Present: Elizabeth Buck, Judy Burgess, Gay Campbell, Sara Clayton, Michele Crase, Marcia Dick, Ada Hetland, Linda Jennings, Glenda Jones, Theresa Kinniry, Joe Koch, Jay Monteiro, Dena Olson, Andy Small, Donna Smith, and LaRonda Thuestad.
Guests: Steve Cunningham, Eric Smith, and Jodi
Tyrrell
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by President Sara Clayton at 8:35 a.m.
II. Approval of Agenda
A motion was made to approve the agenda as amended with one item taken off under Old Business. The motion was seconded and passed.
III. Approval of Minutes of March
13, 2003, Meeting
A motion was made to accept the minutes with the word invitation changed
to vacation in Section VII.C. The motion was seconded and passed.
IV. Treasurer’s Report
Elizabeth
Buck distributed copies of the Treasurer’s report for the nine-month period
ending 3/31/03. Buck led a general discussion of the four
expenses for the month of March. During discussion, Andy Small asked
if the Council could think about transferring the American National Bank
account funds to our local credit union. At the time the ANB account
was started, the NIU credit union did not have checking accounts.
Buck will look
into it. After discussion, a motion was made to accept the
Treasurer’s report as presented. The motion was seconded and passed.
V. Announcements/Correspondence
1.
Clayton announced the first Volunteer and Service Learning Recognition
Tea hosted by Career Planning and Placement from 4 to 6 p.m. on April
28, 2003.
2. Clayton announced the Administrative Professionals Week Annual Luncheon on April 22, 2003, at South Pointe Center in DeKalb.
3. Clayton announced receipt of a memorandum from Steve Cunningham regarding Military Leaves of Absence.
4.
Clayton announced receipt of an email from President Peters concerning
his response to the Governor’s budget message of April 9, 2003.
5. Theresa Kinniry announced that the Pheasant
Room in Homes Student Center would be closed from May 12 – June 1, 2003.
This is an annual,
routine closure in order for the staff to thoroughly clean the facility.
Because of the budget situation, however, the Pheasant Room may close for
the
rest of the summer.
6.
Small passed around a copy of correspondence from the Civil Service Employees
Association [IEA-NEA.] The CSEA is circulating a petition
among civil service employees calling on the Operating Staff Council –
their voice to the administration – to take a strong stand opposing another
pay freeze. The CSEA will present the signed petition to the OSC
at a future meeting.
7. Donna Smith passed around the ISU Newsletters for the previous two months.
VII. Committee Reports
A. Personnel/Staff Development/Benefits. No Report.
The committee acts when given something to research and sometimes gives
information for the Newsletter. Marcia Dick talked about
House Bill
3511 and SURS. The proposed legislation would terminate the current
SURS Board 6/30/03 and appoint a new Board, its chair [currently elected
by the Board], and Executive Director. There is great concern that
the financial health of SURS would be placed at risk under this proposal
since
such action would expose the Board to the possibility of significant political
influence and endanger the ability to fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities.
Dick will get a hard copy of this information to the Council. Ada
Hetland does communicate regularly with the civil service representative
on the
University Benefits Council.
B. Elections and Appointments
Michele Crase announced the recipients of the Operating Staff Outstanding
Service Award for this year. The recipients are: G. A. [Joe]
Baird,
Service Enterprise Manager; Joyce Gardner, Administrative Assistant II,
Provost; Jodi Tyrrell, Human Resource Officer IV, Human Resource
Services; and Jan Vander Meer, Administrative Secretary, English Department.
Some ballots have come in for the 2003 Operating Staff Council Election.
The deadline is April 18, 2003. Crase will count ballots on April
23,
2003, at 1:30 p.m. in her office at the Dorland building and asked for
volunteers to help.
C.
Public Relations
Joe Koch led the Council in a discussion on the “Friends of the Staff”
annual luncheon. The luncheon originated in order to thank those
people who
volunteer to do Operating Staff Council committee work. The Council discussed
several ways of being able to thank the volunteers. It was determined
to give framed certificates of appreciation on Staff Appreciation Day [StaffFest
03] in August. The Council also decided to have a poster on an easel
with the names of all committee members. Koch’s committee will draft
the letters. The committee will make sure supervisors, President
Peters, and
Steve Cunningham are copied.
D. Visiting Committee/Guests
Athletic Board member Marcia Dick distributed the 2003 NIU Football schedule
to members of the Council. Dick then led an informative discussion
on Athletic Board activities during the past year such as:
· Football and basketball showed increased ticket sales, with the
attendance at football games averaging 20,000 per game.
· Large increase of NIU sports items marketed, with revenue up from
$17,000 in 2000 to $35,000 in 2001.
· The marketing and promotions staff was much more aggressive this
year and did a tremendous job with more direct mailings to alumni, increased
advertisements in suburban papers, targeting area and suburban schools
with promotional mailings, wider radio coverage, games heard over the
Internet, and TV coverage of select games.
· Sports camps attendance is up and this is all revenue for the
program. Donna Smith will be on the panel for the Coaches Training
Session giving a
parent’s point of view.
· Signage revenue of $60,000 from new signs sold at the football
stadium and the Convocation Center.
· Dropped the men and women’s swimming program because of budget,
safety, and competitiveness concerns. The diving well depth in the
pool in
Anderson Hall was not adequate to meet NCAA standards and several MAC swim
teams refused to come here for swim meets. The move to drop
the sport affected 37 athletes.
· Renovation of Chick Evans Field House.
· Current research by Dr. Kim Judson on why athletes choose certain
schools and what motivates them to do so. One finding is that female
athletes
tend to focus more on the quality of academic programs, and male athletes
tend to focus more on the reputation and competitiveness of their chosen
sport.
· Administered a Survey of Sports Interests and Abilities to students
in the resident’s halls and a table at Holmes Student Center. Such a survey
is
required every three years by the NCAA and the Office of Civil Rights.
· Athletic Director Cary Groth detailed for the Board her appointment
and participation in the national Commission on Opportunity in Athletics.
The
report focus was on the 30th anniversary of the Title IX amendment, which
prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis
of
sex. Across the country this is enforced differently and includes
high school and elementary level, as well as college.
· Eligibility requirements for athletes pursuing a degree will change
beginning with Fall 2003. Previous percentages were 25/50/75.
These will be
changed to 40/60/80 percent. The main problems will arise for those
student athletes who change majors or whose major is undecided. The
Student Athlete Support Services [SASS] office will be called upon to monitor
satisfactory progress towards a degree.
· Future plans include building [with donations from donated private
funds] a Student Development Center on the north side of the stadium.
When
football wins, it is easier to get large donors.
Steve Cunningham, Associate Vice President of Administration and Human Resources and Eric Smith, Assistant Director of Compliance and Labor Relations, joined the Council mid-morning. Cunningham reminded the Council that the current budget crisis is historic at both the state and university level. Northern is handling the situation in a way that is very good and President Peters is giving as much information as there is available in his updates. We were prepared for the 2% cutback. The 8.2% cutback for FY04 is extreme, but the university has undertaken three initiatives to deal with that and maintain priorities, which are: maintain structural services, not implicate public safety, and not be compromised in terms of jobs or salaries. The university will undertake measures to help meet those objectives for FY04 and are confident we can withstand the cuts and maintain the priorities. Cunningham explained that we are implementing attrition-based workforce reductions and there will be a significant change in numbers of positions that will affect us all. The administration is serious about this and is handling it in a holistic way, not being abrupt or sudden. However, if the Council felt it would be a good way to keep people informed and wanted to request a public forum, it would be taken under serious consideration by the administration.
Cunningham explained that money for capital budget projects is a one-time expenditure, where money for salaries is a permanent obligation. In every message to the BOT or to the legislature, the number one priority from NIU is salaries.
Judy Burgess indicated that sometimes it is a gray area whether Civil
Service employees are state employees or NIU employees. Cunningham
replied that we are both. Burgess asked for clarification on the 12-year
practice of the state picking up non-union contributions to the pension
fund system that is going to be cut and the governor ending the system
of allowing employees to stockpile vacation days. Burgess asked if
those things would apply to NIU employees. Cunningham stated they
do not apply to NIU, but to code agencies or agencies that directly report
to the governor. Most code agency employees also pay Social Security.
It is a different context and a different system. The governor was
able to change those terms of employment for code agency employees and
implement change. For Higher Education, the vacation payout requires
a legislative bill.
Northern is prepared, given the cuts, to withstand these cuts and maintain
the three priorities already talked about, structural, safety, and job
integrity. The university will have to take some measures to deal
with those cuts. One measure relates to operational schedules.
Cunningham wanted the Council’s feedback regarding this measure, since
these decisions are made by the administration after extensive consultation
with university constituencies including the Operating Staff Council, Supportive
Professional Staff Council, the University Council, Council of Deans, Secretarial
Advisory Committee, and other area representatives. One measure under
consideration would be the implementation of a four-day workweek.
Generally, it would be a three-day shutdown [Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,]
extending from June 1, 2003, through August 8, 2003. Through that
process, we can demonstrate that we are taking action to address the cuts
and this would actually improve operational costs. If this is done,
it needs to be announced as soon as possible, since employees have childcare
and other issues. Supervisors would be responsible to have offices
open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with as much flexibility as possible
for employees. People would have the same number of hours for
four days as for five. The week of July 4th would be a standard workweek,
7.5 hours per day, since the fourth of July is a Friday. Human Resource
Services will be encouraging supervisors to freely grant vacation and be
as flexible as possible. If anyone runs into problems, they are encouraged
to let Cunningham know. The goal for NIU is one of no layoffs.
The official notice will go out in memorandum form in a few weeks.
A second related schedule change is winter break. The closure
would start on Monday, December 22, 2003, and employees would use benefit
time for those two days. If they are informed early, they can be
accruing the time. This would allow the university to shut down the
Friday preceding the break. If the university community continues
to work together on these austerity measures, layoffs can probably be avoided.
Northern has done a very good job preparing for this. Cunningham
went on to answer any questions and general discussion followed.
E.
EAC
EAC will hold their next quarterly meeting on April 24-25, 2003, at Eastern
Illinois University.
F.
UAC. No report.
G. University Council.
Koch attended two meetings since the last OSC Council met and mentioned
that the March 19, 2003, University Council meeting was mostly about
budget issues and concerns such as “administrative bloat” in universities,
tuition limitation bills, line item budgeting, and returning the income
fund to the
state, which would remove all flexibility from the university.
NIU’s “P-20” [preschool through graduate school] initiative is attracting
attention from all corners of the state. Those colleges involved
in teacher
education are taking a leadership role in this initiative. NIU is
hosting a two-day retreat at the Naperville campus in order to come up
with a plan that
will foster statewide collaboration and meet state needs. Dean Sorenson
and Dean Kitterle are taking the lead in this endeavor.
In the April 9, 2003, University Council meeting the President’s remarks
were about enrollment management and the budget. President Peters
told
the Governor’s main themes that dealt with higher education: first,
his pledge to cut non-instructional costs at state universities; second,
his pledge to
protect student financial aid; and third, his pledge to support legislation
that seeks to stabilize tuition. The FY03 recision for NIU was trimmed
back to
2.9 percent, or $3.2 million. President Peters stated that since
NIU has an exact reduction number now in hand, several additional actions
must be
taken to fully meet the governor’s FY03 reserve requirement. Among
those under consideration is the initiation of a four-day summer workweek,
temporary summer building closures, and all campus buildings closing at
11:00 p.m. during the summer.
FY04 appropriations will be cut by 8.2 percent, a cut of $9.1 million less
in state funding than at the beginning of FY03. This does include
$3.5
million in employee health insurance contributions that the state has laid
upon the institution and brings us back to the 1997-1998 budget level.
In
addition, NIU will explore the possibility of an extended winter shutdown,
reductions in maintenance and repairs [non-health or safety related only,]
and limiting admissions. Issues of particular concern include pending
legislation that would impose tuition caps and increase the minimum wage.
The
“tundra of hiring” will continue for a while.
In the midst of all this, however, Peters feels NIU will make it through
this crisis because we are prepared, and because we have continued to stay
together and stay focused on our service to students. President Peters
continues to rely on the patience, goodwill, and dedication of the entire
campus
community.
Koch announced that the Committee of the University book will no longer
be printed and distributed, but will be on line. Sue Willis, Executive
Secretary of the University Council, reported on House Bill 2805 which
would put a faculty member from one of the institutions on the Board of
Higher Education.
H. Special Events Committee
LaRonda Thuestad announced that the flyer for Staff Fest Event 03 is going
to printing today. Thuestad has heard from Bill Finucane and Dena
Olson
in order to finalize the bus schedule for the shuttle during Staff Fest.
Only Civil Service Status Employees and retirees are invited.
VIII. Old Business
A. Wellness Fair
It was good for the Council to be a part of this event and everything went
well. Marcia Dick was the winner of the 50/50 drawing for the Scholarship
Award. Dick donated the money back to the fund. There were
six door prizes winners: Vernon Wells, Calculator; Dale Benson,
Spiderman DVD;
Ada Hetland, Signs DVD; Theresa Braun, Home Audio System; Jaymara Baker,
Telephone Answering Machine; and Bill Feldman, DVD player.
IX. New Business
X. Adjournment
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 11:30 a.m. The motion was
seconded and passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Gay Campbell
OSC Secretary