MINUTES
Employee Assembly Meeting
Wednesday December 5th, 2012
12:15 −1:30pm
401 Physical Science

1.  I. Call to Order

T. Grove called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m.

Present: J. Ambrosetti, N. Bell, R. Blanco, D. Brooks, A. Capogrossi, B. Cristelli, L. Croll Howell, B. Esty, C. Ferguson, T. Grove, M. Kitchen, E. Lee, G. Mezey, L. Morris, L. Sayam, M. Stafnski Seymour

Absent: J. Boodley Buchanan, G. Osborne, B. Schaffner

Also Present: L. Chappel-Williams, A. Epstein, C. Lender, Y. Levitte, A.T. Miller, A. O’Donnell

2.  II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There was one late addition regarding an update on the Faculty Senate added the agenda.

3.  III. Approval of Minutes from last meeting

T. Grove made a motion to approve the minutes. C. Ferguson seconded the motion and the EA unanimously approved the minutes from November 7, 2012.

4.  IV. Report from the Chair

4.1  a. E.S.T

T. Grove said the committee met on December 3 and have appointed a new chair of the committee, Beth McKinney. T. Grove then informed the members of the EA who are currently serving on the different survey committees they are now co-chairs of those committees. Each committee will be going back and specifically look at the survey comments to see if their recommendations are in line with the survey. The committees will then present their updated reports to B. McKinney who will bring the information to M. Opperman. B. Cristelli asked if the open forums will still be held by the committees. T. Grove answered yes but not until January after the committees have had time to meet and review their recommendations. T. Grove asked for any further comments or questions. B. Cristelli informed the EA many of the comments are very depressing and difficult to read. J. Abrosetti explained people who normally answer surveys are the unhappy part of the population. T. Grove also added that there are positive comments and a lot of the negative comments are similar which is good since then there are large items that can be addressed.

4.2  b. Leadership Breakfast

T. Grove said at the Leadership Breakfast they heard from Kathy Zoner and Mary Opperman regarding safety issues on campus. Much of the discussion was centered around students, specifically graduate students who live further away from campus where there is not sufficient bus services. The discussion of all of the assemblies will be occurring through the UA Infrastructure Committee so a collective proposal can be presented. Another issue the committee will be addressing is campus parking at night. J. Ambrosetti asked if the parking at night would include employees. T. Grove said it will as the issue is not just a problem for students but also for staff. The Infrastructure Committee will also be looking into busing issues.

5.  V. Old Business

5.1  a. Care Fund Auction

B. McKinney explained the CARE Fund used to be called the Emergency Grant Fund and was under the control of the EA. About four years ago, the Fund was moved out of the EA and into the Division of Inclusion and Work Force Diversity. There is an informal charter that makes it so that someone from the EA is on the CARE Fund Committee, whose primary responsibility is accepting applications. Currently, the fundraising to support the CARE fund has included two auctions. Last years auction raised $13,000 and the auction held in November 2012 raised $8,000. B. McKinney explained the need for more fundraising. The floor was then opened up for discussion.

T. Grove explained the CARE fund had approximately $40,000 in the account at one point but this was due to the very narrow scope that was allowed for applications. D. Brooks asked if the CARE Fund has always been individually funded or if the university can help out. B. McKinney said the university gave about twenty thousand at the beginning but has not contributed since the ownership of the CARE Fund changed about four years ago.

T. Grove said the main question to be addressed is who is the fundraising components of the CARE Fund? Also, is this a good time for the EA to take charge of the fundraising aspect of the CARE Fund? B. McKinney explained the fundraising committee is only as good as the people on it and currently there is no fundraising committee. Unfortuntely, the auction has fallen to one person, who is now completely exhausted. L. Morris asked if there could be a way to make it easier for employees to donate. B. McKinney said there is payroll deduction option available. G. Mezey suggested attempting to get large sponsorship.

C. Ferguson asked if the EA does create a fundraising committee for the Care Fund then is the EA responsible for the Care Fund debt as well? T. Grove said no that the committee would only be in charge of trying to gather money. C. Ferguson asked what it would take to make a standing committee for this in the EA. A. Epstein said it would have to be added to the bylaws but an ad hoc committee should be created first and allowed to run for a couple of years before adding the committee into the bylaws. He also suggested looking into the current EA committees, as there may be an EA committee that is not active but could be reactivated to work on fundraising for the Care Fund.

6.  VI. New Business

6.1  a. Vote on Election Resolution

C. Ferguson opened the floor for discussion. Upon hearing none he moved to call resolution to a vote. By a vote of 16–0−0 the resolution unanimously passed.

6.2  b. UA Report- G. Mezey

G. Mezey explained there have been two UA meetings since the EA last met. On November 13th, the UA had the Provost Fuchs and VP Elmira Mangum present the new budget model. He said basically they are looking to make sure they are assigning the costs appropriately to the colleges. He also said that the University Support Pool will be reallocated out based on needs. At the second meeting on November 27th the UA had the Student Assembly Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Ulysses Smith, come and share the SA’s new diversity plan. U. Smith encouraged the other assemblies to create diversity plans as well. Finally at the UA meeting they also had Kyu Whang come and discuss the results of the lighting survey. There are four projects that will be addressed in response to the lighting survey including the Space Science parking lot area and the walkway besides the Big Red Barn.

6.3  c. Education Committee Report — L. Sayam

L. Sayam said that the committee met for the first time since Resolution 1 was passed to expand the membership of the committee. They will be having their next meeting on December 10th where they will be discussing supervisory support for employees taking classes. One of the things the committee would like to do is create a listserv for the employees enrolled in classes so employees in similar situation can communicate with each other. Finally, the committee is trying to gather information to see if employees who have graduated have seen an increased income.

6.4  d. Infrastructure Committee Report — Brigitt Schaffner

R. Blanco presented for B. Schaffner. R. Blanco stated the committee discussed the TCAT buses. There have been a number of requests from students about the locations and the convenience of the TCAT bus system to some of the areas further away at the edges of campus. Finally, he said in regards to sustainability, the committee discussed the Revolving Green Fund. This is a program in which an initial amount of money is used to fund green projects on campus and the investment would be paid back through the savings from the green projects.

T. Grove informed the EA the EA Kudos has been updated online and the Pawprint will be acknowledging the Kudos winner each month.

6.5  e. Prep for meeting with Mary Opperman

This item was tabled until the next meeting. T. Grove asked if any EA members had questions they would like to ask M. Opperman to please email them to her.

6.6  f. January 2nd meeting

This item was tabled until next meeting.

7.  VII. Business of the Day

7.1  a. Forwards New Destinations — Lynette Chappell-Williams, A.T. Miller, and Yael Levitte

A.T. Miller began the presentation by introducing himself and the other presenters. He explained diversity makes our jobs better by introducing broader perspectives. The initial effort of the Forwards New Destinations is a structural effort. This will be the framework from which other things can happen. This will allow people to celebrate differences and not conform to a standard. Currently, it is an active process that has involved the formation of various groups around campus as well as reviving some of the diversity units. J. Ambrosetti asked how big of the pie is the metric of diversity on the performance of the deans and the provosts? A.T. Miller said this is not known as this process has just started but it will be determined in the upcoming year.

L. Chappell-Williams explained the group at Cornell University are also working with Cornell Weill in New York City. In terms of spreading the word, there are five Ithaca diversity officers and three Weill officers. Then there is a ground of ten people who meet monthly and share what they are hearing and what can be done to be more effectively. She then explained in further detail what groups have been delegated which responsibilities.

Finally, Y. Levitte explained each of the colleges was asked to come up with five measurable goals. The results were 158 initiatives from the twenty-seven colleges and units; however, there are four main diversity principles they would like to focus on. The four diversity principles are inclusion, engagement, composition, and achievement. G. Mezey asked how they feel about the results? Y. Levitte said in terms of the number of people on the campus the results were not bad; however, she would like to see more on the faculty side. A. T. Miller also explained the results are in terms of the number of initiatives but they are not a gauge of the effectiveness. B. Esty said the Board of Trustees should have this diversity goal as well so they can serve as an example. L. Chappell-Williams said there is a group that works with the trustees who meet twice a year and provides feedback regarding this issue.

Y. Levitte said in terms of the process the completed steps include the creation of the University Diversity web pages as of May 2012, the meeting for diversity initiatives, and in September they had the heads of the twenty-seven units come together and discuss the initiatives. The next step is to look at past initiatives and improve upon them and to work on communications. She said right now the question is how can the EA help with this. She encouraged the EA to communicate with other staff members and encourage people to participate and ask questions. She also suggested the creation of a diversity position in the EA. T. Grove explained the position already exists, with C. Ferguson currently filling the position. T. Grove informed the presenters there is a disconnect between the diversity initiatives and the employees. She said since so many of the initiatives are staff linked it is really difficult when there is such a large communication disconnect. A. T. Miller said people are learning and attempting to mend this issue but currently communication is one of the major items that the group is attempting to improve.

8.  VIII. Adjournment

The Employee Assembly meeting of December 5, 2012 was adjourned at 1:32 p.m.