Thursday, April 21, 2005
1:00 pm- 3:00 pm by audioconference
Draft Minutes
1. Call to
Order and Roll Call
Members present:
Lisa Sporleder,
Chair; President Statewide Administration Assembly; Chair,
Staff
Abel Bult-Ito,
President, UAF Faculty Senate
John Mun, Vice
President, UAA Assembly
Josh Steadman,
President, UAF Staff council
Rita Fuller,
President, UAS Staff Council
Larry Foster,
President, UAA Assembly
Todd Closson,
President,
Joe Blanchard,
Chair, ASUAF Senate for Abbie Stillie, Vice President, ASUAF
Joe Hayes,
Executive Director, UAF Alumni Association (ex-officio)
Staff:
Pat Ivey,
Executive Officer, System Governance
Others present:
Wendy Redman,
Vice President for University Relations
Mike Humphrey,
Director, Benefits
Lori Merdes,
Manager, Help Desk and Training, UA System Information
Technology
Services
2. Adopt Agenda
MOTION: Moved by Bult-Ito, seconded by
Steadman, passed without objection
“The System Governance Council moves to adopt
the agenda for the April 21, 2005 meeting.
This action is effective April 21, 2005.”
3. Approve February
24, 2005 Minutes
http://gov.alaska.edu/Council/Minutes/2005/02-24.html
MOTION: Moved by Closson, seconded by Bult-Ito, passed without
objection
“The System Governance Council moves to
approve the February 24, 2005 minutes.
This action is effective April 21, 2005.”
4. Chair’s Report – Lisa Sporleder
We
have a pretty good sized agenda today, and I don’t want to take too much time
away from it, but I want to thank Todd Closson for running the February Council
meeting for me. My mom thanks you, too,
Todd, since I was home in
I
also want to thank the whole group for a good year. There are some people who think that this
group should be disbanded. I don’t think
so, and said as much to President Hamilton last month. When he asked why, I said that this group is
the only systemwide governance group where students, faculty, staff, and alumni
can sit down together at the same table and look at what is good for the
This
is a tough time of year for everyone.
It’s the end of a semester, end of a school year, graduation time,
pre-registration time, election time, State legislature is in session, and we
are all wishing we could be outside in the sunshine. The fact we are sitting here today attests to
our dedication to serve, our willingness to go the extra mile. Thanks!
5. Guest Comments
There were no guest comments.
6. Regents Summary of Actions
http://www.alaska.edu/bor/minutes/minutes.xml
Regents
approved a number of programs and policy changes. President Hamilton is holding off on
implementation of the Health Safety and Environmental Certificate and the
Certificate of Instrumentation at UAF pending proof of working out the differences
in the program with UAA’s program. Of
particular focus is the need to deal with the math requirements which include
Math 105 at UAA and UAS which those two MAUs accept and UAF does not and UAF’s
requirement of Math 107.
7 Draft
Governance Regulation – Final Draft
http://gov.alaska.edu/council/2005-4-21.governancereg-final.pdf
MOTION: Moved by Bult-Ito, seconded by Foster, passed without objection
“The System Governance
Council moves to adopt the final draft governance regulation 03.01.01 for
submission to President Hamilton for implementation. This action is effective April 21, 2005.”
A policy
change was submitted to the Board of Regents in February and approved which would
allow for regulations to be drafted instead of placing the constitution of each
governance group into regulation. The
draft regulation accompanied the policy change as an informational attachment
to the February Board of Regents agenda for information. The Board recommended removing any
instructions to the Board which would have had the effect—since the president
implements regulations—of the president telling the Board what to do, not the
other way around. Those sections were
removed by governance prior to final action by governance and implementation by
the president.
8. Employee
and Dependent Rates FY06 – union and
non-represented
http://www.alaska.edu/hr/benefits/ua_choice/flex_plan_costs/index_ua_choice_rates_fy06.xml
The
contribution rates for employees and dependents for both union and non-union
employees were discussed. Mike Humphrey
said that inflation has reached unprecedented heights. The unions have just voted to join the
non-represented healthcare plan and discussed the different rates. The university plan is an industry standard,
Humphrey said. Redman said the
legislature approved the union contract change to allow unions to participate
in the UA Choice plan but did not approve the $3 million it would take for
unions to convert to the plan.
9. Common Start Date
Response
from Craig Dorman re: UAF Faculty Senate Response
http://gov.alaska.edu/faculty/2005-03-17.dormanresponseUAFaction.pdf
Memo from
Mike Sfraga re Background for Common Start Date
http://gov.alaska.edu/faculty/2005-03-15.CommonStartDateSSC.pdf
Data
Regarding Concurrent Enrollment
http://gov.alaska.edu/faculty/2005-03-17.concurrentenrollment.pdf
UAF Faculty
Senate Response:
http://gov.alaska.edu/faculty/2005-03-07.commonstartdate-uafsenate.pdf
SAC Proposal
http://gov.alaska.edu/faculty/2005-02-04.sac-trans.html
Faculty at UAF do not object to a common start date for all MAUs
but are having difficulty aligning outreach campus start dates for the fall
semester with that of the main campus. Bult-Ito
said that outreach campuses start their fall semesters after Labor Day to
accommodate subsistence activities while the
Larry Foster reported that UAA faculty are nervous about moving to
a common start date because they see the move as a precursor to establishing a
common academic schedule and a move to 60 minute per-credit-hour classes similar
to UAF, instead of the traditional 50 minute per-credit-hour classes, the
current standard at UAA. Foster believes, however, that with enough discussion,
UAA faculty will become comfortable enough to make it happen.
10. Legislative Update
http://gov.alaska.edu/council/2005DataSummary.pdf
10.1 Land Bill Status
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get
bill.asp?session=24&bill=HB130
Wendy Redman reported that the UA Lands House Bill
130 was on the floor of the Hosue and expected to pass today. Then it will go to the Senate. Several controversial parcels have been
removed, hopefully making the bill acceptable to the Legislature.
10.2 Retirement
Bills
UA Amendment
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/PDF/24/Bills/SB0141B.PDF
Bill history
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=sb141&submit=Display+Bill+Root
Other
Retirement Bills
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=hb191
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=HB177
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=HB170
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=SB141
FAQS from Division of Retirement
and Benefits
http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ADMIN/drb/tierproject/tierprojectfaqs.shtml
PERS/TRS Investment Assumptions - Mercer
http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ADMIN/drb/tierproject/question_responses_housestateaffairs.pdf
Language to allow the university to offer employees
an optional retirement plan has been inserted into SB 141, currently in House
Finance Committee. Additionally, the
university may seek relief in separate legislation. The most pressing issue, however, is the
critical need for full funding of the university’s PERS/TRS contributions,
currently at $7.8 million.
10.3 Reemployment after Retirement
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=SB24
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=HB161
This item was not discussed.
10.4 Non-Union Public Employee Salary and
Benefits
This
was an item of information and was not discussed.
10.4 UA Operating and Capital Budget Status
Operating:
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=HB67
Capitol Budget
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=SB46
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?session=24&bill=SB155
The House approved an $11.9 million increment in
general funds for the university, with $3.4 million of that assigned to
PERS/TRS increases. The senate approved
$11.9 million with no PERS/TRS designation.
The total PERS/TRS burden for the university is now $7.8 millon, which
cannot be made up in the operating budget.
There is some hope for including that in other legislation or in
separate legislation before the end of the session.
The capital budget will probably pass but it is
dependent upon passage of PERS/TRS reform.
One version of the capital budget contains regents priorities. The other one, the Stevens bill, contains a
couple of priorities and then some items that are not on the regents’ priority
list at all.
When asked how the alumni can help, the response was
that UAF should concentrate on getting the BiCs building, UAA should send thank
yous for the support for the integrated science facility and all should
concentrate on full funding for PERS/TRS and full funding of the general fund
request for the university at $11.9 million in the conference committee.
10.5 Other Legislative Items
There were
no additional legislative items
11. Merger of UAF and Statewide
Instructional
Technology
http://www.alaska.edu/itmerger/
Lori Merdes said she faxed a copy of the latest
merger draft to all the Council members and asked for fax numbers for those she
missed. Merdes said the draft wasn’t on the web yet due to the need for version
control. She emphasized that the draft
was a working document subject to change in the implementation phase as
participants discover what works and what doesn’t. She said that this was not a
cost saving measure but rather a need to use the money more efficiently. She said there would be no merging of budgets
and that the funds for UAF would stay at UAF and statewide funds would be
managed by statewide.
12. Tuition Adjustments AY2007 and AY2008
http://gov.alaska.edu/net/2005-04-12.tuition-adj-notice-ay2007-2008.pdf
It was noted that President Hamilton seemed to be
sticking to his original plan of 10 percent per year for four years. Students don’t want to pay more unless they
get more. They also don’t want to
eliminate free tuition for senior citizens because it would damage the
university’s community relations.
13. Governance
Reports
Sporleder said that in the interest of time, she would
allow those who wished to speak to do so. Abel Bult-Ito said the UAF Faculty
Senate had passed a policy on acceptable degrees and a joint UAF-UAA PhD
program in psychology.
15. Comments
There were no
additional comments.
16. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at
approximately 3:10pm.