Members present:

Art Bukowski, President, UAA Assembly
Barb Tullis, Vice President, UAA Assembly
Thomas Walker, President, Union of Students of UAA
Marie Scholle, President, UAF Staff Council
Eric Heyne, President, UAF Faculty Senate
Scott Kawasaki, Representative, Associated Students of UAF
Rita Dursi Johnson, President, UAS Faculty Senate
Kevin Hile, President, Statewide Administration Assembly

Members absent:

Donna Chantry, Chair; President, UAS Staff Council
Michael Willyerd, President, United Students of UAS-Ketchikan
Ann Kennedy, Net Representative, Matanuska-Susitna Student Government Council

Others present:

Patty Kastelic, Executive Director of SW Human Resources
Phil Slattery, UA Alliance of Faculty Senates Representative

2. Adopt agenda

MOTION: (Moved by Johnson, Seconded by Scholle, passed unanimously)

"The System Governance Council moves to adopt the agenda for the December 12, 1995 meeting. This action is effective December 12, 1995."

3. Approve November 14, 1995 minutes

MOTION: (Moved by Johnson, seconded by Scholle, passed as amended.

"The System Governance Council moves to approve the minutes for the November 14, 1995 meeting with the following change:

1. Change the name Dursi-Johnson to Dursi Johnson throughout the minutes.

This action is effective December 12, 1995."

4. Retirement benefits

The state division of retirement and benefits has apparently made changes to the PERS and TRS retirement that public employees, including university employees apparently were not notified about. This specifically relates to healthcare benefits provider changes at age 65. At age 65 Medicare becomes the primary healthcare provider and Aetna becomes secondary. In order to be fully covered on a continuous basis, retirees must apply for Medicare before age 65. In cases where Medicare is denied the letter of denial must be mailed to Aetna prior to age 65, so that Aetna will make provisions to remain as the retiree's primary provider. Lack of notification has apparently resulted in substantial costs to some retirees who incurred medical bills believing they were fully covered only to discover that they were only covered 20% because they did not know they had to apply for Medicare.

5. Action items

5.1 Future of the System Governance Council 5.1

It is proposed that the Council act on each proposed change separately.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE COUNCIL:

1. Change the membership from one faculty, one staff and one student from UAA, UAF and UAS, one student from a rural site and one staff from Statewide Administration, to "the Alliance of Faculty Senates, the Coalition of Student Leaders, and the Staff Alliance."

NO ACTION WAS TAKEN ON PROPOSAL NO. 1

2. Replace the Council chair with the heads of the other system governance groups who would moderate meetings on a rotating basis.

NO ACTION WAS TAKEN ON PROPOSAL NO. 2

3. Meetings could be called by the president of the university, one of the heads of any one of the other system governance groups, or by the president of the Board of Regents.

NO ACTION WAS TAKEN ON PROPOSAL NO. 3

4. Amend voting to add, "The Council shall take no legislative action on system issues other than endorsement of the actions of the other system governance groups or to coordinate actions between them unless specifically directed by the president of the Board of Regents, the president of the university, or the Council co-chairs."

NO ACTION WAS TAKEN ON PROPOSAL NO. 4

5. Reduce the minimum number of meetings per year from six to four and specify meetings only by audio or video conference.

NO ACTION WAS TAKEN ON PROPOSAL NO. 5

6. Reduce the Council budget from $6,200 to a maximum of $3,000 and divide the balance equally between the Alliance of Faculty Senates, the Staff Alliance, or the Coalition of Student Leaders.

5.2 Goals for the coming year

This item was not discussed.

5.3 Shared governance tracking system

The System Governance Office staff have created the shared governance tracking system and it is now up and running on the net. The URL address is:

http://info.alaska.edu:70/0h/UA/Governance/Shared_Gov_References

Members were encouraged to review the new system and make any comments or suggestions to the System Governance Office.

5.4 Dispute resolution/Sexual harassment policy and regulations

Patty Kastelic stated that she had received several comments and suggestions on the draft policies by the various governance groups after the most recent draft had been distributed. She stated that her office would be reviewing these changes and they would be reflected in the final draft which is to go before the Board of Regents at their February meeting.

Some of the concerns were:

1. Employees feel they should have the right to hire an attorney. Kastelic stated that this does not need to be put into policy/regulation because it is already a civil right.

2. Governance would like to see the results of all grievances to be distributed to them. Kastelic stated that the Statewide Office of Human Resources would have no problem with this.

5.5 Other action items

No other action items were discussed.

6. Information items

6.1 Board of Regents December meeting

Scholle stated that she had attended the meeting. She noted that the staff presented the Board members with Christmas gifts reflective of each of the campuses.

6.2 Other information items

7. Reports

Brief reports were given on the recent activities of the various governance groups.

8. Next meeting: date, time, meeting method, agenda items

January 19, 1996 via audioconference. No agenda items were discussed.

9. Other items of concern

Art Bukowski stated that Donna Chantry, the current System Governance Council Chair, has resigned due to time constraints and a new chair needed to be elected. Bukowski opened the floor for nominations.

Thomas Walker nominated Art Bukowski
Rita Dursi Johnson nominated Marie Scholle

Jeannine Burnett will send official ballots with the two nominees names to each member. Ballots will be returned to the System Governance Office.

10. Comments

There were no additional comments.

11. Adjourn