October 2015 Meeting Minutes

Thursday, October 1, 2015, ACES Library
Meeting Minutes submitted by Elizabeth Rockman

Attendees:  Richard Gegg (1), Kristina Miller (1), Kathleen Booth (2), Ramachandran Radhakrishnan (2), Todd Spinner (3), Maeve Reilly (4), Rick Atterberry (5), Wendy White (5), Teresa Steckler (6), Elizabeth Wahle (6), Betoel Escobar (7), Tanisha King-Taylor (7), Tracy Parish (8), Melissa Madsen (9), Mike Bohlmann (9), Ravi Ramrattan (10), Elizabeth Rockman (10), Jeffrey Stein (11), Elyne Cole (ex-officio)

1.    Call to Order – Chair Mike Bohlmann called the meeting to order at 1:21 p.m.

2.    Public Comment – Kostas Yfantis, former CAP member and Chair/Vice Chair, talked about ongoing collaboration with CITL (the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning).

3.    Chair’s Remarks – Mike Bohlmann served as an official observer of the BOT meeting, in addition to his affiliation with UPPAC and SEC, and he noted the following:

  • UI made payroll for August and September.
  • President discussed the issue of the lack of budget, and that it was being considered to turn off power to the Capitol.
  • BOT passed the background check policy, to be implemented soon.
  • Senate restored CAP Chair vote (unanimous to give vote on SEC), which had been assumed in the recent past.
  • On SEC radar:  Chancellor Search and background check policy.
  • President Killeen set up a taskforce for strategic planning, including high-level representation and varied roles.

4.    Review and Approval Previous Month’s Minutes – Rich Gegg made the motion to approve, and Ravi Ramrattan seconded; motion passed.

5.    Announcements:

Report from Academic Professional Senators – Outgoing AP Senator Kostas Yfantis discussed the Senate meeting, Chancellor Search, and shared governance issues.  Rich Gegg also noted that the President discussed that he is not wedded to a search firm, and that finalists might be known ahead of time.

Senate, Campus and University Committee Reports – None

6.    Communications Committee – Maeve Reilly had no report.

7.    Procedures and Elections Committee – Details were discussed related to special elections for Districts 2 and 9 (incumbents changed districts).

8.    CAPE Awards – Kristina said the Selection Committee for the selection of CAPE members had sent invitations to finalists.  Additionally, all publicity languages has been vetted, edited, and approved.

9.    Grievance Officer Update – Jeffrey Stein noted Beth Hall provided a written grievance report to Mike Bohlmann in absentia, reported that the Chancellor accepted the decision on the recent grievance, and that the Ad Hoc Committee to review Provost Communication #22 is working on their effort.

10.    Academic Human Resources Report by the Associate Provost for Human Resources
Budget and Academic Professional Development Fund – Elyne Cole noted that APDF has had 37 requests this FY to date, totaling $18,154 have been received, with all approved (none outstanding).  Nothing to report about budget other than that as the time gets longer with a budget, everyone becomes more worried.  UA does not have a freeze (yet), but are not filling positions without specific approval.  There is also no official elimination of positions.  Deans are being more frugal, but not being specifically told what to do with their budgets, as there is no formal budget plan in place.

SUCSS – On September 18, 2015 the SUCSS Merit Board appointed Jeff Brownfield as Executive Director from pool of three finalists.  He is internal to SUCSS, and had previously tried to work well with campuses; it is expected that he will be a strong leader but/and work well with our campus.  Brownfield has already reached out to Darla Hill of UI Auditing regarding concerns about audit procedures.

11.    Ad Hoc Committee on By-laws update – Mike Bohlmann noted that this committee has been working on a draft proposal, and plan to provide for review before the next meeting.

12.    Ad Hoc Committee for AP to serve on Chancellor’s Search – Mike said that there had been a dozen self-nominations for that, and that this committee, comprised of himself, Tracy Parish, Ravi Ramrattan, Elizabeth Rockman would meet to choose two people on the ballot for the AP Senators to vote on (in the same way that faculty senators vote on their representative/s, and student senators on theirs).  The President wants this search to conclude by the Spring 2016 Semester.

13.    Background Check Policy – General discussion:  The timing was meant to start the next week, but Urbana campus was given a delay, which many are confused about whether that means a delay in hiring.  Questions to be addressed:  what is the process in terms of when it happens, what is a delay and what is not?  Elyne Cole notes that the policy was to take place October 5, 2015, and the BOT was allowing a delay for Urbana until November 1, 2015.  She does not anticipate that the process will change with regards to the Senate discussions, but that everything will have to be explained thoroughly.  Officially, the President is not giving direction to the campuses on how to implement the policy; the campuses put forward their own procedures, and the University-wide group does not impact the campuses’ procedures.  There has been a campus-wide committee addressing this for several months.  The three campuses and UA are working with external counsel.  Several training sessions for HR individuals are ongoing.  Deb Stone noted that this policy is for all new employees or returning employees, or for individuals whose positions move to security sensitive or work with children; this includes some Extra Help, Hourly, Academic Hourly, and Grad Hourly positions.  Mike Bohlmann asked about the timing of the offer as these decisions go to campus HR, and then onto the committee that reviews convictions.  Deb noted that the offeree is given the opportunity to contact the vendor regarding accuracy or to provide additional information to the review committee.  Mike noted that it’s also important to know if there are specific risks within a job; can individuals do their job, ie., what are the duties/responsibilities of each job.  Kathleen Booth also pointed out that if something doesn’t impact the initial job, it’s important to parse out if it would impact a second job; is the information saved in a file or eliminated?  Deb noted that this information is not kept in a personnel file, and that it is also not put into HireTouch.  Elizabeth Rockman asked about the general timing of the process, and if hold-ups in that timing would alert the hiring unit.  Deb said that the process does not start until the candidate gives consent, which will change timing for everyone.  Ravi asked if all the places a candidate lives would have to be checked; Elyne confirmed that was the case, but that education would not be checked (that is for search committees to verify).  Rich Gegg asked if there were anything so egregious as to not be considered by the review committee, and Elyne responded there is no automatic trigger, that all individuals have the right to be considered.  It was noted that higher education rates of conviction were generally lower than the national average.  Rick Atterberry discussed situations in which there can be errors, such as a class action lawsuit citing records weren’t expunged, case of mistaken identities, etc.  Deb reiterated that the candidate would be allowed to provide additional context; if a decision is made to withdraw the offer, AHR/SHR sends the letter.  Elyne said that campus went with the best vendor, though not the cheapest.  Kathleen asked about offer language.

14.    Unfinished Business – Mike Bohlmann asked for extra coverage during All Employee Expo, as he would be teaching a class; Wendy White offered to help after checking her schedule.

15.    New Business – None.

16.    Closed Session for Privileged Information/Grievances – None.

17.    Adjournment – Ravi made a motion to adjourn, and Tanisha King-Taylor seconded; meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.