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February 6, 2009

Call to order:  F. van Hartesveldt called the meeting to order at 6:30 a.m., 120 ATC.

Present:  W. Acevedo-Ferrer, R. Barnhart, J. Berlin, L. Burris, M. Campo, D. Cope, M. DeVivo, K. Danko, K. Dobreff, D. Folkert, B. Garlough, J. Greer, H. Hoare, D. Huisman, S. Knoppers, P. Laureto, A. Lussky, B. Manker, J. Neumann, M. Parsons, R. Ralya, J. Russell, A. Saldivar, J. Spoelman, D. Terhune, F. vanHartesveldt, D. Wabeke, G. Zeeff, F. Zomer.

Absent:  N. Alexander, J. Hesse, F. Conner, J. Doane, R. Montes-Sutton. 

Approval of agenda:  Approved as written with the addition of secretary’s report.

Approval of Faculty Council minutes from January 23, 2009:  Approved as written.

Presentations from the floor:  C. Grin continues to recover from cancer.  N. Alexander is making good progress.  She is returning to campus occasionally and hoping to be back mid-semester.
 
Secretary’s report: 

• A thank you was received from N. Alexander for all the flowers, cards, chocolates, and many more sent to her during her recovery. 
• A thank you was received from ESP for the contribution of $3,500 to the group for the purpose of paying their MEA dues. 

Treasurer’s report:  J. Spoelman distributed the Treasurer’s report for January, 2009 (attached).  Total expenses for January were $6,882.04 and total revenues were $19,602.46.  Capitol Services’ fee is under subscriptions ($500).  At this time, it does not seem wise to put some money into certificates of deposits as they are not paying much more than money market rates.  The report is attached. 

President’s report:

• Final paperwork is expected from a company in Cleveland, who is doing an independent pay study for job training and lab technicians as a result of the last contract negotiations. 
• A retirement incentive has been proposed at the state level to increase the multiplier from 1.5 to 2.  The details can be found at www.mea.org.  If it passes, there will be a short window in which to accept, and it would be a significant increase every year through retirement. 
• The BOT January meeting was short.  A member of the public is encouraging the BOT to exercise oversight over materials faculty members use in the classroom and over the Diversity Lecture Series.  The BOT has defended academic freedom. 
• The Foundation is showing some losses for 2008, with a net deficit of $671,000.  The scholarships are awarded on a three year average, so students are still getting scholarships and the awards have decreased very little.  If the market does not turn around within the next three years, scholarships would be jeopardized.  Questions arose about the matching program that is still in place.  This is neither well publicized nor proven where the matching takes place.
• A recent court case ruled that K-12 teachers did not have the standing to sue a school district to expel students who assaulted them. 
• Adjunct faculty members were recently emailed a summary of their benefits.  In addition, they are allowed free use of the Ford Fieldhouse. 
• The adjunct advisory committee has meetings scheduled in the next three months.
• The Academic Summit is February 25 and 26 from 9 to noon in the ATC.  The purpose of the summit will be to generate ideas for what we should be doing academically in the upcoming years.  Faculty members are strongly encouraged to attend.
• Sick days cover 10 days’ absences per year of your base work load assignment, but only your baseload.  If you teach overload, you only receive paid sick days equal to the number of days the class meets on campus per week.  This is how it should have always been administered, but it wasn’t.  Updates to the computer systems now allow for the administration to distinguish absences for baseload from absences for overload classes.  This will allow for the correct administration of sick days for overload absences, but because it’s a change (from paying for sick day absences for overload classes that surpassed the number of allowed sick days to not paying for those absences) it will look like your pay has been shorted. 
• Emeritus faculty committee members are D. Foster, T. Hoffman, and C. L. Brown.  Contact them if there is a retired faculty member you’d like them to consider for the emeritus award. 

Discussion items:

1.  GRCC presidential search
1. Dr. Enders will start in mid-May, but he will be visiting the campus before then.
2. Anne Mulder will be here for commencement, but not sure of her last day. 
2. Hiring practices
1. Current issue has to do with hiring a wellness faculty member/football coach at a higher step than other faculty.  It is a legal hiring which the college administration has the right to do.  This issue is that other faculty members have been told they could not be hired above step 3 because that is the policy.  One faculty member may file a grievance.  There was a similar issue in 2004 when 25 faculty members, out of over 80 in similar situations, filed a grievance to ask that their contracts be re-negotiated.  The grievance was processed through the highest level and denied.
2. Discussion took place that the real problem is that coaches’ pay is set up on a high school model and not feasible for college level.  This might be incentive to restructure coaches’ pay independently of other pay as faculty members. 
3. Regardless of this issue, the football coach is a faculty member in the Wellness department and should be welcomed to the College.
4. New faculty members need to be advised that even though they may be told that the college doesn’t hire above step 3, the college can and does.
5. New faculty members do start participating in overload selection for the Fall semester and choose at level 2. 
3. Space planning:  A number of faculty have toured nearby property that administrators are considering purchasing.
4. Committee reports – Calendar:  J. Spoelman will meet with faculty today in 509 Main. 

Grievance Report:  L. Burris reported the following:

• The faculty member denied professional development funds for the purchase of a new computer will receive reimbursement for the computer.  Faculty members are encouraged to put our contract language from Article 7.V.1(a) or (b) on the reimbursement form.
• New laptops will be provided starting in the Summer 2009.  The supplier is Lenovo.

New Business:  Submit items for the next Faculty Council meeting to F. van Hartesveldt.
Next Meeting: Friday, February 20, 2009, at 6:30 a.m., 120 ATC.  
Adjournment:  Motion to adjourn M. DeVivo, seconded by D. Cope.  Adjournment 7:59 a.m.
Submitted by K. Danko, Secretary.

GRCC Faculty Association
Treasurer’s Report
January 2009