UA System Governance Council
Wednesday, May 27, 1998
2:30 pm - 4:30 pm by audioconference
Draft Minutes
1. Call to order, roll call and introductions
Current Members Present:
Marie Scholle, Chair, 1997-1998, Past President, UAF Staff Council
Barbara Tullis, UAA Staff, 1997-98, President, UAA Assembly, 1997-1998
Kevin Tritt, UAA Student: President, USUAA, 1997-1998
Donna Chantry for Rita Bowen, President, UAS Staff Council, 1997-1998
Lawerence Lee Oldaker, Chair, UAS Faculty Council, 1997-1998
Mary Stasenko, NW College Students, 1997-1998
Connie Kramer, President, Statewide Administration Assembly, 1997-1998
Jake Poole, Director, UAF Alumni Association,
ex-officio
Incoming Members Present:
Jean Richardson, President, ASUAF, 1998-1999
Josh Horst, President, USUAS-J, 1998-1999
Guests Present:
Clancy DeSmet, USUAS-J Vice President, 1998-1999
Ann Ringstad, UA Government Relations Director
Bob Miller, UA Public Affairs Director
Current & Incoming Members Not Present
(excused):
Hilary Davies, President-elect 1997-1998 and President, 1998-99,
UAA Assembly,
John Craven, Chair, Faculty Alliance; President, UAF Faculty Senate
1997-1998
Steve Nuss, President, ASUAF, 1997-1998
Rosie Gilbert, President, USUAS-J, 1997-1998
Patti Thorne, Vice President, UAA Assembly, 1998-1999
Josh Hunter, President, USUAA, 1998-1999
Paula Long, Past President, UAF Staff Council 1998-1999
Ron Gatterdam, President-elect, UAF Faculty Senate, 1998-1999
Janet Dye, Chair, UAS Faculty Council, 1998-1999
Josh Horst asked why two student seats were
referred to as "low" and "medium" density
seats. This is because the Charter for the Coalition of Student
Leaders stipulates that one seat be filled by a student who attends
a "low" density campus (between 0 and 999 headcount)
and the other seat be filled by a student from a "medium"
density campus (between 1,000 and 4,999 headcount). The Charter
also stipulates that these students be elected at the first face-to-face
Coalition meeting each fall and that one of the two seats must
be a student from a UAS campus.
2. Adopt agenda
Jake Poole asked that the alumni request
for voting membership be added to the agenda. There was no objection.
MOTION: Moved
by Oldaker, seconded by Kramer, passed without objection
"The University of Alaska System Governance
Council hereby approves the agenda as modified for its May 27,
1998, meeting. This action is effective May 27, 1998."
3. Council's seventh survey of legislative
and gubernatorial candidates on their views of higher education
(See /legsurvey/ for
the 1996 edition of this survey.)
Bob Miller asked that the survey be conducted
after the primary election only. His office intends to send out
information about the university to candidates seperately. Pat
Ivey said that the reason for surveying both primary and general
election candidates was to keep the university in the elections
debate continuously. Ivey is working with Ann Ringstad on how
to structure this year's survey so that it is readable and more
useful.
Ann Ringstad said that they are putting
together a bullet sheet about the university and its issues during
the past session.
Marie Scholle asked if anyone had any strong
feelings about having two surveys (before and after the primary)
versus having only one after the primary. Connie Kramer and Kevin
Tritt said that they prefer one, as per Bob Miller's suggestion.
Marie Scholle was concerned that with only
one survey after the primary election, the final candidates may
include someone who is not in favor of the university.
The complete list of candidates will not
be known until June 2 after the filing deadline.
Brian Brubaker pointed out that using survey
results to educate university voters before the primary is difficult
because classes won't have begun. Marie Scholle said that the
pre-primary survey would track whether candidates are consistent
in their message between the primary survey and general election
survey.
A straw poll was conducted. In favor of
one survey were Jean Richardson, Lawerence Lee Oldaker, Barb Tullis,
Kevin Tritt, Donna Chantry, Mary Stasenko, Connie Kramer, and
Josh Horst. Marie Scholle was in favor of two surveys.
Ann Ringstad said that if members have any
points we want to make very clear to candidates, then please forward
those to her for the bullet sheet her office is preparing.
Jake Poole suggested identifying alumni
in each district to call primary candidates and ask four or five
standardized questions. This could give us an indication of candidates
who need more information or have some strong, unknown preconceptions
about the university. There was general agreement to go ahead
with this. Jake Poole said he would work with Ann Ringstad and
Suzette Mashburn and will proceed.
4. Governance as a part of regular work
duties
(See Regents Policy 03.01.01 and Regents
Policy and University Regulation 04.10.02 at http://info.alaska.edu/ua/bor/
for more information.)
Marie Scholle said some supervisors are
telling employees not to participate in governance activities;
it has gotten bad enough in some areas that it may now even be
a Board of Regents issue. In some cases, staff who were considering
participating in governance have been threatened with the potential
of losing of their job if they did so. Marie Scholle said she
spoke to a particular administration official about this. That
official didn't consider it an important issue, especially with
so many departments being short staffed, making time employees
spend in governance an bigger impact on department workloads.
Marie Scholle she brought this up so that
the Council was aware of problems in this area. The Council may
have to look at this further. If the university downsizes even
more in the future, this problem may grow if not stopped now.
5. Presidential search update
Marie Scholle said that the Presidential
Search Evaluation Committee on which she serves met today and
made a recommendation to the Board of Regents. Marie Scholle
said that it was a learning experience for her and crash course
in how to hire a president.
6. System Governance Council goals for
1998-1999
Marie Scholle said that educating the public
about the university will likely continue as a goal for next year
as well.
7. 1998-1999 schedule of Council meetings
Pat Ivey recommended the fourth Thursday
of each month for Council meetings. A proposed schedule was distributed
for review. It is available on-line at /council/.
8. Local governance reports
UAS Faculty
The UAS Faculty Council has just completed
its first full year of operation as a new organization. A wide
variety of issues were addressed during the year, including faculty
evaluation, accreditation, professional development, and the current
presidential search process.
UAS Students
Josh Horst was elected as the incoming president
of the United Students of UAS- Juneau. The election was thrilling,
it went through two phases, was appealed and re-done.
NW Campus Students
Mary Stasenko is representing the NW Campus
at the College Women Student Leadership Conference from June 4-6
in Washington, DC and will present a report to the Council upon
her return.
UAA Students
Kevin Tritt said that there is a summer
meeting schedule for USUAA. Joshua Hunter was elected as the
new student body president.
UAA Assembly
Barb Tullis said that the health benefits
task force is meeting today at UAA. She hopes to get a report
from them as soon as possible about how it went. The UAA Assembly
is on stand-by, awaiting the task force recommendation. Some
strategic planning opportunities are coming up later in the summer.
UAF Students
Jean Richardson said that she was recently
elected as the new ASUAF President. Her goals for next year include
voter registration, getting out the vote, and having candidate
debates on campus. She has spoken with the League of Women Voters.
ASUAF has funded a student position to coordinate voter registration
in the fall.
Pat Ivey added that candidate debates have
historically been sponsored by student governments on each canpus
and that candidates have generally responded positively to this
arrangement..
SW Staff
Connie Kramer said that new members have
now been elected to SAA. Officers for next year will be elected
by June 15. They have started a process to move up their officer
elections for next year. She spoke with President Komisar and
has not heard anything about whether statewide staff are allowed
to attend the UAF campus picnic on Friday, May 29.
9. Other items of concern
Alumni: voting membership
A year ago, the Council voted to add alumni
as ex-officio members. Since then, the alumni have become very
active in the Council's UA support campaign and have proven to
be an asset to governance.
Jake Poole requested that alumni become full voting members of the System Governance Council and proposed to amend the the System Governance Council Constitution so that there would be one alumni representative from each MAU in the voting membership of the Council.
Connie Kramer asked what kept alumni from
getting voting membership previously. Marie Scholle said that
last year, the Council wanted to see how alumni membership might
work out at first.
Pat Ivey said that in the 70's and 80's,
alumni had a voting seat on the Council's predecessor organization
when there only existed one alumni association statewide. That
devolved when alumni associations separated first to representation
as an ad hoc committee of system governance, then to complete
withdrawal as the individual alumni associations evolved. Last
May, they returned to again participate on the System Governance
Council as ex-officio non-voting members.
MOTION: Moved
by Oldaker, seconded by Horst, passed with seven in favor and
none against.
Yes No Abstain
Barb Tullis
Kevin Tritt
Marie Scholle
Donna Chantry
L. L. Oldaker
Mary Stasenko
Connie Kramer
"The University of Alaska System Governance
Council hereby moves to amend the System Governance Council Constitution
as follows:
ADDITIONS IN ALL CAPS; [deletions
in italics]
Amend Article IV, Section A to read:
'The voting membership of the Council shall consist of one
faculty, one staff, ONE ALUMNI, and one student representative each
from the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University
of Alaska Fairbanks, and the University of Alaska Southeast,
one staff representative from Statewide Administration
Assembly and one additional at-large student
representative.'
Also, amend Article IV, Section F, to read:
'Ex-officio, non-voting membership in the Council shall
include the President of the University, the chancellor
or other administrative officer, [and
one alumni from
each MAU,
] and any
other such person or persons as the
President may designate, and such others as determined
by the Council.'
This action is effective May 27, 1998."
In accordance with Article VIII, Section
B, of this Constitution, the proposed amendment will be sent to
all members of the Council at least 30 days prior to the meeting
at which it will be considered. A special meeting will be called
30 days from today's meeting for the purpose of voting on the
amendments.
Barb Tullis asked if Suzette Mashburn, the
UAA Alumni Association director about this development. Mashburn
was in favor of this amendment, adding that she had not spoken
to the UAA alumni about it yet.
10. Other items of concern
Marie Scholle presented certificates of
appreciation to outgoing members. Barbara Tullis, Mary Stasenko,
Lawerence Lee Oldaker, Rita Bowen, Kevin Tritt, Connie Kramer,
Jake C. Poole, John Craven, Steven Nuss, Rosie Gilbert, and Hilary
Davies. They will be mailed to recipients.
Connie Kramer read a certificate of appreciation
for Marie Scholle and presented her with a gift from the Council:
a deep sea fishing rod. Marie Scholle said she's definitely going
halibut fishing and thanked the Council.
11. Comments
There were no comments at this time.
12. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 pm.