Present: Bettina Francis, Harry Hilton, Lew Hopkins, David O’Brien, R. Dale Parker, 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
- Review of the Minutes for November 5, 2012 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes for this meeting were approved.
- Remarks from President: Struble briefly reviewed the meeting with Vice President Pierre. He provided a thorough review of the duties of the office and staff of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and his plans for future actions. This included discussing the plans for the university-wide unit assessment.
Action Items
- Planning for 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, January14, 2013, 215 Illini Union. Nick Burbules, Don Chambers, and Joyce Tolliver on Collective Bargaining and Shared Governance. James Stukel will attend the meeting via Skype.
- 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.
- Planning for Other Meetings in the Spring.
- Policy Committee Meetings. We discussed the difficulty we sometimes face in fitting two meetings during the same 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. time period. Nevertheless, it was decided not to hold the meetings on two different days. Instead, we will emphasize staring the 11 a.m. meetings promptly and be aware that the Policy Committee meetings may be truncated.
- Spring Tenure Workshop. Hilton is working with the panelists on possible dates and will have a better idea of when it will be by the end of the month.
- Annual Meeting. If we continue holding this on the Tuesday of final exam week, the Annual Meeting will be Tuesday, May 7.
- Invitations to Other Campus Administrators to meet with Policy Committee in Spring. Struble talked briefly with Katherine Laing about a possible report given our concerns about what may take place in Springfield this spring regarding pension reform. Laing offered to send us a white paper for our possible use in preparing letters to legislators but has not done so yet.
- Review of Governance Workshop. Hilton noted that some individuals hearing of this workshop thought it was about unionization issues. It will important to keep this distinction clear in the publicity for future meetings. The question of what steps we will take next was discussed. Hopkins hopes that we can develop model bylaws elements to assist faculty review or revise their unit bylaws. It might be possible to set up a committee that would offer to review current unit bylaws and note if they appear to need changes especially if they violate the Statutes.