Present: Stacy Allie, Barbara Burrell, Virginia Cassidy, Sally Conklin, Joanne Dempsey, Valerie Guyant, Deborah Haliczer, Sharon Howard, Glenda Jones, Amy Levin, Carol Patch, Jan Rintala, Lise Schlosser, Denise Schoenbachler, Randi Wolfe.
Absent: Karen Baker, Kathy Hotelling, Julie Robertson, Josephine Umoren,
Guest: Hanan Hegazy, visiting scholar from Egypt with the English Department
The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by Chair Barbara Burrell in Lowden Hall 304. Amy Levin made a motion to approve the minutes from the May 12, 2004 meeting and Sally Conklin seconded the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved.
Affirmative Action Diversity Resources Report (AADR): No report at this time.
Campus Climate and Quality of Life: No report.
Personal and Professional Development: No report
Research: It was discovered that a data base has not been maintained for the Family Medical Leave Act. It is perceived that there is increased usage but there are no reporting requirements and data is not broken down by gender or status. A new person has taken over the position of compiling this information; therefore, we can possibly shift some responsibilities and data collection requirements. Department Chairs may collect data in some format. Dan House is supplying the committee with statistical information on the status of women at NIU. When the results of that data are received the committee will begin work on a status of women report.
Awards committee: Three primary awards are given by PCSW: the Outstanding Women Student Awards; the Wilma D. Stricklin Award for the Enhancement of the Climate of Women on Campus; and the Martha Cooper Journalism Award. The awards committee will be meeting to discuss the development of additional recognitions of those individuals who have made significant contributions to women on campus, many of them deserving recognition but not fitting the eligibility of the Stricklin guidelines. They will also be commissioning art pieces to present to the Stricklin Award recipient. Sharon Howard also announced that URW (University Resources for Women) has created a data base of over 20 years of information on the past Outstanding Women Student Award recipients to be used for various research projects such as fundraising. Amy Levin suggested that we might consider disbursing a flyer at the OSA ceremony soliciting funds from parents and guest to begin with rather than such a large project.
The Salary Equity Task Force : Deborah Haliczer reported that the full task force had not meet as a whole but subgroups and focus groups have been meeting and progressing.
This group is working with inequity of faculty salary. Focus groups will be composed of: Tenured faculty-female; Non-tenured faculty-female; tenured faculty-male; non-tenured faculty-male; African American faculty- tenured and tenure track (male and female); Hispanic faculty-tenured and tenure-track (male and female); Asian American faculty-tenured and tenure track (male and female). A letter was sent from Ivan Legg, Executive Vice President and Provost, inviting participation in various focus group sessions.
The small committee comprised of Sharon Howard, Randi Wolfe, Glenda Jones, Josephine Umoren and Sheri Kallembach has not had a chance to meet regarding a potential half-day fall workshop dealing with women’s leadership to be held at NIU.
It was felt that this would be something the Personal and Professional Development subcommittee should work on. Sharon will contact Sheri and convene the first meeting.
An explanation of each subcommittee’s goals was distributed for members to review. Members chose a subcommittee to work with for the upcoming year. Barbara Burrell will be contacting individual who are not assigned a subcommittee to identify their interest.
PCSW still has two Operating Staff vacancies. Anyone who knows of someone interested in becoming a member of the commission who is operating staff should let Barbara Burrell know.
Lise Schlosser made a motion to change the bylaws IV Operations J to read: A nomination subcommittee of 3 people will be appointed by the chair. This subcommittee will convene beginning in March and will be charged with the responsibility of identifying/soliciting candidates for chair and vice-chair of the PCSW for the following year. Joanne Dempsey seconded the motion. Motion was approved unanimously.
It was suggested that we coordinate funding of a representative to the AAUW Student Leadership Conference held in June, possibly making it part of the Outstanding Women Student Awards presentations. The awards committee should look into this.
The topic of drinking on campus by students as a whole was addressed. This issue should be reviewed by the Commission as part of the drug free schools policy recently put in effect at NIU. We could contact the Judicial office and the UP’s for data; review the alcohol policy; contact the Wellness Center for NIU info and social norms data. The Quality of Life subcommittee will look into this topic. Drinking is part of the larger issue of stalking and sexual assault and very much a concern of this Commission.
A letter of support is needed from the Commission to request the progress of the NIU Stalking Policy. It seems to have been finished but forgotten and is sitting in the Legal Counsel’s office. Barbara Burrell will officially send a letter to ask of its status.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Amy Levin and seconded by Stacy Allie. The motion was approved unanimously. Barbara Burrell adjourned the meeting at 2:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Baugh