STAFF SENATE MEETING MINUTES December 19, 2012
President Chad Gothreaux presided over the December 19, 2012, Staff Senate meeting held at Peabody Hall, Room 225, on the LSU Campus at 10:30 a.m.
ATTENDANCE
Senators
Executive/Administrator/ Manager
Pr Exner, Patti (’14)
P Torres, Donna (’15)
Service/Maintenance
P Chaney, Carolyn (’13)
A Collins, Lorita (’14)
P Matkovic, Igor (’14)
P Williams, Elmer “T” (’14)
Professional/Non-Faculty
P Galy, Kristie (’13)
A Guillory, Michael (’13)
P Lato, Kayla (’13)
P Thomas, Joseph (’13)
P Winchell, Blake (’13)
Pr Baker, Sheantel (’14)
P Gothreaux, Chad (’14)
P Millican, Tammy (’14)
P Moreau, Scott (’14)
P Perkins, Julie (’14)
P Belanger, Scott (’15)
P Bonfanti, Leigh (’15)
P Carruth, Holly (’15)
P Lede’, Robert (’15)
P Livingston, Lynn (’15)
P Loveless, Kathryn (’15)
P Overton, Wendy (’15)
Skilled Crafts
P Adedeji, Funmilayo (’13)
P Heil, Mark (’15)
Technical/Paraprofessional
P Pierce, Renee (’13)
P Sirman, Karen (’13)
P Love, Donna (’14)
Clerical/Secretarial
P Cooley, Judith (’13)
Pr Moss, Erica (’13)
P Collins, Judy (’14)
P Bennett, Casey (’15)
A - Indicates Absent
P - Indicates Present
Pr - Indicates Proxy
Sign-in Guests:
Jon Silver, Athletics - Women’s Basketball
Brian Ainsworth, Campus Federal Credit Union
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by President Gothreaux at 10:30 a.m.
ATTENDANCE
There was a quorum with three proxies noted.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Senator Lato led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Professional/Non-Faculty Vacancy
President Gothreaux announced that the Executive Committee has given approval to appoint Jonathan Silver, who is the next runner-up in the last general election, to fill the vacancy in the Professional/Non-Faculty Category through 2015. Jon Silver works with Women’s Basketball in Athletics.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES – November 21, 2012, Staff Senate Meeting
A motion to accept the minutes was made by Senator Winchell. The motion, seconded by Senator Carruth, carried.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Gothreaux reported that on November 27, he took part in our Holiday on Campus event at UREC which was attended by more than 400 participants and 60 volunteers. Congratulations to the HOC Committee Chair Senator Julie Perkins and all the members of her committee for a very successful event.
Gothreaux reported that on November 28, he attended the LSU Foundation Staff Outstanding Service Awards ceremony recognizing staff from LSU, the Ag Center and the Law School. This is the longest running recognition program conducted by the LSU Foundation. He asked Senators to join him in extending congratulations to Senator Igor Matkovic on his designation as one of the eight outstanding staff recipients at LSU. Later that evening, he attended the Chancellor’s Holiday Reception at the Faculty Club.
Gothreaux reported that on November 29, he and many Senators attended the Open Forum hosted by President Jenkins to discuss the proposed realignment of the LSU System. Several individuals spoke out about the increased pressure on staff and urged consideration for providing additional resources before adding additional responsibilities, including the implementation of a system-wide realignment.
Gothreaux reported that on December 3, he attended the Chancellor’s Executive Staff meeting held at Lod Cook. Chancellor Jenkins updated the group on his town hall meetings across the state and alerted them that the probability appeared increasingly high for a mid-year budget cut and possible spending freeze due to a declining state revenue forecast.
Gothreaux reported that on December 4, he hosted the Staff Senate Executive Committee meeting in which several issues were addressed.
President Gothreaux announced that Staff Senate is moving forward with the plans for a spring staff baseball tailgate which he would like to charge the Staff Benefits, Policies, and Development Committee to plan. Gothreaux has reached out to Coach Paul Mainieri who is very receptive to the idea. Mainieri will discuss with his staff and get back with Gothreaux after the holiday. Campus Federal has agreed to provide jambalaya for the event.
The Executive Committee agreed that Gothreaux should send out another reminder to staff about making donations of annual leave to the Crisis Leave Pool. This was sent out by University Relations yesterday.
Gothreaux announced that due to the considerable volume of comments in the staff survey about Human Resource Management and Parking and Public Safety, it was agreed that Gothreaux should forward the unfiltered survey results to A.G. Monaco (HRM), Gary Graham (Parking), and Brian Nichols (Public Safety) for their information. This has been done. The Executive Committee will continue to work on a way of communicating the results to staff and the administration.
Gothreaux announced that the Executive Committee agreed to prepare an official commendation for Vice Chancellor Eric Monday from the Executive Committee recognizing him for his service to LSU. The framed commendation will be delivered to him later this week by members of the Executive Committee.
Gothreaux reported that on December 7, the morning of the Board of Supervisors meeting, President-Elect Livingston, Past-President Galy and Gothreaux attended a breakfast with members of the LSU Council of Staff Advisors and Council of Faculty Advisors, as well as members of the Board of Supervisors. The intent of the meeting was to provide a forum for open conversation about the proposed realignment of the System and the presidential search. Gothreaux spoke about the important contributions that staff has to offer to ensure successful realignment and the need to include staff governance representatives in the search for the new president. Later that afternoon, they also attended the Board of Supervisors meeting where the Board reaffirmed their earlier vote to eliminate the position of Chancellor of LSU and combine the duties of that position with the President of LSU. The Transition Advisory Team, named earlier by Interim President and Chancellor Jenkins, was officially appointed and charged with gathering information to guide the System realignment. At 5:30 that same evening, Past-President Galy and Gothreaux attended the LSU System Holiday Reception held at Lod Cook. At the conclusion of the day’s events, Gothreaux sent the following email to the board members that they met with at the morning breakfast, including Blake Chatelain (Presidential Search Committee Chair), Scott Ballard, Hank Danos (Board Chair), Ray Lasseigne, Rolfe McCollister, James Moore, and Bobby Yarborough.
Dear Members of the LSU Board of Supervisors:
On behalf of the LSU Staff Senate, I would like to express my appreciation for the opportunity to dialogue with you at the breakfast this morning. As I expressed then, and as you will see in my email to President Jenkins from October 29 which I have forwarded below, the Staff Senate recognizes the great potential which lies ahead in the restructuring and realigning of the components of the LSU System to create a single, globally-competitive flagship research university. We remain eager to be actively engaged in the ongoing dialogue, both in the reorganization of LSU and in the selection of its new President. I applaud the addition of faculty representation on the presidential search committee and again request your consideration of including a duly elected staff representative, perhaps even in an ex officio capacity.
I appreciate the gravity of the transformative decisions before you and recognize your sincerity in wishing to move forward in a deliberative and inclusive manner. Know that our Staff Senate is equally sincere in our desire to contribute collaboratively and constructively to help realize the full potential of LSU. Please do not hesitate to call us into service.
With gratitude,
Chad Gothreaux
LSU Staff Senate President
CC: William Jenkins, Interim President and Chancellor
Louisiana State University
Robert Rasmussen, Assistant Vice President for System Relations
LSU System
Kristie Galy, Chair
LSU System Council of Staff Advisors
Chad Gothreaux | Assistant Dean | Finance & Administration
LSU Staff Senate President (2012-2013)
Dean’s Office | 221 Peabody Hall | Baton Rouge, LA 70803
O:(225) 578-1244 | F: (225) 578-2267 | C: (225) 937-3899
Email: cigoth@lsu.edu | Website: lsu.edu/chse
Staff Senate | O: (225) 578-2566 | Website: lsu.edu/staffsenate
Over the course of the following weekend, Gothreaux received responses from each board member which he will include below as part of the official report for the meeting record.
From Blake Chatelain:
Chad
Thank you so much for your encouraging note.
As we discussed yesterday, we are all in this together and we all have the same goal of making LSU the best it can be.
We all appreciate the great job our staff does on a daily basis and we look forward to your ideas and suggestions.
Thank you and have a great weekend.
Blake
From James Moore:
Chad thanks for your encouraging comments. Our goal is for a better LSU. Our intent is to work together with our faculty and staff in this process. We welcome your suggestions. Have great weekend.
From Rolfe McColister:
Chad,
I too enjoyed the dialogue at breakfast and appreciate your email and your attitude towards this process. We all want a better and successful LSU in the future. I look forward to visiting with you and others in the future.
Sincerely,
ROLFE
From Scott Ballard:
Chad,
Thank you for the email and your participation and passion. We look forward to working close with you and your colleagues. Our board cannot do what we do without you and your teams hard work and participation, so Thank You....
Scott Ballard
From Ray Lasseigne:
Hello Chad,
Thank you for your email and input on the process that we all hope will help LSU reach its fullest potential. We are very fortunate that we already have great faculty, staff and students, and with the restructuring and the selection of the right leader who will provide stable, long-term leadership, we can bring that unrealized potential to fruition. I found both the breakfast and after-breakfast discussions to be very informative and helpful to me. We appreciate you and all who participated in the discussions.
Thank you,
Ray Lasseigne
From Hank Danos:
Chad
I want to echo comments offered by my colleagues. I do appreciate your participation and your contributions to higher education in Louisiana (LSU). I trust that we will continue to maintain an open inclusive dialogue.
Hank Danos
Gothreaux reported that on December 11, he participated in the Budget and Finance/Governmental Relations Joint Committee meeting which Senator Torres will report on during this meeting.
Upcoming Events:
Gothreaux announced that at a function a couple of weeks ago, Provost Bell and Gothreaux discussed the possibility of Bell meeting with our Executive Committee to discuss opportunities and concerns the proposed re-organization of the LSU System might pose to effective staff governance. The Provost will meet with the Executive Committee on January 8 at 11 a.m. in the Academic Affairs Conference Room. Gothreaux encouraged Senators to forward any concerns that they may have to him to discuss during this meeting.
STANDING COMMITTEES
Staff Benefits, Policies & Development
Past-President Galy reported that the Staff Benefits, Policies and Development Committee met on November 26, 2012. The committee is moving forward with the spring baseball tailgate. As President Gothreaux mentioned, Campus Federal Credit Union has agreed to donate the jambalaya and Coach Mainieri will let us know a good date-most likely a week day.
Budget & Finance/Governmental Relations
Senator Torres reported that the Budget and Finance/Governmental Relations Committee met on December 11, 2012. She mentioned that Tommy Smith and Jason Droddy were unable to attend. The committee held an open discussion regarding different projects ongoing on campus and encouraged members to keep their eyes and ears open regarding any budget cuts on campus.
Communications
President Gothreaux reported that the Communications Committee met this morning, December 19, 2012, and discussed two items. Committee Chairs were directed to report to President Gothreaux after the holidays on committee attendance to make sure we have appropriate representation and participation at all of our committee meetings. They also discussed the creation of a process or procedure for committees to request broadcast email requests through the Executive Committee. This process will be included in the Staff Senate procedure manual and will identify some of those timelines and include a copy of some of the requests and emails that are sent out every year.
SPECIAL AD-HOC COMMITTEES
Holiday on Campus
Senator Perkins reported that the Holiday on Campus Committee did not meet after the event, but she took comments electronically which she will use to update the Holiday on Campus event procedures manual to help with next year’s event. Perkins thinks everything went well and thanked everyone for their contribution to make this year’s event another success. The only negative report that Perkins heard was that we need to have Raising Cane’s food next year. Perkins encouraged all Senators who have a suggestion for next year to please forward those to her as she will be updating the process for next year’s planning. President Gothreaux mentioned that it takes a lot of planning to make this event a success and thanked everyone for their help.
Scholarship
Senator Carruth reported that the committee did not meet, but did judge the Holiday Decorating Contest on December 17, 2012. The results have been posted on the Staff Senate Facebook Page, as well as the Staff Senate Web Site. The winners are: First Place Office Entrance, Student Health Center, Administration-phenomenal wood cut out of Mike the Tiger in a white suit portraying John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever; Second Place Office Entrance: Chemistry with their Gone with the Wind theme; First Place Door, Career Services; Second Place Door, Office of Research and Economic Development; First Place Bulletin Board, School of Social Work; Second Place Bulletin Board, Office of Health Promotion (Student Health Center); First Place Tree, College of Human Sciences & Education (Dean’s Office); Second Place Tree, Renewable Natural Resources; and the Best in Show, Student Health Center, Administration with their Disco Mike. The contest raised $60 for the Staff Senate Fee Support Scholarship.
OLD BUSINESS
Benefit of the Month
Senator Torres announced that the Museum of Art Gift Shop currently has a 20% sale through Christmas. They also have a Family Day scheduled for tomorrow which includes a movie and a new exhibition of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. There is also free admission on the first Sunday of every month.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chancellor Service Spotlight Award
President Gothreaux mentioned that he will send out a broadcast message soon to solicit nominations. The Executive Committee discussed sending the announcement out after the first of the year.
Staff Senator Birthdays
President Gothreaux announced that Senator Moreau celebrated his birthday on December 5. Senator Bonfanti celebrated her birthday on December 9. Past-President Galy will celebrate her birthday on December 23. “Happy Birthday”
MOTION TO ADJOURN – With there being no more business, Past-President Galy moved to adjourn. The motion, seconded by Senator Carruth, carried. The meeting adjourned before noon.
Tammy Millican, Secretary
TM/mh