Present: Stacy Allie, Karen Baker, Virginia Cassidy, Sally Conklin, Stacie Elder, Sharon Howard, Glenda Jones, Kathy Lockard, Sue Ouellette, Carol Patch, Julie Robertson, Lise Schlosser, Julia Sober, Josephine Umoren.
Absent: Barbara Burrell, Joanne Dempsey, Deborah Haliczer, Lisa King, Amy Levin,The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by chair Stacie Elder in Lowden Hall 304.Introductions were made for the benefit of new members.Lise Schlosser will be representing Women Studies for the remainder of this semester,Amy Levin has other commitments.Virginia Cassidy made a motion to approve the minutes from the September 10, 2003 meeting, and Kathy Lockard seconded the motion.The minutes were unanimously approved.
AADR has not met and therefore has no report.
Kathy Lockard, chair of the Campus Climate and Quality of Life subcommittee reported that Micki Emmett and Gip Seaver have met with Ivan Legg regarding the recommendations made to the President on campus safety issues.The Counseling brochure “Recognizing and Assisting the Emotionally Troubled Student” is now available on-line located on the Counseling and Student Development website under the link – Guidelines for Faculty and Staff.Chat rooms have not been established (nor are there plans to establish them) they do have an electronic information link with the first year students.Blanche McHugh from Housing and Dining will be reporting soon on its success.Gip Seaver has contacted Bob Self, chair of the English Department, about the possibility of including domestic violence as a writing topic in Freshman English.Dr. Self felt he could not make that detailed a requirement of all English instructors.Administration is quite firm in refusing to impose a mandatory attendance with financial sanctions on students who do not attend the workshops, consequently, attendance drops during the semester as students figure out that “required” doesn’t have consequences.VFC workshops have been given so far this year in 6 UNIV 101 sections with plans to present in 2 more sections.Diane Pospisil-Kinney is hoping to hear from more UNIV instructors about this option.She has also presented in three health classes, was asked to present with the Association of Women in Communications, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.They have also expanded their training to include hall directors.It has been suggested that incentives instead of penalties be used to get students to attend the workshops, such as a $25 credit at the bookstore drawing at each workshop.Any one with suggestions for incentives should let Kathy know.The subcommittee agreed with Dr. Self that it was probably not a good idea to suggest this as a required topic of an English writing class.Perhaps it could be included in a list of suggested areas to write about.Graduate students who usually teach these courses lack the experience and ability to deal with any serious issues/discussions that may arise as a result of an English writing assignment on sexual assault or domestic violence.If the topic was included, the Student Counseling and Development Center should be asked to provide information packets for each instructor on this topic.
The possible removal of call-boxes on campus by Chief Grady has been brought to the attention of this committee.Most of the NIU call-boxes are phone land lines at approximately 30 campus locations.There are two radio lines remaining.At this time there is no one department in charge of the boxes.The project was originally started by Helen Nordruff from the Parking Office, who is now retired.They are currently checked by security and maintained by the electricians.Michele Crase has taken this project on in her spare time.It cost approximately $10,000 to install a new call box.Call boxes work like phones but just have one button that connects to the University police reducing the response time. A call is placed to 911 at the same time.Police monitors show the location of the call box.So even if the person is unable to speak the location is known.Chief Grady feels that students’ use of cell phones makes call-boxes unnecessary.They would provide free phones to students who do not have their own—would be able to dial 911 even with no plan.Some major concerns with this line of thought are that landlines rarely go down while cell phones do so often.What if a student doesn’t remember to carry their cell phone?Perhaps call-boxes aren’t used enough and should not be maintained?NIU spends thousands of dollars each year to keep fire extinguishers in every building – how often are those used?Call-boxes work—why get rid of them?The visible presence of the call-boxes acts as a deterrent.Both Southern Illinois University and the University of Chicago use the call-box system, the U of Chicago has more than 150 call-boxes on their campus.To make an emergency cell call, you must dial 911, explain the problem, and tell them where you are.Call-boxes automatically generate a response even if you don’t say anything.Members agree with the subcommittee that we need to get more information and be in support of retaining the existing call-boxes and possibly adding more.Julia Sober will be bring more information to the November meeting.
Micki Emmett observed that there are not very many women students who are in leadership positions on campus and would like PCSW to help remedy this situation by nurturing female students for leadership.It is unclear to us what is expected of PCSW and exactly what the question is asking.Kathy Lockard will clarify with Micki Emmett and discuss at the November meeting.
Josephine Umoren chair of the Personal and Professional Development subcommittee reported that she has contacted several of the suggested speakers for the networking luncheons.Cary Groth has responded and will possibly speak on Friday, October 31.The committee will continue to finalize the networking schedule and publicize the date.
The RESEARCH subcommittee.No report.
The AWARDS AND RECOGNITION subcommittee does not have a chair as yet.There was no report.
Sue Ouellette reported that the SALARY EQUITY TASK FORCE qualitative and quantitative subcommittees have combined and are moving forward.
The DIVERSE FACULTY OPEN HOUSE was held this morning (October 8, 2003).It was sparsely attended.In past years it was geared towards new minority faculty this year it was open to all new faculty.Also it was in the past primarily a luncheon and this year it was expanded to workshops/topic sessions (i.e. workshop on tenure promotion; resources to enhance teacher resources, etc.).PCSW was listed as a co-sponsor of the event.We were contacted by Phinette Maszka (Coordinator, Constituent Relations and Program Development, Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources) asking for $100 from the PCSW as a contribution to pay for a portion of the continental breakfast for this event.A motion to support this event in the amount of $100 was made by Julia Sober.Sue Ouellette seconded the motion.The motion was approved unanimously.
Sheri Kallembach, who is the NIU representative to the ILLINOIS NETWORK OF WOMEN LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION, has asked us to respond to four questions as a group.The objective is to identify mid and senior-level women; develop/enhance leadership skills/knowledge needed for advancement; help advance women into senior roles; and support and retain women in leadership roles in higher education.Sheri has prepared a one page hand out for members outlining the questions and goals.Members opted to take a month to think about the four questions and discuss them with their peers and departments.Then asked Sheri to join us at the next meeting to discuss the questions.We would also like to have some basic information about the organization itself.Stacie Elder will contact Sheri with our requests.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Julia Sober and seconded by Sue Ouellette. The motion was approved unanimously.The meeting was adjourned by Stacie Elder at 2:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Baugh