant at all stages of the process. Cutter pointed out a subject-verb agreement error in #5. The motion to approve the Grievance Procedures as amended passed.

Isakson/Funderburk moved to approve the Privacy Statement.  Discussion: Concerns were raised about legal liabilities with the parts of the Privacy Statement regarding the responsibilities of the Executive Board to keep information confidential. Campbell suggested dropping “and may not share any information regarding my case with others outside of these bodies without my consent” and leave it at “are bound by standards of confidentiality.” Krueger/Isakson suggested an amendment deleting the entire last sentence. Swan stated that taking the last sentence out obviates and reverses the purpose of the main motion. Through additional amendments and parliamentary procedures that were not followed completely by the Secretary, the Privacy Statement was pruned to the following: “I, _____, understand that details of my case may be shared with members of United Faculty’s Executive Board and Grievance Committee.” The new statement was approved.

• Old Business

Campbell/Funderburk moved to archive the old UF files with the Rod Library Archivist, with access limited to members of the Executive Board or others approved by the President or Vice President. The motion passed. Isakson will contact a professional document service to box up the files and deliver them to the library. Lounsberry and Thompson requested that we investigate whether it is more cost effective and acceptable to the library to purchase boxes ourselves and move them ourselves. After discussion, this suggestion was dropped.

Academic Freedom Committee: the Faculty Senate has our Resolution on the Interruption of Classes by Campus Police.  Thompson reported on another possible case that will be investigated by the committee.

By-Laws Revisions: Swan and Isakson will present additional revisions to the By-Laws electronically before the next meeting.

• New Business

Isakson reported that a letter has been sent to Morris Mikelson requesting restoration of the original UF Office space in Lang Hall.

• Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 5:10.