LFSA Exec - Minutes - May 11, 2017

LFSA Spring General Meeting

Library Faculty and Staff Assembly

May 11, 2017

Present:

Sara Morris, Becky Schulte, Greta Valentine, Sharon Riley, Brian Moss, Meghan Misenhelter, Erin Wolfe, Heather Mac Bean, Lois Bauer, Shannon Royer, Sheila Orth, Rhonda Houser, Miloche Kottman, Betsaida Reyes, Mary Raple, Judith Emde, Beth Whittaker, Elspeth Healey, Jamene Brooks Kieffer, Musa Olaka, Jeromy Horkman, Jon Giullian, Sarah Richardson, Scott McEathron, Angela Rathmel, Karen Cook, Wanda Dyer, Mary Ann Baker, Amalia Monroe-Gulick, Ann Snow, Sonja Holmgren, Marla Schleuder, Julie Woodrick, Leah Hallstrom, Micki Lubbers, Kristin Sederstrom, Scott Hanrath, Kevin Smith, Sherri Brown, Lyn Wolz, Lars Leon, Michiko Ito, Sunita Gandhi, Marianne Reed, Eleonora Drury, Deborah Dandridge, Larry Palmquist, Nate Chamberlain, Xiufen Bi, Josh Bolick, Carmen Orth-Alfie

Achieved a quorum and called the meeting to order at 2:12.

Approval of Minutes from Spring General Meeting

∙ Marianne asked for any changes or edits from those present.

∙ Amalia Monroe-Gulick moved to approve the minutes as written, and Ann Snow seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Marianne Reed asked for a self-introduction of any new LFSA members since the Fall General Meeting.

∙ Erin Wolfe was the only new member – he is a Metadata Librarian who joined the Digital Initiatives and Discovery Services unit in February. He has worked at KU for 5 years, and came to the Libraries from the Dole Institute of Politics.

Remarks from the Dean

∙ Kevin spoke briefly about the Campus Climate Study conducted on campus during summer of 2016. The results were shared with the campus recently. The survey had a response rate of 22%, including responses from approximately 4,000 students, 2,000 staff and 800 faculty.

∙ Overall, 71% of respondents indicated they were comfortable or very comfortable with the KU campus climate

∙ Of faculty and staff, 67% of respondents indicated they have “considered leaving KU”. Kevin stressed that this does not necessarily indicate dissatisfaction with KU, and is consistent with results reported by Rankin at campuses around the country. Of more concern are those results indicating people who are uncomfortable at KU.

∙ 18% of respondents reported exclusion or hostile conduct based on gender, age, identity ∙ 9% reported unwanted sexual conduct, which is a particular threat to student success. Kevin expressed concern for women and non-gender-conforming individuals who reported feeling less comfortable across campus

∙ Kevin noted that those conducting the survey were very careful about anonymity. IP addresses were stripped as responses were submitted. However, this allows people to take the survey multiple times.

∙ Kevin indicated that the Libraries had a high enough response rate to get their unit-level results. He indicated these should be received by June 15, and indicated they would be shared widely unless there is serious risk to anonymity based on the comments or information shared.

∙ Kevin suggested reading the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force (DEI) report to get a more nuanced sense of the campus climate. In his opinion it does a better job of representing real issues on campus, and suggesting solutions.

Reports from LFSA Standing Committees

∙ Committee on the Code (Heather Mac Bean): This committee met once in January, and made an editorial change to the title of a document in the Code.

∙ CRSA (Sharon Riley): Last year, $2500 in LRF funds went unused, so CRSA pushed for awareness and use of the fund this year. While it does not support travel funds, the LRF supports conference registrations, and presenting research at conferences in addition to other costs associated with conducting research. The total funds ($5400) were used this year, and were awarded via 17 approved applications. There were 2 applications towards the $6044 available in GRF funding, which were both approved (Brian Rosenblum and Betsaida Reyes; Becky Schulte). The Office of Research awarded these funds last week.

∙ Nominating and Ballot (Betsaida Reyes): Betsaida noted that candidates were needed for several vacancies for upcoming elections, particularly for the Library Faculty Assembly (LFA). The two vacancies with no candidates were LFA vice chair, and an Associate Representative on LFA Exec. All elected positions welcome more candidates as well.

∙ Salaries and Benefits (Lars Leon): Lars mentioned the CRSA-Organizational Development collaboration to present 5 research forums and 2 workshops this past year and thanked the participants before presenting the Salaries and Benefits report. He noted that he and Deborah Dandridge will be completing their terms this year. The committee sponsored a fall forum to help Libraries staff understand merit process at Libraries. He spoke about programming related to various benefits including the STAR program and HealthQuest.

Reports from University Governance Committees

∙ Scott McEathron, University Senate Planning and Resources Committee: Members of this committee will be sitting in on upcoming departmental budget meetings. The group had 3 special charges:

o Examine partnership between KU and outside contractors/consultants

o Implement KU Master Plan and Science Master plan

o Detail the University’s financial relationship with Kansas Athletics, Inc. How much income does KU receive for licensing branding materials?

∙ Sub-groups were formed for each committee with reports available on the university website. Scott participated in the 3rd group.

∙ Elspeth Healey, Retirees Rights and Benefits Committee: Met once in October. Worked on reconciling 3 versions of the handbook for retirees, which currently resides in 3 separate locations. The group looked into low/no-cost things ways to improve retirees’ experiences, and are currently looking to other universities for examples. Elspeth encouraged LFSA members to send her examples if they know of any.

∙ Fran Devlin was unable to attend, but provided a link to a report from the Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities committee on which she participated.

∙ Jocelyn Wehr was unable to attend, but provided a written update on the University Senate Libraries Committee, which she, Sara Morris and Mary Ann Baker participate in. The group met 3 times, hosted presentations from Libraries employees, and held annual open forum. Their report is available on the University Governance website.

∙ Sara Morris, Parking: Reiterated that this committee is self-funded and provides maintenance for all lots on campus. Indicated that parking costs increased by 5% across the board to fund construction of a central parking garage. Indicated that information would be forthcoming about road closures and summer construction beginning on May 12.

∙ Brian Moss, Staff Senate

o Call for interest in committees after LFSA.

o Staff Senate met with Board of Regents 3 weeks ago. The Fail Campus Carry group expressed concerns at this meeting.

o The new Staff Senate President-Elect, Michelle Ginavan Hayes, met with Brian and Provost Bendapudi. Brian and Michelle asked about the possibility of a day off for staff to engage in civic activities. This will likely not be approved.

o Brian and Michelle to request further clarification from Central HR about the policy for notices of non-reappointment, including pushing for more explanation of the rationale for non-reappointments.

o Interviews for Chancellor search begin next week. The search committee will give Regents 3-5 names to choose from, which they can accept, or choose from other candidates. There are two Regents on the search committee (24 members total). o Reiterated Central HR policy for accruing leave.

o Reiterated notification from Central HR to put in HealthQuest points as soon as possible. o Tuition Assistance was funded for the summer, and will likely be funded for fall as well. This benefit will be revisited next spring. There is a waiver program to complement tuition assistance in the works, but it will likely not be completed for a few years. ∙ Deborah Dandridge, University Sabbatical Leave: Indicated that all applications were approved this year. No candidates from the Libraries went up for Sabbatical this year.

∙ Amalia Monroe-Gulick, FacEx:

o Good year for shared governance

o FacEx worked on an overhaul of Article 9 in the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations to bring it to compliance with Federal regulations

o Also amending Article 6 in the FSRR which has been practiced, but still needs to be officially updated. This update allows faculty to not wait 7 years to go up for promotion. o Announced that the FacEx President-Elect is Ruben Flores

o The SenEx president-elect has become president, and the next president-elect is Kurt McClure from Urban Planning.

Reports on LFSA Exec activity

∙ Marianne reported that we have had a lot of discussion this past year about issues with the HealthQuest program procedures. There will be a forum hosted sometime in June to address some of the questions faculty and staff have raised.

∙ Marianne indicated that LFSA Exec is in the process of reviewing updates made to the website this past year

∙ Tuition Assistance Survey

o LFSA Exec sponsored this survey to gather feedback on this benefit, and shared aggregate responses with the Libraries last week. The survey had over 60 responses. Comments were shared with Kevin.

o Kevin indicated that the high amount of response was a testament to the importance of this benefit. Any changes to the current procedures have to be approved by the Provost, who will share them with the deans before making anything final.

Call for Candidates in Governance Elections

∙ Marianne noted that most LFSA standing committee positions are appointed rather than elected, and vacancies will be filled when the newly elected LFSA Executive Committee takes effect July 1, 2017.

∙ Marianne and Betsaida reiterated that elections for LFSA Exec, LFA Exec, LSA Exec, LCPT, and SLPTR will need to be completed soon and are accepting candidates. LFA especially needs a vice-chair.

∙ In response to a question from the membership, Marianne listed several incentives of serving on Libraries governance including fulfilling service requirements, building a relationship with the Dean, the opportunity to network and collaborate with colleagues, and contributing to a democratic working environment.

New Business

Marianne called for any new business from the floor.

∙ Lars Leon thanked members of LFSA governance committees for their work this past year ∙ Hearing no further business, Marianne asked for a call to adjourn. Elspeth Healey motioned and Sunita Gandhi seconded.