Minutes from
Unclassified Senate Meeting
September 8, 2005

1. Introductions
2. Approval of Meeting Minutes
1. Jeannette Johnson suggested that the last name needed to be added in at the first mention of each Senator in the minutes
2. Jennifer Brooks agreed to make those corrections
3. Minutes were approved pending corrections
3. Treasurer's report
1. The treasurer was not at the meeting, but the account balance is $2623.
4. President's report
1. SenEx Meeting 09/06/05 Notes
   1. AP&P Committee
      1. Recommendations for withdrawal policy changes - adopting a university-wide policy, streamline the policy into two periods
      2. Period One: withdrawal with a W
      3. Period Two: the day before stop day withdraw with a WPass or WFail (visible on record, but not in GPA)
      4. Specifics will come out later
2. Provost Meeting 09/07/05 Notes - reported by Jason O'Connor
   1. Regents - provide one common Transfer Equivalency site
   2. Flat tuition plan - concerns with community college transfer students
   3. 29 Students from Hurricane Katrina fallout are registered
   4. Disaster Plan - security reasons prevented details from disseminating
      1. Discussion broke out from this topic revolving around unanswered questions such as what if a disaster happened at KU, who is in charge, what if telecom/web goes down, are there provisions for students/faculty with disabilities.
      2. Danny Kaiser suggested that this would be a good topic for the Staff Development Committee.
   5. University Support Staff program at KU has been traveling to tell other schools about how it works and has worked out
   6. Enrollment per hour is about 3000
3. University Council 09/02/05 - all issues from that meeting have been reviewed.
5. Classified Senate Report - Angie Loving
1. USS Disciplinary Action Hearing Board training was completed this week
2. USS - last portion of merit raises effective Sept. 11, these are based on performance.
6. Student Senate Report - Hannah Love
1. Issues Agenda - proposed city ordinance regarding marijuana use is supported because it would not affect grants/funding for students
2. Freshman Senators will be sworn in Wednesday, Sept. 14
7. Human Resources Report - no representative from HR to report anything.
8. Committee Reports
1. Governance and Representation - Sheri Perry
   1. They have chosen a chair and plan to have a full group meeting before the next Unclassified Senate meeting
2. Professional Development - Jeannette Johnson
   1. First P.D. activity is scheduled and approved in collaboration with USS.
      1. Co-host a Nationally sponsored video debate, "Free Speech in Digital Age"
      2. Offer programming on Constitution Day, September 17 th - found out about it in May/June; part of a new law enacted
      3. Website has good resources: www.ku.edu/constitution/
      4. Dole Institute is sponsoring the broadcast at 12:30PM Friday the 16 th .
      5. Margo Adler will host the show with a variety of diverse viewpoints from multiple people.
      6. USS paid for an ad in the Kansan.
      7. Jeannette encouraged attendance; there will be free Cokes.
   2. An electronic survey is being developed by Marilyn Ault to see if PD functions would be supported and attended if there were a charge to attend.
3. Public Relations - Jill Hummels
   1. The committee worked with the Professional Development committee on the press releases for this event
      1. Oread - a wait and see on publication
      2. University Calendar - it is already listed
      3. UDK, cosponsored with USS for an ad to be run the Thursday before the event (Sept. 15)
   2. Discussion on updating the website
      1. Thelma Simons is the web magician and will be overhauling the website, including the URL
         1. Suggested options: www.ku.edu/
            1. /US
            2. /unclassifiedsenate
            3. It was proposed that a vote of the Senators at the end of the New Business items will be taken to make a choice today.
         2. A counter was suggested
         3. Identification of the Unclassified Employee of the Month could be on the website.
         4. Profiles of the Unclassified employees that are on the brochure could be on the web also.
         5. Thelma suggested that a short list of commonly used links could be added in.
         6. Send comments, issues, links to Jill or Thelma for the Unclassified Senate website.
         7. Game Plan - assemble the site, by November have a site preview, get additional input, make changes then publish.
         8. University Relations issue - will there be a new template to go with the new marketing campaign?
            1. Aaron Brown reported that could come in a month or so.
   3. Ad Hoc Committee - Aaron Brown
      1. Aaron Brown is the chair of this committee and they have met one time.
      2. Dan Consolver provided background and details about the previous election and the decisions that shaped it.
      3. This committee plans to meet monthly with a broad agenda for next year's election. They will formulate an election plan with details of preparation and execution.
9. Old Business
1. Constitution Day Event - reviewed earlier
2. Visit to Edwards Campus
   1. Jason O'Connor discussed a field trip to Edwards Campus
   2. Unclassified Senate would provide the bus and time, Edwards Campus will provide cookies and Cokes - to show us what KU is doing in Kansas City
   3. Potential date: October date from 1-4:30 pm
   4. Invite all new KU faculty and unclassified staff
   5. Mark Nesbitt-Daly transferred this opportunity to Jeannette's Professional Development committee - so they could hold a smaller meeting to come up with a date.
   6. Ray Hummert suggested that a similar trip could be scheduled to visit KUMC.
10. New Business
1. Transit Plan for the University - Martha Hodgekiss
   1. Martha gave details about a proposal that would coordinate KU, KU on Wheels, and the city transit in a plan that was formulated by a task force this summer. This proposal was to be recommended to the Provost in early September and they hope to receive a response by mid-September.
   2. This is a key issue that this group should monitor - what is the role of staff and needs, how will this new system address them?
   3. Danny is chair of that committee. He gave details on the plan and corrected the errors of the Lawrence Journal World. There will be coordination because we will rely more on the city transportation to bring people to the campus and KU will need to circulate them.
      1. More discussion between the Senators and Danny questioning routes and current congestion took place and Danny assured us that all considerations will be taken into account and that the plan is not yet formalized. There will be many aspects to this development, from the involvement of parking to routes, frequencies, etc.
2. United Way Kickoff - Danny Kaiser
   1. Soon there will be letters going out to begin this fundraiser.
   2. Danny encouraged us that although the pressure and interest for support is focused around the hurricane victims currently, that should not diminish our continued support of local charities.
3. Announcements
   1. Mark announced that the Honors Program will be opening a central campus satellite office in the Spencer Research Library - 3 rd floor near restrooms, office hours are in the afternoon.
   2. Audio Reader Fundraiser - Diana Frederick
      1. For Your Ears Only - September 23 & 24 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds
      2. Accepting donations of instruments and gently used media to recycle
      3. http://reader.ku.edu/fyeo.html
   3. Jeannette reminded us about the Convocation that will be at 3:45 pm in 110 Budig. The focus will be on Graduation in 4 years. This could impact many unclassified staff and she encouraged attendance.
   4. Mark reminded everybody about the email from Kathy Reed
      1. Volunteers for Sunday, September 18 th - Select-A-Seat
      2. Jason O'Connor gave details on the incentives to participate and why it all has to be done on one day.
4. URL voting
   1. The majority favored: www.ku.edu/unclassifiedsenate
5. Meeting Adjourned

Jennifer Brooks

Unclassified Senate Secretary