Meeting of the
University of Alaska
System Governance Council
Tuesday, November 22, 1994
Beginning at 2:00pm
via audioconference
Minutes
1. Call to order and roll call
Voting members:
Karen Cummins for Donna Chantry, Chair; President, UAS Staff Council
John Dede, President, UAA Assembly
Gil Bane, Representative, UAA Faculty Senate
Colin Read, President, UAF Faculty Senate
Richard Hacker, President, UAS Faculty Senate
Scott Trible, President, United Students of UAS-Juneau
Kate Wattum, President, Statewide Administration Assembly
Betty Dupee, Statewide Administration Assembly
Mike Mayberry, Past President, UAF Staff Council
Scott Kawasaki for Joe Hayes, President, Associated Students of UAF
Thomas Goldston
Absent, excused:
Jack Dalton, President, Union of Students of UAA
Others present:
Patty Kastelic, Executive Director, SWHR
2. Adopt agenda
MOTION: passed unanimously
"The System Governance Council moves to adopt the agenda for the
November 22, 1994 meeting as amended. This action is effective
November 22, 1994."
3. Approve minutes
MOTION: passed unanimously
"The System Governance Council moves to approve the minutes for the
October 18, 1994 meeting. This action is effective November 22, 1994."
4. Activity reports from system and local governance groups
Alliance of Faculty Senates
Colin Read stated that the Alliance of Faculty Senates had met in
Anchorage in November for an on-site meeting. They also had the
opportunity to meet with the administration for one day while in
Anchorage.
He stated that they discussed program assessment at great length and
concluded that the Alliance endorses the notion of ongoing program
assessment, with some modification of expectation and timelines.
They also determined that it is very important to more clearly define the
university's missions and felt that because of the very constrained
timeline for program assessment, they didn't have enough time to
identify their missions as thoroughly as they would have liked.
Coalition of Student Leaders
Thomas Goldston, Kodiak, stated that the legislative priorities for the
Coalition are deferred maintenance, distance education technology, and
new construction in housing.
The Coalition signed a resolution supporting continuation of the
consolidated tuition cap. They also support continuation of grace
periods for the Alaska Student Loans.
Staff Alliance
Mike Mayberry reported that stated that the Staff Alliance had been
working on the guidelines for layoff and release.
The Alliance would be having an on-site meeting on November 30, to
review the program assessment final documents. The Alliance will draft
a report at that time, which Mayberry will present directly to the Board.
Mayberry stated that in the future they would be working on personnel
issues and assuring that layoff procedures are standardized throughout
the system.
UAA
Gil Bane, UAA Faculty Senate, explained that the senate is establishing
new committees, one for distance education as a workload committee,
and a new tenure committee, because of the new policy of tenure which
much be to the Board of Regents by June, 1995. Another committee is
cultural diversity, an interim committee looking into the possibility of
faculty exchange between the campuses. The last committee is the
calendar committee, which has added a new day of classes at the end of
the term to replace the day of closure in recognition of Martin Luther
King, Jr. day.
UAF
Staff Council
Mike Mayberry stated that some of the concerns that the UAF Staff
Council have been working on are:
1. Program assessment, particularly the chancellors
recommendation to take the enhancement funds to fund the natural
sciences building at the expense of all the other programs.
2. Rural sites are concerned about the new organizational
chart, the College of Rural Alaska, has always had a solid line to report to
the chancellor, but with the re-organization they have a dotted line,
which they feel will dilute their relationship with the chancellor.
3. Voluntary 36 hour workweek, with a corresponding 10%
cut in pay.
4. Deferred pay. An employee who less than a 12-month
employee could be paid year-round in 26 paychecks.
5. Parking on campus.
6. Merger of UAF and SW Personnel Offices. This is a
possible recommendation in the program assessment documents. Staff
Council opposes this, primarily because SW office is mainly
administration and enforcement, whereas UAF personnel offices deal
primarily with individual campus day-to-day operations.
ASUAF
Scott Kawasaki stated that students were voicing their concern about not
having enough say in program assessment, so they will be reviewing the
documents for the president and chancellors.
SW
Kate Wattum stated that the Statewide Administration Assembly was
concerned with the current campus hiring procedures. She stated that
although the Anchorage policy had been changed, their position
openings still state that "UAA employees only can apply".
They have also been discussing the possibility of SAA merging with the
Staff Councils on each campus. SAA members have forwarded a
resolution to Wendy Redman opposing this, that statewide employees
need separate representation.
Another issue SW has been discussing is the Alaska Civil Rights holiday.
UAS
Faculty Senate
Richard Hacker stated that UAS Faculty Senate expressed concerns about
protecting the community college mission of the university during
program assessment. He stated that this concern is being heard and is
being shared.
Staff Council
Karen Cummins stated they were discussing program assessment, staff
benefits, layoffs due to program assessment, and inter-campus
recruitment.
She stated that they are gearing up for their Christmas drive, where they
collect food and clothing to donate to the local charities.
They also discussed the Alaska Civil Rights day and concerned about
how this would effect staff.
5. Layoff Procedures
Patty Kastelic reported that her office held a videoconference with
academic directors, provosts, vice chancellors, and personnel directors to
review a draft of procedures which relate to the existing regulation
governing layoff, release and recall. They reviewed the extended benefits
for those employees in layoff due to program assessment, and agreed
that these would be MAU specific. She stated that the revised version of
the draft guidelines is to be out for review on November 29, 1994. [Ed.
note: The guidelines have been finalized and are on the Internet for
viewing.]
5. Legislative outlook
Wendy Redman stated that the university is in pretty good shape with
the new executive administration, that Knowles and Ulmer have both
been very supportive of the university throughout their campaign,
although when Knowles was mayor of Anchorage, he was not very
supportive.
She stated that Knowles made a commitment that he would go in with a
reduced budget for this fiscal year, regardless of what the oil settlements
are. He is not supportive of the university land initiative, but has been
very supportive on the deferred maintenance issue.
Redman stated that two Board of Regents seats are coming open soon,
and Knowles will be required to make these appointments, so he will be
paying close attention to the university.
Redman stated that Representative Martin stated that he will probably
continue to be the university's sub-committee chair for the next two
years.
She stated that they are working on leading into the budget request from
the program assessment. She stated that this had been hard since the
university is requesting a ten percent increase, but at the same time are
internally doing all the reallocations. She stated that the Board made is
very clear that it really is a dual responsibility that is held by the Board of
Regents. Their legitimate role is to go to the legislature and present a
budget that is reflective of what they think the university really needs, at
the same time they also have a fiduciary responsibility to try to govern
the university within the resources that it actually has available.
Redman stated that the number one legislative priority will be deferred
maintenance. The other two priority issues are land, and the transfer of
the university's investment authority. She stated they she feels that there
is a good level of support for the deferred maintenance and they will be
able to put together a package to at least begin to take care of the
problem. The goal is still to try to get a $75,000,000 package through,
which would be approximately half of the package.
She stated that the issue of the land is a little more complicated since
Tony Knowles is governor, he has not historically been supportive of
this. It is the influence of the environmental groups who have not
wanted to have state land in management by the university, they would
like to continue to have all of the state lands managed by the Department
of Natural Resources, which has virtually no land in development.
Redman stated that the university will continue to push forward on this
issue, that it is a legitimate case, that it offers the university some long-
term flexibility and financial options in the future.
The third priority, transfer of our investment authority. Currently the
land grant trust fund, which is the earnings from all of the university's
land grant lands, is placed with the Department of Revenue for their
investment management. Their record of earnings has been far less than
the university's, so the university is eager to get that transferred, and it is
also more appropriate that it be with the university. She stated that the
university feels that this can be handled by an executive order, rather
than by legislation if they chose to do it. Governor Hickle will put this in
with part of his legislative package.
6. Program Assessment Status
Pat Ivey reported that a number of motions would be coming from the
Alliance of Faculty Senates relating to program assessment. She stated
that she had spoken with the president and was told that the final
recommendations were being drafted and were due out on November 23,
1994. Ivey stated that she would put them out on the Internet.
Mike Mayberry noted that the Staff Alliance would be doing an extensive
review of the draft on November 30, 1994 and would present their
recommendations directly to the Board of Regents.
Wendy Redman stated that the president will be giving an initial
overview of the program assessment process at the Board of Regents
meeting in December. The Board will discuss program assessment the
next day, although the actions they have to take are few, and only where
the university intends to eliminate an entire program or make a major
program reduction or change.
7. UA Foundation report
Scott Taylor explained that the UA Foundation is a separate, non-profit
corporation, which can bring in grants. He stated that it was established
approximately 20 years ago to avoid lapse of money to the state
legislature, also to give the university legislative insulation from the
legislature redirecting unrestricted gifts to their choices, and donors feel
more comfortable giving their money to an entity outside the university.
The foundations sole goal is to benefit the University of Alaska. The
Board recently passed a policy that requires all gifts made to the
university to be held by the Foundation.
He explained that the Foundation consists of contributors to the
university, elected to the Board of Trustees for the UA Foundation,
usually through one of the three branches of their membership, either
UAS, UAA or UAF.
Taylor explained that in years past they have had an ex-officio member
on the Board of Trustees chosen from governance. This was the chair of
the General Assembly. Since the assembly was reorganized and
separated into four different groups, the Foundation had to choose a new
member. They chose the chair for the Alliance of Faculty Senates because
they felt that faculty were underrepresented in their committee.
Taylor stated that there are currently approximately $30 million worth of
assets, which are divided into endowments, restricted funds, and non-
restricted funds.
Taylor explained that some ways in which to help the foundation is, you
can attend and participate in the fund raising activities, guide major
donors to the University Development Office, and give yourself. He
noted that in 1993, people in the United States gave $102 billion of their
own monies to charities in the US., of that approximately $15 billion went
to higher education.
8. Date, time and agenda items for next meeting
Date: January 24, 1994, via audioconference
Time: 2:00pm-4:00pm
9. Other Comments
There were no additional comments.
10. Adjourn