Official Minutes of the

Executive Board/Central Committee

September 2005

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September 2, 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                           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                                            Swan and Thompson, Academic Freedom

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

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

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

Ex-Officio

X  Chuck Quirk, Executive Director

Other Members and Guests Present: None

• Announcements

Thompson made several announcements before the arrival of the Secretary.

• Presentation and Approval of the Minutes

The roll at the top of the minutes should reflect the fact that the new officers began their term on May 1st.  There was one misspelling: “soul” should have been “sole.” With these changes, the minutes were approved.

• Treasurer’s Report

Isakson distributed a detailed report that included a financial statement, a report of the hiring of Heaton Adams (an accounting firm) to process and handle the payroll, and an estimate from a document storage company to inventory, box, remove, and store UF documents.  The organization might also decide to shred many of the documents and store only what we need or are required to keep. Isakson estimated that at least 80% of the documents could be shredded.  Isakson recommended that the President appoint an ad hoc committee to study the administrative, office, and employee needs of the organization and report any recommendations to the Central Committee as soon as possible. Isakson reported that Ronnie Bankston currently auditing the books for the last fiscal year.

Swan/Funderburk moved to appoint an ad hoc committee to study the administrative, office, and employee needs of the organization and to report recommendations to the Central Committee as soon as possible.  The motion passed.  Isakson, Neuhaus, and Funderburk volunteered and were appointed by Thompson to comprise the committee. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted without action.

• Grievance Procedures

 Thompson, Funderburk, and Swan met over the summer to write a proposed Grievance Procedure. Thompson distributed and gave a summary of proposed Grievance Procedures, which included a description of the process and the people involved at each step. The issue of confidentiality was discussed, including the possible need for a signed waiver of some level of confidentiality in order to communicate with people who can help in the process. Lounsberry suggested adding a sentence at the end of #4 that states that every effort will be made to resolve the grievance informally. Lounsberry asked about the deadline in #2 for faculty to submit a synopsis to the Vice President within 5 days of the initial contact with UF-AAUP, and what the consequence would be if the deadline was not met. Several members responded that they read the “should” in the deadline to mean that five days is best practice, but not a deadline that would carry a consequence that UF-AAUP would not help if the deadline was missed. Lounsberry also asked about the last sentence in #1 regarding the advice to have an UF-AAUP representative present in all future meetings with the UNI administration, because she believes that faculty should have the flexibility to meet without UF-AAUP to negotiate directly with administration if that is the way to get the best outcome. Several members noted that it is worded “faculty will be advised” which does not mean a requirement.

• Report on the National AAUP Meeting

Thompson reported that one interesting presentation at the meeting was from the University of Michigan, where an online administrator evaluation instrument is used.

• Academic Freedom Committee

Isakson and the committee met with the Director of Public Safety this summer to discuss the issue of Public Safety interrupting class. The report that was already approved by UF-AAUP has been sent to the President, but there has been no response. Thompson suggested that the report should next go to the Faculty Senate.

Beall/Isakson moved to send the report and recommendations of the Academic Freedom Committee regarding the public safety issue to the Faculty Senate.

• Updates on Ongoing Issues

Thompson reported on the issue related to the Office of Compliance and Equity Management and the new classification of the position as Assistant to the President. Campbell asked whether the classification is just a name change. Thompson responded that he believes it is more than just a name change and that the classification impacts the independence of the person in the position to investigate and assess equity complaints. Thompson shared an example to support this belief.  Another issue is the position of McKenna and its change from “Operations Auditor” to “University Counsel.” Thompson also presented data regarding cost over-runs and deficits in several non-instructional areas.

• Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 5:05.