Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
B16 Day Hall
Minutes

I. Call to Order

J. Seymour called the meeting to order at 12:17 p.m. He then called the roll.

Present- D. Brooks, P. Dongtoe, T. Grove, L. Croll Howell, L. Lawrence, L. Morris, G. Osborne, T. Ostrander, C. Philips, J. Seymour, G. Stewart

Absent-N. LaCelle, A. Mittman

Also attending - GPSA liaison Ben Heavner, Employee Trustee, Beth McKinney, A. O’Donnell, A. Epstein, K. Dessources, N. Doolittle

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

D. Brooks added one item to the agenda under Business of the Day. It was the new resolution to reallocate VP chair tasks.

III. Business of the Day

a) Open Discussion and Q & A with President Skorton & VP Opperman

J. Seymour introduced President Skorton and Mary Opperman and thanked them for coming.

President Skorton began by telling about his experience at commencement ceremony for 17 students at Cornell’s Medical School in Qatar. He explained this year was their third commencement, and for the first time since the program began, there were more men than women graduating. Due to cultural barriers; it is still hard for women to travel overseas to receive an education, which is why this program has been mostly female students. President Skorton concluded by explaining that since these students are part of the Cornell Medical School, many of them will be coming to the US for the big commencement ceremony.

President Skorton went on to thank the Employee Assembly. He said he greatly appreciates what how helpful and strong the staff have been through the process.

J. Seymour asked President Skorton what the roles of performing arts at Cornell are to him. President Skorton explained this is a rough time for the university, and there have to be changes in allocations. All departments in Arts and Sciences are looking at how to keep certain programs going with a limited budget. President Skorton the department has been given a big cut, but said he would not describe it as “devastating.”

Next, D. Brooks asked President Skorton if having less tenured faculty saves the university money? President Skorton answered that having less tenured faculty does not save the university money. At the beginning of the recession, Skorton and Opperman realized that the university had made financial commitments without guaranteed funds. Without making cuts, the university could have been at a 200 million dollar deficit. There were two choices: increase tuition or cut expenditures. Since Skorton was against the first, expenditure cuts had to be made.

J. Seymour asked President Skorton about the issue of poor delivery of cuts and layoff information from department staff to employees, and how this issue is being addressed. He specifically asked about the recent information passed down in the Russian department. President Skorton began by saying student’s interest in languages rises and falls. He explained anything related to Latino/Latina culture is huge. President Skorton explained he understands the bigger issue of the question has to do with communication. He explained he is concerned with the employees’ feelings and knows the university needs to work harder to find the level where people feel comforted even in the face of unfortunate news.

T. Ostrander said on the higher administrative level, there are concerns about communication to employees, there is also a breakdown of how things are communicated and made transparent. M. Opperman explained the higher up you are in communication, the easier it is to communicate. However, the closer you get to how the information impacts you, the more difficult it is to keep the conversation open and it’s harder to be transparent. T. Ostrander suggested continuous emphasis on open communication in all departments. President Skorton explained there is good dialogue in the central level as far as shared governance goes. However, there is no EA at the departmental level. J. Seymour explained the EA has plans for restructuring its membership so there are representatives from each unit in order to represent the entire university. President Skorton noted the Salary Improvement Pools are the same for faculty and staff.

J. Seymour’s next question to President Skorton was about the concept of “doing less with less”. Seymour asked how this will relay to EA members. M. Opperman said she does not like the saying “doing less with less”. She explained that department leaders have to make plans that balance the work with the people still working. President Skorton agreed with Mary that “doing less with less” is not a good phrase. He explained that despite the fact resources may be cut, the university is not “doing less”. Rather, President Skorton explained the university is completing the same amount of work, but with fewer people.

B. Heavner, GPSA representative, posed the next question to President Skorton. B. Heavner asked the president if there is a mechanism to get feedback on when cuts are affecting things. M. Opperman explained the only way is through hierarchical change through the vice president of the department. She explained that if there are concerns about poor communication of feedback, it can be called up through the governance process.

J. Seymour asked if President Skorton has any statement on future layoffs. President Skorton explained there will be an announcement about layoffs in a couple of weeks, but no big “wave” or exact number is known. M. Opperman added that next years numbers will not be any bigger then this years. The only uncertainty is New York State budget cuts. However, M. Opperman explained she cannot celebrate the fact there will not be many layoffs because there will still be layoffs.

Next, J. Seymour asked president Skorton if all task force reports had been received. President Skorton explained nineteen task force reports are done, and there is one to go. The Strategic Panning report is almost done, it just needs some fine-tuning. Lastly, Skorton explained the Bain report is on the web. All three of these will affect staff.

President Skorton thanked the EA again, and concluded the Q&A session.

b) Resolution to reallocate tasks of Vice Chair position

J. Seymour explained this resolution removes the charter definition that vice chair is also chair of the communications committee. The EA worked to make amendments to the resolution. L. Lawrence motioned to vote on the resolution, with the amendments. T. Grove seconded. J. Seymour called the name of each voting member — the resolution passed by a vote of 11–0−0.

IV. Report from Employee Elected Trustee

There was no report from the Employee Elected Trustee.

V. Report from UA Representative There was no report from L. Lawrence, the UA Representative.

VI. Report from GPSA representative

There was no report from Ben Heavner, the GPSA representative.

VII. Report from Faculty Senate Liaison

There was no report from the Faculty Senate Liaison.

VIII. EA Finance update

There was no finance update. The EA will look at the final budget at a future meeting

IX. Report from the Chair

J. Seymour took the opportunity to thank all the EA members for their service. He especially commended L. Lawrence, T. Ostrander, N. LaCelle and A. Mittman, who were leaving the EA.

X. Approval of Minutes-

a) May 5, 2010

The EA reviewed the May 5th minutes. Leon motioned to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded. The minutes for May 5th 2010 were approved by the EA Committee Reports.

b) Executive Committee

There was no executive committee report.

c) Staff Recognition & Awards

There was no Staff Recognition and Award Report

d) Communication

There was no communication report.

e) Personnel Policy

There was no personal policy report

f) Internal Operations

T. Grove explained N. LaCelle has agreed to be a UA Representative. If there are no objections, he can be appointed to this position. There were no objections by EA members.

Next, the EA debated on whether nominations for committee positions should be made at this EA meeting, or the next. N. LaCelle argued that nominations should not be made, because new EA members are not present. After discussing, the EA decided to hold off on nominations until the beginning of the next EA term.

g) University Benefits

There was no University Benefits report.

h) Employee Education

There was no employee education report.

XI. Cornell in Transition update

The Cornell in Transition update was part of the business of the day report.

XII. Cornell in Transition update

For the Cornell in Transition update, L. Morris said she heard recently that two 20-year employees were laid off in the Vet School.

XII. Old Business

There was no old business reported.

XIII. New Business

T. Grove explained the tentative date for the retreat is June 21st. Plans for the retreat include a campus tour, and a discussion with Charlie Walcott, the chair of the UA. T. Grove asked for location suggestions from EA members.

XIV. XIV. Open Forum

G. Stewart said he is working on “Staff Notes” and would like to have them put on the website.

XV. Open Forum

L. Lawrence announced he has begun to phase into retirement by working 4 shorter day workweeks until May 31, 2011, when he plans to retire from Cornell.

XV. Adjournment

T. Grove made a motion to adjourn the meeting. G. Stewart seconded. J. Seymour adjourned the meeting at 1:36 p.m.