IFO Board of Directors Meeting
October 27-28, 2005 APPROVED
Present: Wayne Alexander, Mike Ruth, Cathy Summa, Mary Kesler, Gwen Griffin, Cindy Killion, Steve Bohnenblust, Sonja Meiers, George Seldat, Gerald Toland, Jayantha Herath, Ruth Zietlow, Becky Omdahl, Annette Schoenberger, Judy Kilborn, Andrew Larkin, Dave Larkin, Rose Weaver, Derek Webb, Roger Severns (replacing Georgia Holmes), Cindy Phillips.
Not Present: Georgia Holmes
Also Present: Cindy Finch (taking minutes), Russ Stanton, Patrice Arseneault (Friday only), Wil Harri (Friday only), Frank Conroy (Friday only)
Negotiating Team Members Present 9:30 a.m. Friday: Gary Starr, Brent Jeffers, Jim Grabowska, Bill Langen, Rod Henry, Matt Hyle and Chris Brown.
Approval of September 15/16 Minutes:
A motion was made to approve the minutes. Carried
Report on e-Vote LOUS:
Continuous Health Coverage (Open Enrollment): We were asked to seek outside council on this health assessment survey. Connie Howard advised us that there was no reason why we should not sign the LOU. However, it was important to ask why they need this information and what are they using this for? The Negotiating Team recommended that the Board approve this LOU. If we did not approve this LOU then we would not have been able to participate in Open Enrollment; there was pressure to sign the LOU. The health survey was administered by Preferred One. There was no increase in health premiums this year however if you do not complete the survey the co-pay will increase by $5 for you and your dependents. The survey is voluntary. A lot of faculty have expressed reservation about the survey. We have signed the LOU. If you think we need to distribute more information, please let us know. This LOU was approved by a majority Board vote.
Deceased Faculty Severance LOU:
This has been reviewed and recommended by the Negotiating Team. We are waiting to hear back from MnSCU. They had an issue with a statute that might prohibit this LOU from taking effect. This is a generic LOU that will be a uniform policy that would apply to the spouse of anyone who needed to receive severance pay whose spouse is deceased. We will follow-up on this. This LOU was approved by a majority Board vote.
Penny Fellowship Dinner:
The Penny Fellowship Board are meeting here tomorrow night, October 28, and we
have 8 seats available. Two GRC people are attending with their spouses. We
may have three seats available. Contact Russ if you would like to attend.
BOT Update:
The Trustees Advisory Council (TAC) is composed of 24 members and they are political appointments. The first meeting was last week and 13 members were present. The MnSCU Board has four upcoming openings from Trustees who are expiring. We expect Will Antel will seek reappointment. The 2004 Trustees Advisory Council recommended 16 names to the Governor and only one was chosen. Nancy Black has been asked to suggest names. We cannot have a present faculty member but we can recommend a retired faculty member. It requires a substantial time commitment. Send your suggested nominations to Cindy Finch so that the individuals can receive information and an application. Nancy Black serves on the TAC which meets again on January 6. Nancy suggested current BOT members tell them about the position.
Centers of Excellence:
Thank you to everyone who participated in this, especially Jayantha Herath who served for the Board and Mary Kesler who went though the review process - also Cathy Summa, Cindy Phillips and Becky Omdahl who came to the Board of Trustees meeting. It was important that faculty were there. They made recommendations and it became very political behind the scenes. There were only four actual awards given. We are still hearing about COE because the governor thinks this is a good idea. It was legislated and the Board of Trustees did not follow the legislative language which also included a teaching center. MnSCU, Linda Baer and SU Presidents worked hard for that and the BOT dismissed it. We are getting a lot of pressure from MnSCU to have faculty participate with negotiations in session it was not the right time to speak up. We need to be more vigilant in our participation. We’ll keep you posted. Please send feedback from faculty.
D2L Review Committee:
You may recall that, thanks to Cathy Summa, we had a flurry of notices that D2L was not performing the way it was supposed to. We took this to our September 30 Meet and Confer. Barbara Keinath from Metro came and she explained the problems we are having as a system to the Chancellor. Barbara agreed to co-chair this ad hoc committee. IFO Board members were given the report summary from the D2L Review Committee.
When we went to the Board of Trustees meeting on October 18th the D2L Review Committee report did not go forward; Ken Niemi informed Nancy that he had just received the report and the recommendations seemed sound but he had to review them thoroughly first. Nancy talked to Niemi today and he hopes to have a preliminary response out by Friday, October 28. Nancy will send out the next report to the Board.
They still have not reinstated a lot of the D2L features that faculty built their syllabi around and we are still having problems. Nancy plans to forward all necessary information to the FA Presidents. The Board members who were present for the MnSCU Board of Trustees Technology Committee report heard the severity of the situation. The D2L flow seems to have stabilized; the IT staff is understaffed. They are working around the clock.
Cathy Summa had a good experience with Ken Niemi and thinks he is a good person to handle our issues. There are short term and long term problems and issues that we foresee. Debra said they are really encouraging people to use D2L and it is becoming a problem. Until we have some assurance that the system is stable, we should not be moving forward with D2L.
What are the implications of MnSCU asking for more IT funding? According to MnSCU, they want our system to be the premier online university for the nation. MnSCU is pouring a load of money into D2L. A Trustee asked why aren’t we marketing ISRS? Niemi responded that it is obsolete (here is an example of an uninformed BOT).
An IFO Board member questioned if it is possible that we recommend rapid movement to form regional mini-subsystems to deal with the scalability issue. Why does MnSCU want a central system for this? Nancy said it would be appropriate to bring that to our next Meet and Confer.
We’d like to see our administration treat their infrastructure systems in the same way they treat faculty. We have been complaining about this for two years because D2L has demonstrated that it is not adaptable. Do any other institutions have issues with D2L..allies…cc/tc? They don’t seem to be actively involved and we aren’t getting much support. If this is as bad as we are hearing, where the faculty are not able to accomplish what they need and our reputation is at stake (we are inadequate), what’s wrong with saying, “No, we won’t use a defective system to provide courses to our students until it’s fixed!” Maybe we should give MnSCU a timeframe to repair the D2L system and if it doesn’t happen we will discourage faculty from using it?
We need to give them specific problems and we need to keep the pressure up. If we don’t use D2L we have no alternative to offer programs in the spring.
Academic Affairs Report:
Debra referred to her written report in the packets as well as a letter dated August 29, 2005 written by Larry Oveson, MSCF President. This MSCF letter dealt with the issue of Designed for Learning in which the point was made that intellectual property implications need to be reviewed and resolved before moving forward with this MnSCU initiative. More information on this is detailed below.
IFO Academic Affairs Committee:
The Committee met on Friday, September 23, at the IFO. Mitch Rubenstein, Office of the Chancellor, attended and discussed plans/procedures for planning the applied doctorate. The differences between the PhD and the applied doctorate were discussed. MnSCU’s expectation is that when ever possible there will be collaboration among the state universities (e.g., nursing). The AAC asked whether there was the technology capacity to support quality collaborations and/or online programs. The AAC expressed concern about insuring the quality of applied doctoral degree programs, particularly because new money is not available for planning or implementing these programs. The AAC believes that local decision making about the applied doctorate belongs in the hands of faculty, that the MnSCU Graduate Council should have an active voice and leadership role in decision-making, and that the IFO and the AAC should act in a watchdog capacity to insure accountability.
The AAC also discussed the Designed for Learning (aka “Twigg” project). The AAC is concerned as to whether MnSCU has the capacity through D2L to support these projects. The AAC endorses the letter written by Larry Oveson, president MSCF, articulating his concerns about this project.
Other issues discussed included D2L. The AAC expressed interest in discussing the following at future meetings: PSEO, articulation agreements, the transfer of D grades, and the offering of upper-division courses by two-year institutions.
Task Force on Graduate Education
This group continues to work in sub-committees via phone conference calls. Drafts from each subcommittee’s work are being completed (groups are: quality, collaboration and competitive advantage, scope and need, and resources and contract issues).
The survey on graduate education at the state universities is up and running. Faculty can take the survey from 8 am on October 24, 2005 through 12:01 am on November 5, 2005. There was some problem conveying the web-site address to faculty at SCSU. A reminder note will be sent to FA presidents to distribute to their faculty around November 1st.
To take the survey, faculty were instructed to go to:
www.hrdc.org/cgi-bin/rws3.pl?FORM=survey_of_faculty_at_state_universities_draft&UID=328d64a1120267a4
After the survey is complete, the responses will be analyzed. A face-to-face meeting date of the entire task force has not yet been finalized.
Graduate Council:
The Council met on September 16th to discuss only doctoral education. Discussion centered around the differences between a “capstone experience” and a dissertation, how and where to insure quality of proposed doctoral programs, assessment of programs and institutional accreditation. The Higher Learning Commission will require a change in institutional status for those state universities conferring any doctoral degrees. Institutions that are collaborating on a doctoral program but not conferring the degree do not have to seek a change in affiliation status. But any state university that will confer a doctoral degree will have to have a site visit. Additionally, there was discussion on whether state universities that plan to confer doctoral degrees should have a dedicated graduate office.
The Graduate Council will meet again on November 4th. Other dates scheduled for FY06 are January 27, and April 14.
NCAT/CTL Designed for Learning Pilot Program (aka the “Twigg” project):
CTL and NCAT held its first informational meeting on the Designed for Learning Pilot Program at the Minneapolis C and TC on October 24th. According to the List of Participants, 31 people registered (although 36 were reported later to have registered), 17 for state universities. Fourteen institutions had representatives, including 6 state universities (all but BSU) and 8 two year institutions. Disciplines represented were: math (SU, TC, CC), communication studies (SU and CC), biology (SU), chemistry (SU), office technology (TC/CC), information media (SU), English (SU, TC/CC), natural sciences (CC), ETS (SU) and Spanish (CC).
Applications of interest, with the institution’s response to the Course Readiness Criteria, are due December 2nd. Applications must include a representative who attended the October 14th meeting. Watching the streaming video does not replace attendance at the October 14th meeting.
A committee will review the applications and issue invitations for a mandatory meeting on January 27th. Final proposals will be due on March 24t, 2006. Awards will be announced on April 7, 2006. Planning and development will take place from April-July 2006, with implementation of the pilot projects scheduled for fall semester 2006.
In addition to the concerns outlined by Larry Oveson, MSCF president, we are concerned about whether D2L has the capacity to support these projects. While there have been statements that D2L is not the only technology that could be used for course re-design it was evident to Debra that this is the primary technology that will be used.
Debra will be sending Nancy Black the list of registered participants and a summary statement based on Larry Oveson’s concerns.
MnSCU Transfer Steering Committee:
The Committee met on October 21st. Debra was unable to attend. FY06 meetings for the Steering Committee include: January 20, and April 28. Academic forgiveness policy was discussed. We told Mike Lopez we would not support this initiative.
CLEP Meeting:
Annette Schoenberger gave a report to the Board of a October 21 meeting she and Monte Bute (Metropolitan State University) attended. During the last legislative session, three pieces passed pertaining to CLEP. All three concern payment of fees when high school students take tests that possibly earn them college credit. Of concern at this meeting was M.S. 120B.131, Article 2 Sec. 16 and Sec. 84.
The specific concern was a discussion of the cut score for acceptance of credits from the College Level Examination Program (CLEP).
Annette’s recommendation is that we leave the cut score at 50(C) and use the Admitted Class Evaluation Service (ACES) to determine in subsequent years whether or not the score should be adjusted up or down.
Rational: Currently most MnSCU schools give credits for CLEP exams with scores over 50. So, using 50 would not be difficult or cause any upheavals.
Using scores below 50 without validation would set the students up for failure. The last thing we want to do is place entering freshman in classes they are likely to fail.
Using scores above 50 without validation may not be fair. While it does not have the effect of setting the students up for failure it does have fairness problems for the traditional CLEP student.
Current data from CLEP indicates that only 10% of the test takers nation wide and 7% of the test takers in Minnesota are below the age of 19. This indicates that data about subsequent performance of the test takers cannot be extrapolated to those below the age of 19.
Government Relations Report:
Russ emailed his report earlier to Board members this week. Russ briefly reviewed the report.
The Governmental Relations Committee is scheduled to meet for the first time this year on November 3rd and 4th. There is less urgency this year with the start of the legislative session pushed back until March 1, 2006. Four areas that the committee will likely focus on are ratification of the IFO contract, the bonding bill (the legislature normally passes a bonding bill on even-numbered years), and higher education funding reform (per Board discussion last meeting), and a supplemental budget request to the 2006 legislature. Since the bonding bill and higher education funding reform issues also fall within the purview of the IFO Budget Committee, the GRC will be meeting jointly with the Budget Committee on November 3rd and 4th.
Higher Education Funding Reform:
Higher education funding reform is a much studied topic these days. Last year the legislature repealed much of the higher education funding formula, effective at the end of this biennium (June 30, 2007). There are a variety of efforts going on regarding higher education funding reform. The Minnesota Higher Education Services Office has initiated several studies that impact on this issue.
In addition, MnSCU is conducting its own review of its sources of revenue (state appropriations, tuition, federal funding, private giving, contracted services, etc.) and is developing proposals for a new revenue model. There are no faculty representatives on this study group. The Board asked Russ if he could look into getting faculty on this committee.
Russ will be urging the GRC and Budget Committees to focus on this issue and develop recommendations to the IFO Board for our organizational positions on this topic. The GRC and Budget Committees will be meeting with HESO and MnSCU officials to review what they are doing, and he will be monitoring their activities as well.
Bonding 2006:
In even-numbered years the legislature focuses on a capital bonding bill to build, improve, and repair capital facilities (usually buildings) across the state. The biggest recipient of capital bonding appropriations in recent years has been MnSCU. Board members were given a list of proposed MnSCU projects, which in next year’s request will total $274,661,000. All of the state universities have either major projects or planning money for projects that would be funding in the next bonding bill. For a more complete description of the projects visit: http://www.budget.state.mn.us/budget/capital/2006/prelim/295705.pdf
The House and Senate Capital Investment committees have begun statewide tours to study project requests. Russ sent out copies of tours conducted in October, and will continue to send out tour information as future tours are scheduled.
Supplemental Appropriations Request:
MnSCU is contemplating a supplemental budget request to the 2006 legislature. During the first (odd-numbered) year of the biennium, the legislature sets the operating budgets for state agencies for two years. In the second year of the biennium the legislature often makes mid-course adjustments to the budgets (both positive and negative). At the October meeting of the MnSCU Trustees, Vice Chancellor Laura King presented ideas for a supplemental budget request for three areas: centers of excellence expansion, technology (including MN Online expansion), and energy cost increases. The Board expressed an interest in developing the supplemental requests (with the exception of the centers of excellence expansion) for further consideration at the next Board meeting.
IFO President Nancy Black testified that a supplemental budget request was a good idea, but there should be different priorities. She distributed information from the Bureau of Labor statistics that showed that the projected fastest growing job categories (numerically, when both new positions and replacements are taken into consideration) were registered nurses, teachers, and managers—good paying jobs that state universities prepare students to fill. She stated that MnSCU should be seeking resources to expand capacity in these areas.
The political context of the supplemental budget request is important. There are only three years out of every twenty years that the entire legislature and the governor are up for re-election—2006 is one of those years. Neither party has a very strong grip on the House or Senate or the Governor’s Office. The legislators and the governor are quite unpopular these days because of the chaos of the last legislative session, and many are looking for ways to redeem themselves with voters. State revenues are coming in better than anticipated. This adds up to a good atmosphere to seek additional appropriations.
Retirement Report:
Russ finished his retirement campus workshops and individual meetings on September 30th. The turnout was high this year, and it is evident that the predicted rapid turnover of faculty due to retirement has begun. About 200 faculty attended individual meetings for faculty nearing retirement, and about 170 new faculty attended meetings to help them choose between IRAP and TRA as their basic pension plan.
IRAP, SRP, and TSA Plan Vendor Selection:
MnSCU has begun a process to reorganize the Supplemental Retirement Plan (SRP), Individual Retirement Account Plan (IRAP), and Tax Sheltered Annuity (TSA) plan and to select new investment options under these plans. IFO should pay attention to this process because vendors and investment options under these plans are likely to change, and faculty may lose access to some of the current vendors (TIAA-CREF, the State Board of Investment, and Wells Fargo) and investment funds (on the bright side, they may gain access to other good funds). In most cases, if the fund lineup is changed, faculty will have to move their funds to the new vendors and funds, or the funds will be moved (mapped) to the new funds by MnSCU.
On October 10, 2005, MnSCU published a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a single record keeper that will provide recordkeeping and informational services for the three programs (SRP, IRAP and TSA). The deadline for proposals is November 7, 2005, and a new record keeper will be chosen by January 9, 2006. One of the motivations of a single record keeper is that participants would have one place to go (one stop shopping) for issues relating to their IRAP, SRP, and TSA plans.
The second part of the part of the process is that the State Board of Investment will select investment funds that will be offered under the plan. This will take place on March 9, 2006. The implementation date for the newly reorganized plan is July 1, 2006.
The structure of the investment fund offerings will change substantially under the MnSCU proposal. Currently the fund lineup consists of a total of 23 funds: seven offered by the State Board of Investment (SBI), ten offered by TIAA-CREF, and six mutual funds offered by Wells Fargo. The current lineup consists of an array of asset types (fixed interest, money market, bonds, balanced funds, stock, growth and international funds) with the vendors offering competing funds in each asset category. The new fund lineup will offer six asset categories, with an active and passively managed fund in each category. The categories include: Large Cap Blend, Mid-Cap Blend, Small Cap Blend, Balanced, Fixed Income, and International Equity. In addition, there would be a stable value fund. There would be a single fund provider (vendor) in each category.
The proposed new fund structure looks remarkably like the fund lineup of the State Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP) run by the Minnesota State Retirement System, and from all appearances the new plan specifications were tailored with the MSRS DCP model in mind. The MSRS DCP does offer an impressive line-up of Vanguard index funds and brand name mutual funds at very low fees, but there would be some serious consequences of such a change, including:
In the October issue of the IFO Update Russ published an article on the vendor selection that MnSCU is undertaking, and he urged concerned faculty to voice their concerns to Gary Janikowski, MnSCU Personnel Director, who is coordinating this project; Tom Fauchald and Gloria McVay, who are IFO’s representatives on the DCR Advisory Committee, and to the FA Presidents, who can represent faculty concerns to the Chancellor and MnSCU at Meet and Confer.
There was an outpouring of concern from faculty following the distribution of his Update article. Faculty concerns centered mainly on their desire to keep TIAA-CREF as an option under the retirement plans. A few people expressed concern over the possible loss of the State Board of Investment (SBI) accounts. Mainly, the message from faculty was they didn’t like MnSCU messing with their retirement funds.
What can the IFO Board do? The most important thing we need to communicate to faculty is that it is MnSCU—not IFO—that is initiating this project. IFO does not control this process, and it is not subject to negotiations. Our role is advisory. The reason Russ wrote the article in the Update was to provide a mechanism for the members to make their views known to the people who will make this decision. The IFO Board can express its position to the Executive Committee, who in turn can express the organizations position to the Chancellor and MnSCU. The IFO Board can also send its position to the IFO representatives who are on the DCR Advisory Committee.
In defense of MnSCU, Russ stated that they have to bid these vendor contracts—the current contracts are expiring. MnSCU cannot predetermine whether a particular vendor will be in the line-up in advance—that would destroy competition and be unfair to other bidders.
However, this process of selecting vendors is highly subjective. It involves not just who has the lowest fees or the highest rates of return—it involves the type of funds offered, customer satisfaction with service, and relationships with the vendors (many faculty said they had career-long relationships with TIAA-CREF or the SBI, and they were highly satisfied with their service and returns).
Russ’ main concern about the MnSCU selection process is that the proposed fund structure (the type of funds they say must be offered) will exclude some types of funds that are currently offered and used by members, such as the real estate fund, inflation linked bond fund, and TIAA Traditional Annuity (which has a withdrawal penalty). Russ’ concern is also that the RFP specifies there can be only one fund offering in each fund category, which would reduce competition on an on-going basis. MnSCU does control the fund structure and it can offer more (or less) funds than it is proposing. There is still time for MnSCU to change the fund structure—the fund vendors will not be selected until next March. If IFO wants a different lineup of fund types, we should speak up now, while there is still time for MnSCU to make changes.
Finally, Russ learned from Gary Janikowski that the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) will not be a bidder in the RFP process. While Janikowski says that the new system was not designed around the MSRS DCP model, Russ attended numerous meetings where that was exactly what was discussed. Russ is not saying that was bad (he thinks the MSRS DCP plan is a very well designed plan), he’s just saying MnSCU’s denials are not true.
We need to pick our DCR representatives carefully. MnSCU seems to be back-peddling and realize they have a problem. MnSCU can cancel this bidding process at any time. How do we go about modifying this structure so we don’t exclude the funds faculty want? Russ had some suggested positions for the Board. If MnSCU holds the funds, are there any implications for us? MnSCU can move the funds and can force you to move them to somewhere else. For our position, if TIAA-CREF disappears, that would hurt us in recruiting and that is another concern. We need to forward these concerns to Gloria McVay. This needs to be brought to our next Meet and Confer. Board members made suggestions to Russ based on Russ’ following positions for IFO’s consideration:
This position should be communicated to the DCR Advisory Committee, to the Chancellor through meet and confer, to the State Board of Investment, and if necessary, to the MnSCU Board of Trustees.
It was moved in support of position. There was discussion on trusts owned or individually owned. Carried without opposition
Motion to support that those accounts continue to be individually owned vs. held in trust by MnSCU. Carried without opposition.
A motion to support option 3. Carried with opposition
“Found Money”:
One of the interesting things that came out in DCR Advisory Committee meetings in the last year is that there is over a million dollars of unclaimed funds in the Supplemental Retirement and IRAP plans. This is money that results from the fact that some members moved and left what is usually small accounts are behind. Despite diligent efforts by MnSCU to locate the owners of these accounts, including trying to trace them by Social Security number, the owners cannot be found. It is believed that in most cases the owners may be deceased. Who should get this money that continues to pile up? The DCR Advisory Committee decided that the money should be used to offset administrative fees that are charged to members (with a reserve kept in case some of the owners do turn up). There is enough money to offset the fees for about a year. MnSCU seems open to doing this, but they say it will require a change in statute. Russ will be taking this issue to the GRC to see if they want IFO to pursue such a change next session.
Campus Assistance Training:
The training was conducted on September 30 – October 1 at the Radisson Roseville. You may have read about this in the October issue of the Update newsletter. The workshop was an overwhelming success. The 40 people who attended the training completed evaluations for every session. The staff worked very hard and Nancy thanked everyone who participated. The sense was that we need to continue training at the campus level.
IFOSA Pension Plan:
At the last Board meeting in September we brought this item before you. We discovered the IFOSA had not been consulted so it was redirected to the EC for review and recommendation. The proposed changes bring the pension plan document in-line with the IFOSA/IFO contract defining the number of hours (800) at which an employee becomes eligible for the pension contributions. Russ Stanton, IFOSA Co-Chair, was consulted and gave his approval for the changes. The Executive Committee reviewed the changes proposed in Articles 1.04 and 2.08, which dealt solely with the definition of an employee at 800 hours, and recommended that the Board approve this change.
A motion was made to approve the changes recommended by the Executive Committee. Carried
Recess 9:20 p.m. 10/27
Reconvened 8:35 a.m. 10/28
Investment Committee:
We have three volunteers: Mike Young (Mankato), Michael Sher (Metro), and Rajiv Kalra (Moorhead). Tabled until next board meeting until we can determine if current IFO Treasurer Annette Schoenberger will be elected as the SCSU board member. Carried
Center for Teaching and Learning Steering Committee:
We have three vacancies we have four volunteers: Tim Kroeger (Bemidji), John Eller (Southwest), Cathy Summa (Winona) and Stewart Ross (Mankato). We’ve talked about who would be an appropriate representative for this committee and we want someone who is involved in the CTL on their campus. FA Presidents were asked to explain the involvement of their volunteers. A private ballot vote was taken. Results: Cathy Summa (Winona), Stewart Ross (Mankato) and Tim Kroeger (Bemidji) were elected to this committee.
CTL Designed for Learning Advisory Committee:
We have four vacancies on this taskforce and five volunteers: Cathy Summa (Winona), Elizabeth Dunn (Bemidji), Dave Warne (St. Cloud), Kathryn Kelley (Metro), and Sharon Kabes (Southwest). FA Presidents were asked to explain the qualifications of their volunteers. A private ballot vote was taken. Results: Cathy Summa (Winona), Elizabeth Dunn (Bemidji) and Sharon Kabes (Southwest) were elected to this committee. Debra Japp was also appointed to the fourth position.
Desire2Learn Advisory Committee:
This is a committee that has already met this year. This is an important committee that gives us feedback on D2L for our campuses. We have one vacancy and four volunteers: Eugene Lundak (Winona), Rich Josephson (St. Cloud), Sue Cutler (Bemidji), Tanya McCoss-Yerigan (Southwest). FA Presidents were asked to explain the qualifications of their volunteers. A private ballot vote was taken. Results: Rich Josephson at SCSU was elected to this committee.
Associate Degrees Taskforce:
This taskforce will deal with issues of transfer and this is dealing with the technical colleges and articulation agreements.
We need people with backbone on this committee. It is important to our students and faculty. We have three vacancies and three volunteers: Barb Hanus (Bemidji), Michael Chang (Southwest), and Dave Warne (SCSU). It was moved we appoint all three including Debra Japp in our fourth position. Carried
College Readiness:
We received a memo from Linda Baer requesting faculty involvement in two areas. One is to review the work of the Joint Math Preparedness Committee. The second is for 9 faculty members (three from each area – reading, writing and mathematics) to participate in the Minnesota Education Partnership. We are having problems because MnSCU is requesting volunteers that they are also recommending. We need Mathematics faculty to review the work of the Joint Math Committee. We need to send Linda a letter that says you don’t choose our faculty. It was moved that we send a letter that says, “Follow the contract. We are the exclusive representatives.” The motion was seconded. Alexander stated if these people are willing to serve we should consider them. Killion suggested that this be a meet and confer item.
Academic Affairs Coordinator:
Debra Japp stated that she is willing to serve another two year term. It is acceptable for her to do that in accordance with the Operating Procedures. Alexander wants to open the nominations to see if anyone else is interested. Kilborn stated it would be to our advantage to keep Debra in this position as there are a lot of hot issues on her plate. We have a new internal taskforce called the Staff Structure Taskforce who will be addressing the issue of our Academic Affairs Coordinator. At this time we don’t know how we’ll choose to restructure this position. It has to be someone who can get to the Twin Cities weekly. It was moved to reappoint Debra Japp to another two year position. Carried with one opposed
Contract Discussion:
Move into Executive Session with staff present 9:30 p.m.
Negotiating Team Members Present: Gary Starr, Brent Jeffers, Jim Grabowska, Bill Langen, Rod Henry, Matt Hyle and Chris Brown. John Tesch was unable to be here.
Executive Session move out of Carried
A motion was made to report out the motion and discussion. Carried
The Board passed and recommended the tentative agreement to the faculty and call for a vote from the IFO membership. Carried
We started the negotiations process eight months ago. We are pleased to present this to you, a good economic settlement without major changes to the contract. Most of our members are gong to get a 1.35% increase across the board, returning faculty will get one step and the next year another 2.4% increase; straight across the board a total of 6.1%. It is hard to make a direct comparison to other union settlements in the state. The main change is we made it easier and have clarified the use of their professional travel money. Not a lot of language changes were made. Adjunct faculty will not receive a pay increase.
Can we talk about this at a Meet and Confer - the attitude of the MnSCU negotiating team? They are often dismissive toward our proposals. We want to give that information to the Chancellor.
FA Presidents were asked to give Cindy Finch the times and locations for their campus contract meetings.
The vote will be held on Wednesday, November 16. FA Presidents were given ballots for each IFO member, economic summaries for each faculty member, and a summary of all the language changes for each department in accordance with the IFO Operating Procedures. Our best guess is that faculty could see the increase in their January 20, 2006 paycheck.
Labor Relations:
Frank Conroy gave a grievance report. Frank stated that every time he meets with Chris Dale, Chris makes an issue that we, the IFO, have taken away too many of MnSCU’s management rights and they want them back. That is also their posture in bargaining. Regarding Article 22, if we don’t enforce the contract on the campuses then you don’t have a contract. There have been very few minor changes in Article 22, the changes deal with timelines and not the substance of the contract. It relates to all personnel decisions in the contract. Frank conducted a workshop in Southwest. If any one requires you to meet one of the five criteria - that’s closure. As a faculty member you have to demonstrate that you’ve met the criteria. With that Frank suggested that at the next local Meet and Confer you bring up the issue of closure. Frank has been hearing administrators are pushing for publications and ways for dealing with the criteria. Frank stated he can help you enforce the contract but it needs to happen on your local campus too. We have two similar grievances at Mankato and Moorhead and Frank suggested to arbitrate these both at the same time in an effort to save time and money. Frank will talk to both faculty associations and see if they are willing to do that.
Regarding a Southwest withdrawn grievance, you don’t put expectation letters in a personnel file unless you intend to do something that would result in discipline. Encourage faculty to review their personnel file and know what is logged in their file. It serves a useful purpose when documents appear in the file when you don’t know about them. If you have a concern with something in your file, let your FA president know and we will review it with you. People are reluctant to file a grievance but the local association can craft something so the person isn’t directly involved. If you need help with that, please let me know. If you have examples of faculty who have resigned then have rescinded their resignation, please let me know so we have something for the arbitrator to illustrate past practice. Cindy Phillips requested that Frank send an email to the FA Presidents and the grievance officers. Judy asked Frank to email her a copy of what she sent to John Palmer (a new grievance).
Frank reminded the Board that there is a number of ways we can help each other. We put on a number of workshops. Since the last board meeting, Frank has been on three campuses: Metro for new librarians, and SW article 22, and Bemidji on shared governance re: PELRA. There is a lot of expertise available and if we, the IFO staff, can’t provide it, we will find a way to provide it. Use the people who have the expertise.
Frank suggested that at the state Meet and Confer we get the Chancellor committed to pushing arbitrations faster (expedited arbitrations and regular arbitrations); we need to give the Chancellor a list of those grievances.
Nancy asked about the status of the LOU for severance payment for deceased faculty. Wil reported that the LOU has been signed and forwarded to MnSCU staff for review. They have been advised by the Attorney General’s office about a statute for wages paid to a spouse for a state employee. Wil and Russ are pursuing this with Chris Dale. It is important because it amounts to about $10,000 in tax savings for this person who prompted the creation of the LOU.
Equity Report:
Pat gave a report and touched on a few of the grievances. Non renewal issue discussions are taking place on a Metro grievance. This happened on or after July 15. The campus calendar would have required a decision be made prior to July 15.
BET:
The Benefits Equity Taskforce will meet at the IFO on Friday, November 18, 2005.
FIC:
The Feminist Issues Committee will hold its fall meeting at the IFO on Friday, November 11, 2005. The FIC needs to elect a representative to the BET.
Salary Equity:
FY05 Annual Review: The SRC will meet on November 8 and December 12 to conduct the FY05 Annual Reviews of new hires and faculty who received a terminal degree between October 1, 2003 and October 1, 2004. At these meetings, the SRC also will re-evaluate faculty in the FY03 and FY04 Review who were missed or who identified mistakes in their data. A list will be sent shortly of the faculty included in this review of FY05. We can also post that information on our website.
GLBTA Issues Committee:
The Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender and Allies Issues Committee met on September 23, 2005 on the Moorhead campus. Special guests at the GLBTA committee meeting included MnSCU’s new Director of Multiculturalism and Diversity Whitney Harris, MSUM President Roland Barden and several members of Moorhead’s administration.
The committee elected Richard Adler, Moorhead representative, as Chair for 2005-06, and Anne Aronson, Metropolitan representative, as Recording Secretary.
The committee will seek to initiate a GBLT issues Web site that would report on student groups and campus activities, and would be a place to share information on campus problems, and on topics such as safe zones and curriculum. Committee members will be looking for groups of students who may be able to work and maintain the site.
The GLBTA will explore hosting a GLBT faculty caucus at the 2006 Delegate Assembly, likely after the dinner banquet on Friday, March 24. Also the committee is interested in planning a GLBT faculty conference, perhaps during the 2006-07 academic year, and will take that issue up in more detail at future committee meetings.
The committee is now a standing committee of the IFO, and as such recommends to the Board of Directors, the adoption of the following language for the Operating Procedures:
Operating Procedures New Article IX, C. 7. f.:
A motion was made to approve the GLBTA Issues Committee Operating Procedures listed 1-3 below. Carried
The committee will meet on December 8, 2005 on the Metropolitan campus.
The GLBTA needs a representative from Southwest.
MIC:
The MIC met on October 6 and October 7, 2005. The committee elected Annie Henry, representative from Bemidji, as the 2005-06 Chair.
We don’t know who MnSCU has staffed for recruiting faculty of color. Anti-racism initiatives seem to be off the Chancellor’s radar. The committee wants the number of faculty in terms of retention and new hires for faculty of color from MnSCU. Annette mentioned something about state law that does not separate out those numbers for faculty of color. This is topic of recruiting faculty of color is on the Meet and Confer agenda. It is Pat’s understanding that Delores Fridge (MnSCU’s previous staff person in charge of issues relating to faculty of color) said to not mix those numbers of international faculty and other faculty of color.
Guests at the MIC meeting on October 7 included Raul Ramos from the Office of the Chancellor, and Nancy Black. The Director of Multiculturalism and Diversity, Whitney Harris, was invited but unable to attend the meeting, and the committee decided to work through Nancy Black in communicating with the Chancellor (rather than requesting to meet with him on October 7).
The committee expressed concern over the status of the Chancellor’s commitment to the anti racism initiative, and discussed the work of HEART – the Higher Education Anti Racism Team. The MIC discussed with Nancy the newly created “diversity” sub committee of the Board of Trustees, and concerns over the “reorganization” of the former office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity within the Office of the Chancellor, including changing the lead person’s title to “Executive Director of Multiculturalism and Diversity.” It was agreed that Nancy will work with the MIC in communicating with the Office of the Chancellor and particular members of the Board of Trustees on these issues. In addition, the MIC will invite the MnSCU Director of Multiculturalism and Diversity to its next meeting in February.
The MIC discussed the status of the anti racism work on each of the campuses, including strategizing on how to best introduce the initiative to new faculty members. Members of HEART advised that they have developed a new four hour introductory workshop, and the MIC contemplated ways to use the four hour model to introduce more faculty to the anti racism initiatives.
The MIC discussed how to most effectively carry out the Delegate Assembly resolution to ensure that anti oppression work gets recognized and rewarded in the evaluation, tenure and promotion processes.
The committee will hold its winter meeting in February 2006.
Office Administrator Report:
Wil Harri gave a report on the membership statistics. Wil pointed out the continuing deterioration of fixed term membership. A reminder was given that we will have a special membership campaign this week with the assistance of the local FA offices so non-members can participate in the voting process. We do not take past dues. The Board asked for clarification on who can vote. Technically faculty can join immediately prior to voting. They can’t join vote and then resign. Their resignation wouldn’t be effective until July 1.
Treasurer’s Report:
Annette Schoenberger gave a report. Two documents were in the packet. Board members reviewed the three month ending in September 30, 2005 financial spreadsheet. An additional handout was reviewed illustrating where we were last year this time compared to today. We’ve collected one more “set” of dues than we did last year, but it will catch up with us in the end. What about the unrealized gain? There was a significant drop in September in the Vanguard fund. We had a gain in July and lost it in August and September; that number fluctuates. The Investment Committee will address this issue. There was a question on the annual budget for negotiations and the remaining funds. Nancy said not all the expenses have come out, and we have joined New York’s Hunter College bargaining program; training opportunities will be given to the negotiators. There are programs scheduled for April 2006 and expenses will be taken from the negotiations account. The Operating Procedures stipulate if there are unspent monies at the end of the year that they roll back into the general fund. Nancy also noted that funding for the Action Committee is included in the Negotiations’ budget. There was a question on staff salaries, pension and insurance; compared to last year and we have a 13% increase because we hired Paralegal, Tiffany Nelson.
Break for lunch. 12:00
Executive Session:
The Board moved into Executive Session at 1:00 p.m. Carried
MOTION: Report out the information appearing on the Memo addressed to The IFO Board Members and Faculty Association Presidents (10/28/05)
Passed.
The memo reads as follows from Nancy Black, IFO President:
Please let your Faculty Association vice presidents, executive bodies, grievance officers, and grievance committees know that, effective today, October 28, 2005, Frank Conroy and Wil Harri are no longer with the IFO. Mr. Conroy and Mr. Harri should not be contacted regarding any IFO matters. The IFO Board will be reorganizing and hiring additional staff in order to best serve the needs of our members. However, we will be short staffed temporarily. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we make this transition.
The IFO Board has designated Patrice Arseneault Acting Director of Labor Relations. In addition to her duties as Equity Advocate, she will be assuming responsibility for grievances and arbitrations previously being handled by Mr. Conroy. Ms. Arseneault or Paralegal Tiffany Nelson will be contacting MnSCU, grievance officers and grievants in the near future to follow up regarding pending grievances.
Please direct questions about compensation and fringe benefits under the IFO contract to Russ Stanton, and questions about membership or dues to Cindy Finch. Inquiries about other matters should be addressed to me (Nancy Black).
If you receive inquiries from MnSCU, faculty members, or others concerning the departures, please identify the appropriate contact person(s) responsible for handling on-going matters. Otherwise, please do not supply any information beyond the fact that Mr. Conroy and Mr. Harri are no longer with the IFO.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Adjourned:
The IFO Board of Directors adjourned at 3:00 p.m.