IUPUI Staff
Council (SC)
Minutes
March 19, 2008 ~
Lilly Auditorium ~ 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Members and Guests Present: Emily Anne Anderson, Meghann Arnold,
Karen Best, Susan Cauble, Scott Cunningham, Gary Curto, Amy Fletcher, Margo
Foreman, Avis Frieson, Kristine Frost, Alicia Gahimer, Paul Galanti, Kimberley
Gibson, Nancy Gibson, Steven Gregurek, Deanna Hart, Natalie Harvey, Scott
Hemmerlein, Sue Herrell, April Hubbard, Wayne Husted, Brett Jackson, Leslie
Kidwell, Nancy Lemons, Brenda Leveque, Teresa McCurry, Maggie McFarlin,
Caroline Miller, Christine Padgett, Beverly Jane Schoening, Meagan Senesac,
Rachel Sipes-Salter, Pat Stites, Lee Stone, Becky Thacker, Kyle Torgerson,
Elizabeth Wager, Mabel Walker, Shannon Wise, Courtney Wooton, and Deborah Wyeth
Agenda Item I: Call to Order
IUPUI
Fist Vice President Sue Herrell called the meeting to order at 3:04 p.m.
Agenda Item II: Adoption of the Order of Business for the Day
The
Agenda was adopted as the Order for the Business of the Day.
Agenda Item III: [ACTION ITEM] Approval of the Minutes of the February
20, 2008, Meeting
Hearing
no objections, the SC February 20,
2008, minutes
stood as written and were entered into record.
Herrell recognized Anna Zufall for her work with the Staff Council. She has taken a new position outside the
university and her last day is April 15, 2008.
Herrell also announced the Membership Committee has appointed Jennifer
Taylor for Sue Jackson’s position with the Herron School of Art.
Agenda Item IV: Marrisa Irvine spoke about Take Back the
Night. Visit the Take Back the Night
website at www.iupui.edu/~save.
Agenda Item V: Presentation:
Indiana Blood Center (Valerie Morse, Field Representative, and Julie
Houseworth-Cruz, MD, Assistant Medical Director, of the Indiana Blood Center)
Dr.
Cruz gave a presentation on “Men Having Sex with Men Donor Deferral: The Legacy of GRID.” The presentation was a precursor of the Staff
Council Blood Drive on April 17, and how we are to address the issue of persons
who are not able to donate blood. 39,000
units of blood are needed each day. She iterated
that colleges and schools are the best places to receive blood donations as the
population at those locations are more diverse.
29% of the overall blood supply in Indiana comes from colleges and high
schools. How can we change the
discrimination of men having sex with men and not being able to give
blood? Sponsor a blood drive to create
awareness, collect signatures, continue to lobby the FDA, and involve
congressional leaders were just a few ideas suggested.
Questions:
1.
What
about herpes? That was to be ruled as
deferred, but no decision was ever made.
Dr. Cruz said the MSM is an easily identifiable category; however, it is
not as easy to define the population with possible herpes risk. The FDA has asked for continued testing
due. She indicated that black women are
also at greater risk for HIV and this is being looked at for possible
deferral. It is a medical/data clinical
judgment.
2.
Military
personnel are on the deferral list due to where they are located. How long are they being deferred? Dr. Cruz said they are deferred
indefinitely. The deferment also refers
to military personnel families if they are located on the base overseas. She indicated that the same problem is
associated with vegetarians who have been to Europe, but do not eat meat and
cannot get mad cow disease. They are not
able to give blood due to just being in Europe regardless of not eating
meat. Location plays a big part in the
decision to exclude a person from donation.
3.
If
we want to lobby the FDA, who do we contact?
Dr. Cruz said to contact www.fda.gov. CBER is the committee to address. You can read the transcript of the FDA
workshop on behavior based deferrals in the NAT era is http://www.fda.gov/cber/minutes/nat030806t.htm#7.
4.
Can
gay women give blood? Dr. Cruz
responded, “yes.”
5.
Dr.
Cruz suggested that MSM persons (who cannot be ruled out for any other reason)
fill out the deferral form, then wait two weeks and have them tested. The results should show their blood is good
and it would be a good measure showing how much blood could have been donated.
Agenda Item VI: Legislative Update (Amy Conrad Warner, Vice
Chancellor for External Affairs IUPUI, and JT Forbes, Vice President for Public
Affairs and Government Relations)
Warner
gave a few highlights from the current legislative session. Warner and Forbes both work with Public
Affairs and Government Relations. Johnny
Goldfinger, an SLA faculty member, is working on the Political Engagement
Project as part of a grant. The 7th
District debate was held on our campus last week due to that Project. Hoosiers Helping Democracy is another grant
through SPEA. Warner’s team works with
each political party. Indiana University
had four active legislative days at the statehouse. One day was set aside to highlight what we do
with graduate education. She mentioned
there is a working group on campus to prepare for the next legislative
session. That session will deal with the
biennium budget. Becky Thacker was a
member of that group. The group works to
designate bills to keep an eye on.
Forbes said the university has never taken a total leadership approach
to state relations as is being done at this time. The State Relations Office is located in
downtown Indianapolis in relation to the state capitol. The new tax proposal makes the state need
gaming revenue. The payroll increases we
receive next year may come in the form of property tax relief. Dual credit – universities and high schools
teaching courses for college credit – was looked at in this session as a way to
improve student performance and for high school students to appreciate the
challenges of college coursework before coming to campus. Another bill on property management shaped
the outcome of IUPUI as well. IUPUI owns
buildings that contain lead and this bill worked to clean up those
properties.
Questions:
1.
Husted
spoke about how IUPUI is reflected in the media. For instance the staff member who was under
review for reading a book that was viewed offensive to another staff member, as
well as the fight between the Jags mascot and the Oral Roberts mascot. Warner said Nuvo ran a story in November of an employment grievance on this
campus and whether the incident was an incident of workplace civility or if
persons have the right to read certain literature at IUPUI. The result of the case was (1) there cannot
be incivility in the workplace and (2) employees may read whatever they wish in
the workplace. There is more to the
story that cannot be spoken about at this time, but both parties in the case
feel they were not portrayed well in the media and their stories were not fully
told. The mascot issue cannot be
discussed as to why the incident occurred, but the video on the incident can be
viewed on YouTube.
2.
Where
can we find more information on legislative matters?
Warner’s website on legislative affairs
is on the IUPUI website under External Affairs.
http://www.iupui.edu/administration/extaff/govt/
3.
How
do we contact our legislators? Forbes
said if you want to use email to discuss issues on a personal level, it is much
better to use an email address other than IUPUI (e.g., Yahoo). The legislature sees the IUPUI domain’s usage
for education, not personal use. Warner
said to use non-university email, phone, and letterhead for personal
correspondence with legislators. You are
a voter and deserve to be heard.
Agenda Item VII: Report from the First Vice President
1.
Herrell
indicated there are 15 persons registered for the Staff Council Race for the
Cure team. 18 persons participated last
year and it is hoped to surpass that number this year.
2.
IUPUI
Poetry Contest. The poetry contest is in
its second year. It is for high school
students and is sponsored by Academic Affairs, Liberal Arts, and Barnes and
Noble Bookstores. Registrants are able
to receive an IUPUI scholarship if they register at IUPUI. March 29 is the awards ceremony (1-3 PM in
the Campus Center). The winners will
read their poetry at the awards.
3.
The
IUPUI Campus Plan is available on the Academic Affairs website. Many of the staff members participated on
action plan teams.
Agenda Item VIII: Reports submitted by Standing and Ad Hoc
Committees:
·
Bylaws: Avis Frieson, Chair, reported the committee was
looking at the definition of who sits on the Nominating Committee. The definition was described as
“coworkers.” Herrell tabled the decision
to the next SC-EC meeting.
· Communications: No report.
·
Diversity: Gary Curto, Chair, reported the committee will
send a flyer to the Staff Council on the Town Hall on Classism. He encouraged everyone to get the word out
about the meeting. The meeting is not
intended to be a grievance session, instead a way to come and open our minds
about where we fit with others in the community. Herrell said some feedback about the meeting
was the purpose and what we hope the outcome would be. Curto said the outcome is for people to learn
more about themselves and each other as the subject has some university appeal.
Marilyn Bedford, from Human Resources, will be the facilitator.
·
Membership: Herrell reported on Staff Council Awareness Week
(March 10-14). A table was set up in the
Campus Center outside Indiana Members Credit Union. A 10% discount was given to everyone who paid
with the JagTag for the entire week in honor of Staff Council. Concerns were collected from staff and have
been disseminated to the committee chairs.
There were giveaways as well as door prizes. 48 prizes were awarded. Herrell thanked the Staff Council members who
hosted the table.
·
Rewards
and Recognition: Christine Padgett,
Chair, reported the deadline for Bepko Staff Council Spirit Award was March
15. 24 nominations were received and the
committee is reviewing those to select winners.
·
Special
Events: Karen Best, Chair, emphasized
the importance of the Blood Drive on April 17. She suggested that as a Council,
we address the discrimination issue and take a stand in a positive way. One constituent has asked if we can consider
bone marrow registry. We may do the
registry at the next drive (after April 17).
There is a fee of $25 for testing of Caucasians. Kidwell asked if the registry is still part
of blood donation. Best thought it was
no longer an option as the two drives are separate. She asked everyone to pick up a flyer to post
in your area and encourage persons to register.
If our goal of 200+ pints is met, we will be the first drive to reach
that amount. Slinky’s will be available
for giveaways for those who donate – keeping in the theme of Spring into
Life. More information on the staff
retreat (July 25) will given next month.
·
Staff
Affairs: Wayne Husted, Chair, said the
committee is working on (1) fee courtesy, (2) bus passes on IndyGo (between 2K
and 2,500 passes have been issued to students, however, this doesn’t help staff
unless you are taking a class), and (3) the short-term disability issue. Staff members who are registered for classes
can obtain a student bus pass. Husted is
pursuing short-term disability through various insurance companies (such as
AFLAC) that can be taken out of our pay as pre-tax. He has found that this is not possible
through present university policy.
Agenda Item IX: Call for Reports from Other Committees
Leslie
Kidwell announced the Kelley School of Business is hosting the President of
Chick-fil-A with a seminar on how to be an effective leader. The seminar is at 6:00 p.m., in IT 152, on
March 25. Seating is limited, so arrive
early.
Agenda Item X: Report from Human Resources Administration
(Ellen Poffenberger, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Human Resources /
Chancellor’s SC Administrative Designee Alternate)
1.
Poffenberger
said she received an email from Dan Rives regarding short-term disability. Rives has sent a proposal listing five
companies who may be able to offer short-term disability as a “product” to
university employees.
2.
During
adverse weather, employees that live in locations that are not safe to drive
in, you are able to use income protection instead of vacation time.
3.
David
Bouton has left IUPUI for another company.
Two positions in Human Resources have become available due to this
change in staffing in HR.
4.
She
promoted the seminar on “When Generations Collide” which has been previously
mentioned. She promoted workshops this
spring on civility in the workplace that coincide with the town hall meeting
Curto mentioned under Committee Reports.
Maggie Stimming has put together a brown bad stress reduction
series. She also promoted the IndySaves
initiative on debt reduction and student employment.
Agenda Item XI: Report from the Chancellor’s Staff Council
Academic Designee
Galanti
encouraged the staff to attend the blood drive.
Agenda Item
XII: Report from IUPUI Faculty Council
Liaison
No
report.
Agenda Item XIII: Old Business
No
Old Business.
Agenda Item XIV: New Business / Announcements / Hot Topics
No
New Business.
Agenda Item XV: Adjournment
First
Vice President Herrell adjourned the meeting at 5:07 p.m.
Minutes
prepared by Staff Council Coordinator, Karen Eckert
UN
403 / 274-2215 / Fax: 274-2970 / scouncil@iupui.edu / http://www.iupui.edu/~scouncil