Staff Advisory Council Agenda
Thursday, November 15, 2001
Aycock Hall, Room 314 at 10:30 am


1. Call to order of meeting

2. Attendance

3. Approval of the Minutes (October 18, 2001)

4. Old Business

a. Rudolph to the Rescue (Robert Jennings)
b. Conflict Resolution (Diane Smith)
c. Summary of Benefits Proposal

5. New Business

6. Announcements

7. Adjournment

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STAFF ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES
Thursday, October 18, 2001
TLC, Computer Science Conference Room
2:00pm

Erma called the meeting to order at 2:02 pm.

Attending Members:

1. Clois Reese
2. Erma Shooks
3. Alexandra Young
4. Dr. Thomas Hynes
5. Sam Lenaeus
6. Annette Pritchett
7. Tina Johnson
8. Clay Alsip
9. Robin Witcher
10. Laura Hartman
11. Margaret Hughes
12. Bobby Johnson
13. Sylvia Cook
14. Tim North
15. David Manuel
16. Kristin Etheredge
17. Sharon McCormick
18. Delores Moore
19. Cherie Holt
20. Pat Campbell
21. Jill Wright

The minutes from the last meeting were approved as printed.

OLD BUSINESS


NEW BUSINESS

  1. Erma passed out copies of the proposal addressing policy statement 802.01 of the Board of Regents Policy Manual regarding discrimination. The Faculty and Administrative Staff Personnel Committee asked the Faculty Senate to support a formal request to the Board of Regents. The request is to include "sexual orientation" in the non-discrimination in Board of Regents' Policy 802.01 and that it adopt policies and procedures which treat married couples and domestic partnership couples in an equal manner and ensure that system-wide benefits are available to both married couples and domestic partnership couples. Dr. Hynes has asked the Staff Advisory Council to obtain staff's opinions on these matters. Several staff members read e-mails and comments they had received from other staff members. Some remarked that they did not like the request. Some wanted to reword the policy but did not care to add domestic partners to the benefits. Some questioned how could we say who is a roommate or a domestic partner? Someone said that other states made a checklist to determine who is a domestic partner. Someone asked what is the definition of "domestic partner?" They wanted to know if it meant "same as sex partners"? Robin asked how would this affect insurance cost? Someone read a Human Resources report stating that benefits cost in another state increased 1.2%. Dr. Ann Richards said that other institutions in the University System, such as Clayton State, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State policies allow them to provide coverage for domestic couples. A council member asked how could it be offered at those institutions and not statewide. Her explanation was that their coverage could possibly be in-house benefits instead of state benefits. Dr. Hynes told the council that the Faculty Senate would meet this week, but that this issue would probably not be discussed until the next week. Erma asked that we go back to our area/department and poll our co-workers, e-mail her with the results no later than Tuesday, and she will e-mail Dr. Sethna and Dr. Hynes with the responses.

    Dr. Hynes commented that this meeting had the largest attendance he has seen and he encouraged everyone to continue to support the Council.

  2. Erma announced that Human Resources would host the Health Benefits Fair on Friday, November 2, 2001 from 9 am to 1 pm. Open enrollment for insurance benefits is October 15 through November 15, 2001.

  3. There was a suggestion to have a booth at the Benefits Fair. Erma asked for volunteers to man the booth.

  4. Clay suggested that "the council" be more visible. He suggested getting T-shirts or badges to wear. Because the council does not have a lot of money in its account and we need to save for the 2002 conference, Jill suggested putting a sign on each council member's office door or window, to let other staff know who the Staff Advisory Council Representative is in their area. Badges or pins will be made for "council" members. Robin and Jill agreed to work as a committee on this project.

  5. Several ideas to raise money for "the council" were discussed. Clay suggested a bake sale. After a discussion regarding who would man the booth, Tina suggested that we have a bake sale in individual departments/buildings. Then staff would not have to go all over campus and the bake sale could easily be manned. Also, a suggestion was made for ARA to have a special lunch and that part of the money raised at the lunch go to "the council's" fund. Tim and Sam volunteered to work on the lunch idea. Another idea for conference was Word Judo class.
  6. Cherie suggested placing annual leave in a pool instead of staff losing the hours. Clay also suggested donating time to employees that need sick time etc. Erma informed them that the "state council" is working on this issue.

  7. Erma past around the agenda for our 2002 State SAC conference. Jill will e-mail the agenda to all the new staff representatives that attended the meeting today. We will need everyone's help with the conference.

  8. Clois informed "the council" that Dr. Ben DeMayo wants to provide at our 2002 conference some "cool stuff-physics demonstrations" for free. Sam said that the fraternity does a leadership workshop that we might be interested in for the conference. Other ideas mentioned. They will be discussed at a later date and possibly be included in our conference program.

  9. Erma asked for volunteers to find entertainment for the conference.

  10. Sam said that Kennesaw staff was willing to come down and give advise on the conference they just had there. Erma will call Kennesaw to set-up a date for them to come visit.

  11. Erma informed "the council" that Elaine Nugent is working on some door prizes for our conference.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jill Wright