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1/14/13 Policy Committee Minutes

    Present:  Bettina Francis, Harry Hilton, Lew Hopkins, David O’Brien, John Prussing, Art Robinson, Robert Spitze, Leslie Struble, H. F. Williamson.

    The meeting began at about 12:30 p.m. following the meeting with Vice President Pierre.

    President’s Report

    1. Review of the Minutes for December 10, 2012 Meeting of Policy Committee.   The minutes for this meeting were approved.
    2. Remarks from President:  Struble briefly reviewed the meeting with Nick Burbules, Don Chambers, and Joyce Tolliver.  She noted that she has set up the meetings so that each “side” of the issue will be represented at a meeting.  After the first meetings, we will discuss how we want to proceed.  In particular, this would involve planning for the agenda (and venue) for the final spring meeting on April 29.  She thought that there had been a good discussion at today’s meeting.  Questions have been raised about what model of a union we are talking about and whether a union is or is not antithetical to the current model of shared governance with the emphasis on the role played by the Senate.  It was noted that salary may not be the key issue to be addressed by collective bargaining.

    Action Items

    1. Planning for February Meeting with Vice Chancellor Schiffer.  It was suggested that we ask him to address a number of questions such as:
      • What are the most significant compliance issues facing the campus;
      • do these issues affect the ability of non-tenured faculty from achieving tenure; and the role of faculty governance in these issues.  Williamson will prepare a draft of the questions for the agenda for the meeting for review before preparing the final document.
    2. Spring Meetings with Guests.  Struble continued her discussion of the plans for the meetings during the spring semester.  At the 11 a.m. meeting, we will meet with the following individuals on the indicated dates:
      • Monday,  February 11, 2013, 215 Illini Union.  Peter Schiffer, Vice Chancellor for Research,
      • Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 215 Illini Union Building meeting:  (date and room during week of March 11 to be determined since Union is booked on Monday, March 11): Ernie Benjamin and Jim Barrett on Collective Bargaining and Shared Governance.
      • Tuesday, April 9, 2013, room TBA:  James Stukel (via Skype) and Steven Veazie.
      • Monday, April 29, 2013:  room and guests TBA.
    3. Planning for the Spring Tenure Workshop.  Hilton reported that the meeting will be at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 12 in 209 Illini Union.  Provost Adesida and Vice Provost Barbara Wilson e are confirmed for the meeting.
    4. National AAUP.  There was a brief discussion of what the impact will be of the restructuring of the national AAUP into three new entities:  the AAUP Foundation, the AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress, and the AAUP.
    5. Report from Shared Governance Committee.  Hopkins discussed our plans to follow up on the results of the Governance Workshop.  In particular, he will be following up on our plan to collect department and college bylaws as a first step in their review.