Attendance: Jennifer Brooks, Maxine Younes, John Augusto, Lucille Marino, Diana Frederick, Kathy Shields, Ray Hummert, Sandra Wick, Hannah Love, Kevin Curry, Mark Nesbitt-Daly, Rick Whitmore, Kathy Pribbenow, Michael Irvin, Paul Farran, Karla Williams, Thelma Simons, Danny Kaiser, Jason O’Connor, Jeanette Johnson, Sheri Perry, Martha Hodgesmith, Aaron Brown

Location: McCook Room, Burge Union.

Professional Development – Jeannette Johnson
Jeannette reported that there are several things in the hopper:

1. Road trip to Edwards Campus – early April would be good because it is after Basketball and before Graduation.  They are gathering bus expense information.  Possibly leave early afternoon and return by 5 or 5:30PM.
2. Sponsoring Tours of New Facilities – Athletic Hall of Fame, Dole Institute (archives and behind the scenes), Murphy Hall (have Dean give tour during choir practice), MRB, Hall Center, etc..
3. Sponsor a Volunteer Fair – possibly next April

President’s Report – Mark Nesbitt-Daly

1. Mark handed out a two-sided handout that listed the amendments to the Senate Code.  This is something that could be available on our governance page online.  There was discussion of where this is in the approval process, it is not yet finalized. Side 2 was a calendar of meetings. He will be having the Provost meeting with Kathy Jansen.
2. FacEx – Mark proposed having an Unclassified Senate member attend as an ex-officio attendee.
3. Library – Many humanities Faculty feel disenfranchised due to cuts, which have been linked with the physical changes (of Watson).  Issues include:
   • Warehousing/storage facility for books. This has resulted in an uproar because it will ruin browsability and that it is perceived that it has been arbitrarily chosen
   • Budget Cuts
   • Physical changes in their organization
   • Bottom line: communication between the University and Libraries needs to be improved.
   • Jeanette Johnson offered to ask if the next broadcast email that is to be approved should go to Faculty & Staff. 
   • Mark suggested that a letter could be addressed to the Provost regarding this distribution.

USS – Maxine Younes

1. USS Town Hall meetings – upcoming changes
   • Generic titles – the numbers are going away (ex: Accountant I or II; now just Accountant)
   • Some staff will have the same classification as their supervisor
   • Still have working titles
   • FO & Housing are the largest groups that will have more complex needs and they are getting their own meeting to deal with those.
2. Tuition Assistance
   • Just distributing to USS to ask about Tuition Assistance for a dependent
   • Once results are in, they can decide if there is interest to pursue
   • Currently the survey has been approved by HSPL
   • Thelma raised the concern that even though this issue has been ongoing for years, this survey may be raising an expectation that can’t be met. 
   • Have the Coca Cola sponsorships increased since tuition has increased?  These could be near renegotiation. Mark will consult on that.

Student Senate – Hannah Love
Hannah reported that there are several projects that are ongoing:

• Higher Education Day
• Landlord/tenant issues
• KU on Wheels – new bus – environmentally friendly, they are looking at options
• Town Hall meeting for Organizations to come in and express concerns
• Textbook prices – re: LJWorld and Kansan articles. They are asking faculty to pre-order texts so bookstores can shop for used texts earlier

Topeka visit – Sheri Perry

1. Feb 10^th meeting is in the KS room of the KS union to discuss details and carpooling.  John Josseran will also speak. Giveaways: Margie Fredrick: provide KU Pencils, trading cards, and possibly more bookmarks
2. Brochures being printed now for Topeka visit.  HR has put together some demographic information.  Some stats from HR will be added to the brochures that outline who we are as an Unclassified Staff.  Details include length of service, counties of residence, education level.  67% Unclassified staff make between $30,000 & $69,999.  13% make less than that.
3. Paul Farran reported that 9 have signed up.

Survey – Sheri Perry

1. Goal: The main message should be finding out who we are as an Unclassified Staff. 
   • 1866 Unclassified Staff
   • Education level in the HR database is listed from initial employment
2. What are the Unclassified issues? 
3. The data we get could be set in a follow-up letter to legislators.
4. Thelma asked that the information be shared at an Unclassified meeting before going public.
5. Jeanette shared concerns about security and accuracy.  The survey should be placed in the KYou Portal and logged into for single entry and security.
6. Thelma suggested posting the results on the Unclassified Senate website. Could also include on the website information on Unclassified issues and how the Unclassified Senate is addressing them

Guest Report – Sandra Wick

Sandra Wick from the Retirees Rights & Benefits Committee is working on a handbook for retirees. Some retire and become affiliates and provide services; what is their participation in governance?  There is nothing that refers to retirees rights in our By Laws, compared to University Senate. Consider By Laws changes. As the handbook comes together, it should be interesting information for all. Emeritus status is not straightened out yet.

Election Procedures

Need to act for the Spring Election. According to our By Laws, voters vote according to their specific category.  Creating a narrowing of the voting mechanisms could reduce a successful election.

Solution:

• Rick Whitmore motioned to move to temporarily suspend the by laws regarding voting for spring 2006 that specify voting only in specific sectors.
• Paul Farran seconded the motion.
• Unanimous decision by the Unclassified Senate to suspend the by laws that restrict voting for Spring 2006.

 

Motion to adjourn.