Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
12:15 — 1:30 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

Called the meeting to order (D. Goss)

II. Discussion with President Skorton and Vice President Mary Opperman

After the last meeting the EA decided to draft a resolution about the Campus Code of Conduct.

D. Goss said that the open forums have been well attended with very good discussions. She is just not sure how much the staff focus has been emphasized.

T. Jacobs talked about the last CJC meeting with Mary Opperman. At this meeting we heard what some of her concerns were with staff issues. She reminded the group that only about 2% of the cases put in front of the JA are staff, this works out to be 2–3 staff members per year.

One concern that Mary has is off-campus jurisdiction and the inconsistency between staff, faculty, deans and students. The second concern was that currently HR doesn’t examine employee behaviors off-campus unless they are work related behaviors, and under the new code we would have to and it may not always be appropriate. The third issue Mary talked about was if a staff member was the accused, the code gives staff another place to take their concerns. If we change to this decentralized version of the code how do we insure that all staff will have appropriate vehicles of communication?

J. DeMarco said that we very seldom have problems with faculty and staff, however we do have to abide by certain state regulations for example we have evacuation drills, how can we enforce this? He stated he is leery of a system that is independent of JA.

A. Epstein said that there is overwhelming evidence for JA to remain independent. Also, the feedback they have been receiving regarding the Krause report is more philosophical. He added that the CJC looked at other universities and have found the code is generally just for students.

P. Beach asked if the JA was not independent could we list it under the Dean of Students?

Mary said that when the process feels as bad as the problem, you are not likely to come forward again. Everyone involved in this process should try and feel what the other person is feeling while going through the process. She believes that the current system is broken.

President Skorton said a lot of the conversation has been about the Krause report. President Skorton has been heartened by what he was seeing on the website.

President Skorton said the emails lately are more on changes to the Code, not so much about the Krause report. The president will forward an email when the code is completed, he will share this with CJC and senior staff immediately.

President Skorton was at Geneva on Monday. He feels there should be more representation, as there is lack of community services available such as recreation, childcare and generalities. The president hopes the staff understands and feels connected to the EA in general. He was also interested on how we as a university could interact with the Town of Geneva. Any input about weighing in on their issues would be helpful. He added he was impressed with the things that have gone on there. The president also toured the research park, and found it to be fascinating.

In conclusion, the president mentioned his call in radio show the week of March 5th with Peggy Williams, President of IC and Carl Haines, President of TC3. People can call in with issues regarding the higher education community. All are welcome to call in.

On March 7 or 8 at 4:30 p.m. a new tradition will begin with the Provost giving a “State of the Academic University address” with a reception to follow at the Call Auditorium.

President Skorton talked about his recent trip to India. Cornell has 60 years of history there, largely in agriculture. The purpose of the trip was to make this more visible to people in India as well as here. Secondly, we need to rejuvenate alumni there. Last year applications went up 42% from students there. The third thing was a concept of a Land Grant University, what can we do better. The last thing was “Memos of Understanding” with institutions of higher education. The president wanted to check to see how things were going and what other opportunities there were, and he reports there are many. There will be another trip to India scheduled by other senior staff members again soon.

The next Chronicle of Higher Education will have an article with President Skorton in it.

III. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda (D. Goss)

There were no late additions to the agenda.

IV. Report from the Chair (D. Goss)

D. Goss said that she hoped everyone found our session with Jim Sheridan to be helpful. We haven’t received the notes back yet but thought it was very helpful to revisit our goals.

V. Trustee’s Report (M. Esposito)

M. Esposito could not attend today’s meeting. D. Goss said that they approved the childcare center site to be at the edge of A-Lot on Pleasant Grove Road. In the presentation the idea of another daycare center was raised. D. Goss attended on Friday where they dedicated the new Ambulatory Care building.

VI. Committee Reports

a. SRAC
J. DeMarco said they are revising the application for the George Peter Award for Dedicated Service.

H. Hall asked if we still are considering getting the HR involved in the process? It has been requested that if there is going to be a selection made then HR in that area will be notified.

D. Stein said P. Mahoney brought this up that Mary Opperman appeared at each one of these ceremonies and it is awkward for her if the person does not exemplify the standards we are seeking. It is not meant to derail the process, only to find out if there are issues.

P. Beach stated that in the new application, one letter is to be from the person’s supervisor.

b. Communications Committee
H. Hall said they met last week and the PowerPoint presentation was passed around for the Leadership lunches. The timeline has also been completed. She hopes to have copies to share of everything at the next meeting.

The Employee Celebration is on Sat., Feb. 10 in the Ramin room at Bartels, and the EA will have a table available. We need volunteers to work the table from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. 1,800 tickets have been sold. H. Hall will send out an email with half hour brackets to find volunteers to help.

D. Stein added that with 1,800 people attending, this would be a great event to get EA elections information out.

c. Finance
P. Mahoney said we have about $1,000 remaining for this year. D. Goss said she planned to write a letter to recoup some funds.

d. Emergency Grant Funds
No requests at this time.

e. Education Committee
D. Goss shared with us all the correspondence from the Empire State College. Empire State is teaming up with TC3 reps to have regular sessions with Cornell employees.

D. Stein asked if Cornell was more generous to children of employees than to employees themselves.

D. Goss said yes, most peer institutions are more generous on both accounts. If staff take classes on campus they are free and there are no tax implications. The tuition rate for children is even greater. A general rule is 50% of tuition for classes off campus. The benefit program is more generous to children of employees than to employees themselves.

f. IOC (A. Goncarovs)
A. Goncarovs reported that the Master Plan committee has an open forum on campus today, and another downtown tomorrow. He urged all to attend one or the other.

The EA elections calendar is set, and copies will be available soon. The article to announce elections in PawPrint will be out tomorrow. Packets will be available next week. Out of the present group, 7 members are up for re-election. Andri reported he has not heard from 3 of the 7, and he asked them to please let him know if they are planning to run again as soon as possible.

Additionally, all EA’ers should try to find people who would be interested in getting involved with the EA. IOC will meet next week to discuss other strategies to get people to run for election.

g. Executive Committee (D. Goss)
The Code of Conduct was the only topic of discussion at today’s meeting.

VII. Business of the Day, R.1 — Appointment of Kerry Howell (A. Goncarovs)

A resolution was read regarding Kerry Howell being appointed to the EA to fill the vacancy left by Christine Brown’s departure. There were no concerns raised about this appointment. J. DeMarco motioned to approve the resolution to appoint Kerry Howell. P. Mahoney seconded this motion. All were in favor. 9–0−0

VIII. Old Business, Approval of Minutes from 11/15/07

P. Mahoney made a motion to approve the minutes of November 15, 2006 as submitted. P. Korolov seconded this motion. All were in favor.

IX. Open Forum, Once Around for all Members

A. Goncarovs noted that the EA had passed their first formal resolution this year. He then asked T. Jacobs what she might need from us to help her through the writing of the next resolution on the Code.

P. Korolov suggested the ad hoc committee meet soon to draft the resolution. D. Goss said she would set up a meeting next week and those able to attend would be the ad hoc committee.

D. Stein commented on how we have had two meetings with the president in less than a week. He said he is truly amazed by this, and thinks this is such a good opportunity for the EA to be heard. The president needs to see that we are a productive group he can rely on to know of staff issues. We need to give him what he is looking for so he will continue to seek out this group for direction and guidance.

X. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1:32 p.m.