Association of Classified Employees Senate

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Hatch D Ballroom, Student Union

MEETING MINUTES

Present: Regan Walker, Theresa Bow, Brenda Ross, Gay Barzee, Kenny Wiscombe, Cathy Hampton, Connie Charlton, Carol Bugni, Ann Winslow, Carol Carroll

Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was brought to order by vice president Cathy Hampton.

Approval of Minutes: A motion was made (Wiscombe), and seconded (Ross), to approve minutes of the October 20 meeting, as amended. Motion carried.

Committee Reports:

• President’s Cabinet - Charlton: At the November 14 meeting, University Policies up for final reading included Faculty Dual Career Program; Alcohol Beverage Permit Policy/Process; Naming Policy and Procedure; and 15-Person Van Use. All were approved with minor adjustments in wording. Faculty, Professional and ACE senate presidents asked for “or their designee” to be inserted where the policy includes the Senate president on a committee. The Academic Calendar 2006-2007and the Five Year Calendar were also approved. The Campus Smoking Policy was tabled owing to a lack of student input.

• Bookstore - Ross: At the Bookstore Advisory Board meeting, the ever-increasing cost of textbooks was discussed and how the cost to students might be reduced. A student representative on the Board said her Anatomy and Physiology book alone was over $100. Faculty sometimes choose books that come in bundles, meaning the book comes with supplementary materials that aren't necessary for the class, but raises the cost of the book. Some instructors order custom publishing and the required book is slightly less expensive; however, they have no resale value to the student, so the book costs more in the end.

Kim Thomas, Director of the Bookstore, calculated the cost of books and the gross profit margin to show how the reduction of cost to the student would result in less money for the Bookstore to return to the university in scholarships. Last year the Bookstore donated a half-million dollars toward student scholarships. In order to continue doing that, the Bookstore could only reduce the cost of textbooks to students by approximately $2 per book. Student representatives on the Advisory Board said they would rather see the savings go to scholarships.

Kim and Mike Reed often meet with faculty to discuss the price of textbooks, and some faculty are appalled and do what they can to reduce the cost of textbooks for their classes; others don't feel it's a problem. Kim and Mike will continue to educate faculty about ways to keep costs down, and the Board will continue to discuss the issue.

• Climate Committee - Barzee: The initial survey to address the climate at Boise State University has gone out to all employees and students. It takes about 10 – 15 minutes to complete. Everyone is encouraged to take the survey and make comments. Be sure to be honest and straight-forward in your comments so that a clear picture can be drawn from the survey results.

The survey is anonymous. There was a lot of discussion at the Climate Committee meetings regarding how to make sure it would be anonymous so that we could get people to respond candidly. Since there were prizes involved, it was decided that once the survey is complete, there will be an option to leave the survey site and give your name and e-mail address if you would like to be signed up for the prizes. The two sites are not connected, so there is no risk of being identified if you want to be eligible for prizes. Once the surveys are done, the committee will meet and compile the data in an effort to identify problem areas. Depending on the results, there may be other surveys at future dates for additional feedback regarding the results found.

• Good Will Committee - Bugni: On Saturday, December 3, ACE Senate is encouraging classified employees to sign up for a two hour shift at R C Willey on Eagle Road to help cook and serve hot dogs and soft drinks. Please call Valencia Garrett at 426-1368 to sign up for a two-hour shift if you can; or even one hour would help. For our labors, R C Willey will donate $200 to the Good Will Fund.
• Student Recreation Board - Carroll: The Student Recreation Board may revise the dress code, now described as "modest attire". The Recreation Center will be closed one hour before home football games; for example, for the Saturday game at 1:00 pm, the Rec Center will close from 12 to 5:00 pm, then reopen for the evening. Tanning beds are being considered for the Center, but first the Board will discuss space, the mission, and legal liability.

• Legislative Issues: Charlton reported that the Interim Salary Committee will hold a final meeting on November 28 to come up with a proposal on how state employees might benefit from a State revenue surplus. The Senate decided to invite Mark Dunham and Jane Buser to the next meeting for an update on the Legislature. Charlton commented that legislators do read emails and letters. If they don't hear from us, they assume that we are okay. She asked people to get more active. It was suggested that we move the annual meeting to a pre-legislative date and time so we can focus on legislative issues.

Charlton also suggested formalizing ACE procedures, i.e. when an important issue is passed by the Senate, a resolution be written and forwarded to the President, Provost, and Professional and Faculty Senates. She will bring a sample resolution to the next meeting.

• Parking Committee: Parking documents that were distributed at the last meeting included:

1. A summary of the November 15 Parking Advisory Committee meeting. To fund the next garage there are rate increases that are going to have to happen. Several possible scenarios are included in this document. The next parking meeting is tentatively set for December 15.

2. A 14-page report prepared by parking that discusses a lot of issues related to the above topic. Parking pays about $100,000 towards security salaries and now pays over $25,000 in support of the Police Contract. In the past, ACE wrote University Administration about Security costs being a Parking Department expense and stated that it should be a Campus expense since the benefit is to the entire campus. There is a new Administration so it might be time for another letter. The police contract is a new expense.

3. Summary of the 14-page report prepared for ASBSU.

Members were asked to read the through the handouts and send Carol Carroll any comments/suggestions/questions they came up with prior to the December 15 meeting.

Presidency: A letter of resignation from Julie Clarkson was read by Hampton. Hampton, Wiscombe, and Charlton have agreed to job-share until Clarkson's term ends and a new president can be voted into office.

Committee Assignments: Hampton noted that with the departure of President Clarkson, some changes in committee assignments need to be made. Her request for volunteers resulted in the following assignments: University Calendar Committee - Brenda Ross; Legislative Issues - Connie Charlton; Outstanding Employee - Kenny Wiscombe; Parking - Carol Carroll; President's Cabinet - Connie Charlton.

ACE Secretary: Ann Winslow verbally submitted her resignation, effective January 31. She will retire after 21 years of service with the state. Hampton asked for a volunteer to complete Winslow's term which ends in May.

Joint Senate Luncheon: On Tuesday, November 22, from 12 - 1:00 pm, the ACE, Professional, and Faculty Senates will have a brown bag luncheon in the Farnsworth Room at the Student Union.

Other Business:

• On Thursday, December 15, 10:45 - 11:45 a.m., the next ACE Senate meeting will be held in the Boyington Room. New meeting dates for spring semester will be determined at that time.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned by Acting President Hampton at 11:45 a.m.

-- Ann Winslow, Secretary

NEXT MEETING:

Thursday, December 15

10:45 - 11:45 a.m.

Boyington Room

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