March 2018 Minutes

Council of Academic Professionals

Thursday, March 1, 2018, Illini Union 314A

Meeting Minutes submitted by Jenny Ehrnthaller, Secretary

 

Attendees: Richard Gegg (1), Kristina Miller (1), Jenny Ehrnthaller (2), Amy Hovious (2), Maggie Jarvis (3), Leslie Vermillion (3), Andrew Reynolds (4), Rick Atterberry (5), Mindy Spencer (5), Carl Baker (6), Betoel Escobar (7), Tanisha King-Tayler (7), Brian Brauer (8), Becky Ferrell (9), George Gottschalk (9), Elizabeth Rockman (10), Nancy Walsh (10), Beth Hall (11), Jeff Stein (11), Elyne Cole (Ex Officio)

 

Excused Absences: Judy Van Cleeff (4), Elizabeth Wahle (6), Chantelle Thompson (8)

 

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

 

  1. Public Comment – none.

 

  1. Review and Approval Previous Month’s Minutes – Approved as submitted by consensus.

 

  1. Chair’s Remarks (Jeff Stein) – Welcome George Gottschalk to the council, newest rep from District 9. Works in the acquisitions department in the library.  Introductions from other council members.  AP Development fund has been approved as of March 1st (see website for additional information) and will be accepting applications for funding in the near future.  Provost office is working on addressing the issues with the funding allocation process as well as updating the application.
    1. Elyne is requesting a committee to review the applications and council members will be elected at the end of this meeting.
    2. Need to move the June CAP meeting because the UPPAC meeting conflicts. Since it is election time for CAP, Jeff suggested to move the meeting to May 31st and also move the July meeting up one week (June 28th) to avoid the July 4th
      1. Dates changed by consensus.
    3. Request to APs to report any effects to APs on the GEO strike that is occurring.

 

  1. Announcements
    1. Brian – CAP members that participated in the CPR training through the Fire Service Institute were part of the recognition of Illinois being the first campus in the nation to be considered “heart safe” (due to the number of participants) – working on the release to public affairs for this.
    2. Campus Budget townhall meetings being held with the Provost
      1. March 13th from 12-1:15 p.m. BIF Auditorium
      2. March 27th from 12-1:15 p.m. NCSA Auditorium
    3. Chancellor – first two of critical conversation series will take place in the coming month:
      1. Native American Imagery – April 10th from 3-5 p.m. SDRP Multipurpose Room
      2. Free Speech – April 17th from 12-1 p.m. Colwell Playhouse at Krannert

 

  1. Committee Reports:
    1. CAPE Awards Committee (Kristina Miller)
      1. Submitted all 6 finalists and accepted by the Chancellor. Chancellor’s office is working on notifications to both the winners and the finalists.  Chancellor will be out of town during the CAPE award ceremony, so looking for an alternate to stand in.
    2. University Professional Personnel Advisory Committee (UPPAC; Jeff Stein)
      1. UPPAC Meeting on Monday
        1. Items reported from CAP – visit from ODEA on sexual harassment issues, Chancellor’s critical series, update on AP Professional Development fund, efforts on representation on faculty senate, CAPE awards are coming up, and activity on Merit board for Civil Service
        2. Reports from others
          1. 4th Fridays to engage in professional development, UIC focused on wellness in their professional development categories
          2. Council of Councils – bringing together of councils across other campuses around the state of Illinois
          3. UIC asking for information on academic senate representation and the proposal to expand representation
          4. System HR – overview of benefits, employees from Coventry (ETNA) – notices are not for tax returns but information only
          5. Administrative Leadership Programs – DDD list to send out later this month to solicit for nominations. First group will participate in October – open to 20 APs across all campuses (7 from UIUC) – cost to the unit on the Leadership Program
        3. Academic Professional Senators
          1. None.
        4. Senate, Campus, and University Committees
          1. Senate Executive Committee (Jeff Stein)
            1. Set the agenda for the faculty senate committee
            2. Update on GEO strike
            3. 2 resolutions on Chief Illiniweck and allegation against Professor Rosenstein to be presented on next meeting
            4. Campus strategic planning effort
            5. Ask for comment on the statement for ethical research conduct – Jeff to send out report to council for comment or feedback
          2. Procedures and Elections (Rebecca Ferrell – email report)
            1. Thank you for district reps 2, 6, 8, 9 for getting lists back promptly!
            2. Feb 26-March 7 nominations for seats, elections March 12-21
  • Mindy Spencer’s term – Becky is working on a new system to track terms
    1. Vote to keep Mindy’s appointment until June 2020, motion approved by CAP
  1. Communications Committee (Mindy Spencer)
    1. Sending out all nominations emails as per Becky’s lists
    2. Update lists on the website
  2. Grievance (Tanisha King-Taylor) – none.
  3. Ad Hoc Committee on Senate Representation (Jeff Stein)
    1. Redistricting – centered around how eligibility is determined, anticipate no issues, document will go to the senate for a first reading (April meeting) and then a vote at the next meeting (May meeting). May have a special election over the summer to implement the new seats to add to the new AY or will need to wait another cycle for the next AY.
    2. Elyne – District 7, parking – ad hoc units are represented in district 10, District 7 – provost and vice chancellor and academic affairs, and seems parking should go with this
      1. Motion to swap parking (axillary unit) from 10 to 7, and Illini Center from 7 to 10, motion approved by consensus.
    3. Ad Hoc Committee on Gender-based Harassment (Mindy Spencer)
      1. Meeting next week, feedback from last month’s CAP meeting from ODEA and HR, send to Mindy and will take under advisement before the committee meets next week
      2. Sexual Harrasment training went live today – reminder to complete training

 

  1. AHR Report (Elyne Cole):
    1. Budget – nothing new to report – encourage participate in town halls and meetings
    2. Academic Professional Development Fund – pleased with the earlier update to move forward, and as far as the budget is concerned, the intent is to respond to all requests in an open manner as compared to previous years and will award accordingly and appropriately
      1. Need to resolve the issues around the exchange/process of the funds
    3. Civil Serve exemption issues update
      1. Civil Service Rule – all employees are Civil Services except those that are exempted from the rule. Principle Administrative employees (those exempted from CS) – these positions include, for example, the president, faculty, etc.  The merit board is intensely looking at current AP positions and whether or not they should have been (or should be) exempted.  Audits occur every 3 years, and have brought positions to the table that should not have been exempted – UIUC has argued that we have exempted these positions properly given the list of standard titles for AP.  Number of findings over the last 10 years has grown steadily.  Merit Board, which has oversight over the Civil Service system, has decided that the Civil Service System has the final say over which positions should be exempted or not.  In the past UIUC would disagree and wait until the position became vacant to review the position to see if the campus agreed to change to Civil Service.  So now, at audits, if Civil Service System finds that a position should not be exempt, we must follow.
        1. There is an appeal process, but the Civil Service Systems reviews these also and will make the final decision.
        2. Previously, 1st level of review included – does it meet standard title exemption, and 2nd level included – is there CS classification that fits
          1. Now it is the opposite, since the standard titles are being removed
        3. We will no longer have the standard titles, and the system is now creating titles that mimic the current ones for APs in the Civil Service System.
          1. Civil Service positions now hold the authority for carrying out judgement and making independent decisions
        4. Next steps for CAP is to come up with a plan as to how to appropriately communicate this new direction to all APs on campus.

 

  1. Unfinished Business
    1. Proposed language to revise the constitution to add 3 AP senate seats
      1. Deb – suggested making more generic updates (as units are likely to grow in the future, units as defined by CAP), request to remove “prairie” and add an “s” to “institute” (to generalize to research institutes). CAP voted to approve these changes.
      2. Motion to adopt the proposal as amended – motion carried out by CAP by vote.
    2. Redistricting Plan
      1. The new Siebel Design Center – need to add this unit, as individuals are being hired (this needs to be addressed as to whether this should be added now or revisited in the future once the center becomes more defined).
      2. Motion to approve the plan – motion carried out by CAP by vote.

 

  1. New Business – Discussion on visits to CAP meeting schedule – proposed: ODEA (Feb), president (March), chancellor (April), OVCIA (May), election of new officers (June), provost (July)

 

  1. Closed Session (called if required) –

 

  1. Adjourned – 3:15 p.m.