Minutes from
Unclassified Senate Meeting
December 13, 2007
University of Kansas
Unclassified Senate
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
December 13, 2007 12:00
p.m.
Kansas Union, Alcove C
Attendance: Paul Farran,
Jeannette Johnson, Danny Kaiser, Jason O’Connor, Rick Whitmore, Phil Wilke,
Heidi Simon
The meeting was called to order by President Danny Kaiser.
n The minutes of the October 2007
meeting were approved as amended.
n Standing Reports:
President: Danny Kaiser
The
University Senate approved a motion to restructure the review period for
legislation. This means that if a
change is presented and approved, it can go into effect during the same
semester it was approved.
Danny also
noted that there will not be an addition of an A+ to the KU grade scale. The issue was floored at the last
University Senate meeting.
n Committee Reports:
Governance
and Representation: Phil Wilke
Abby Coffin
has resigned from the Governance and Representation Committee due to pregnancy.
Phil has
been working with Kathy Damron on the Legislative Visit issues. He will be meeting with Paul Farran
within the next week to finalize a date and other details for the trip.
The
subcommittees of the Governance and Representation Committee include
Professional Development, Retirement Planning, Professional Recognition &
Performance Evaluation, and Parking. Each subcommittee will be meeting before the next full meeting in
January to present one action item that can be accomplished during this term.
Professional
Development: Heidi
Simon
The next
event will be on January 9 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM in the Alderson Auditorium
in the Kansas Union. Staff can
learn about KU government relations from Keith Yehle, KU Director of Federal
Relations, and Kathy Damron, KU Director of State Relations. They will share information about
issues they are working on and would also like to hear from staff about the
issues that are important to them.
The
Athletics Event has been postponed.
The next
full committee meeting will be on January 7.
Elections: Rick Whitmore
Rick
reported that he will be emailing out his comments within the next week. He also reminded us that all references
to “the electorate” or “all unclassified staff members” refers to the number of
filled positions.
University
Support Staff: Maxine Younes
The
University Support Staff Senate had Kathy Damron and Keith Yehle present at
their last meeting on legislative issues. They shared that classified staff across the state want a new pay matrix
but have not found a way to actually fund it yet.
University
Support Staff are also investigating vacation accruals to potentially match the
Unclassified Staff vacation accrual rates.
The
University Support Staff Senate will also be setting ongoing meetings with
Kathy Damron and Keith Yehle for regular legislative updates.
Maxine
noted that the tuition for dependents issue has been halted due to tax
implications.
n New Business:
Danny
Kaiser reported that Thelma Simons had sent him an issue involving KPERS. Thelma had worked for the State of
Kansas has a Classified employee for nine years before becoming an Unclassified
employee. At that point, she
stopped contributing to KPERS but did not meet the ten-year minimum to become
vested in the program. Since she
has changed positions, the rules have changed so that University Support Staff
employees are vested after only five years. Thelma would like to see that her nine-year contribution be
considered vested to match the current rules and regulations. Phil Wilke will be talking to Keith
Yehle and Kathy Damron about the issue.
Danny
Kaiser reported that Diana Robertson had sent him a request to make it so that
KU could extend its health insurance to the domestic partners of current
employees. Jeannette Johnson
suggested that a proposal be created to be given to the Provost Office and
HREO. This topic ended due to time
and will be brought back up at the next meeting.
n Unfinished Business:
Paul Farran
noted that the list of past presidents will be added to the web site when our
public relations committee has time. Rick Whitmore suggested that we make it an official charge of the Public
Relations Committee to take the responsibility for our web site.
Jeannette
Johnson and Danny Kaiser will report on their research on professional
development funding at the next meeting.
n Announcements:
Jason
O’Connor reported on the Planning and Resource Committee which has been working
on the Campus Plan. The Chancellor
presented to the Board of Regents a $38 million proposal which would expand the
Pharmacy School, Public Health Program, research initiatives, and international
outreach. Jim Motig from Design
and Construction Management has also been working on this Campus Plan, which
includes a request for $150 million for the new Pharmacy School expansion on
West Campus.
Next
meeting February 14th in Alcove C, Kansas Union at 12:00 noon.
Having no further business, Jeannette Johnson moved to adjourn and Rick Whitmore seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 1:28 p.m.