March 12th, 2014 10:00am-12:00pm
University Center 332/333
President Singleton called the meeting to order at 10:05am.
Maggie Linder, Secretary, took attendance.
Andi Armstrong, David Crowley, Kristine Csorosz, Matt Filer, Molly Fishburn-Matthew, Geri Fox,
Gary Hagler, Maggie Linder, Becky Maier, Maria Mangold, Denise May, Roger McDonald, Jaylene Naylor,
Sandi Nelson, Gloria Phillip, Hannah Singleton, Jimmy Stevens, Brandie Terpe, Angela Weisenburger, Judy
Wellert (Administrative Associate), Darlene Samson (Ex-Officio)
Lisa Marie Hyslop, Michael Maas
Chuck Harris, Natalie Hiller-Claridge, Kathy Reeves, Maryann Robison, Kelly Wasson, Jennifer
Zellmer-Cuaresma
President Singleton presented the minutes of January 8th, 2014 and February 12 th , 2014. Due to concern about time to review the January Minutes, they were approved during the March meeting. President Singleton presented the minutes. Minutes were approved.
Financial Officer Hagler presented the Financial Report. Staff Senate has spent 46% of our budget for the General
Operating fund. Officer Hagler and Judy Wellert have been working with Allen Middleton, Transfirst, to finalize the credit card processing. The credit card acceptance needs to be tested to verify the deposits go to the correct account and can be earmarked for each activity. Judy Wellert contacted the President’s Office and Residence Life, and each of those entities agreed to donate $500 to the Scholarship Fund. Officer Hagler encouraged someone that is interested in being the Financial Officer next year to sign up for UMDW courses in May so they can start right away. The Financial Report was approved.
Senator Weisenburger wanted to thank everyone that worked so hard to keep campus clean and clear of snow.
Senator Filer reported that more degrees were awarded in Fall Semester than any other Fall semester before. He explained this is likely due to no longer requiring the WPA. Also, U.S. Senator Bullock will be talking at commencement this year.

President Singleton shared that a press release had gone out stating that faculty were imperative, and she had contacted Peggy Kuhr to note that all employees, including staff, share a role in student success. From this email,
Peggy Kuhr offered to be a guest at Staff Senate.
Kuhr shared about her position, explaining she oversees Printings and Graphics and the Montana Broadcast
Radio, and works to integrate communications between the UM Foundation, Athletics, and UM.
Kuhr talked about the “We are Montana” trips around that have been ongoing this year. These trips around
Montana put feet on the ground, and give face-to-face meetings with high school counselors, teachers, principals, alumni, and major donors. The trip had a multi-purpose mission. The trip included President Engstrom and many other administrators, however, feedback stated that high schools want to see more faculty. Kuhr explained that
Faculty can be great recruiters, but need to be asked to help, so the comment in the press release was meant to thank those that have worked with high schools and to encourage more Faculty to volunteer.
Senator Weisenburger expressed her concern that local high schools aren’t getting materials from UM, sharing that her junior in high school has not seen UM materials, but is seeing MSU come in to do pizza parties and is receiving materials. Kuhr responded that she wanted to identify if Weisenburger’s dependent was on the mailing list, so they can work to identify what is possibly an issue with mailings. Per Kuhr, we need to be working to define the University of Montana in a better way. Ex-Officio Samson expressed that we can do a better job of subtle promotion and grassroots programs, such as wearing Griz Gear. Kuhr encouraged people to share “I work at the University of Montana, and I love it there because of this…” Discussion ensued about having materials readily available so that if staff wanted to share, they could have some talking points and materials to hand out.
Discussion also addressed having current students share materials, and Kuhr explained that they provided packets
(ad-hoc) to students who were willing to go into high schools to share information. Kuhr noted that they find there is a lot of untapped energy, but they are trying to find the best way to go about sharing this information. UM is planning on doing a “blitz” week in Missoula and in the local area because there is an incorrect perception that local high school students know about UM. However, a lot of local students want to “get out” of Missoula. UM needs to do a better job of encouraging local students to come to UM. Kuhr encouraged senators to share more ideas with her via email.
Mariah visited to discuss Robert’s Rule of Order and Resolutions. She explained that ASUM is probably the most formalized body on campus because they tend to find the most controversies through students. Mariah explained that Robert’s Rules of Order allow controversy to be discussed without having “heat” for the topic. Also, the formalized procedures help to keep the meetings moving along, as it can cap people’s talking points, because
ASUM doesn’t cap meeting times. Mariah perceives that Staff Senators get along well, so controlling discussion isn’t necessary, but she recommended Dorris P Zimmerman’s
Roberts Rules of Order in Plain English .
Mariah brought an example of a resolution to share with the senators. She explained the resolution and each piece, showing that the “Whereas” clause is where you build your argument, and the “Therefore” clauses states what we want to do and how it will be amended. Mariah explained, in ASUM, resolutions are only binding if they amend government documents, otherwise resolutions last only throughout the period of the senate. Mariah shared the process of how ASUM resolutions come to be. Anyone can author a resolution, but it must be sponsored by a
Senator. The meeting before they want to present a resolution, it is new business for the next meeting. ASUM requires the written resolution be turned in Monday prior to meeting, and then a committee reviews it for grammatical errors, checks facts, and verifies references before determining if a resolution is ready or should come to the Senate. Then the resolution goes forward to Senate the next Wednesday. Resolutions can come through other boards, the Vice President, or President, however, for the most part they are funneled through the

resolutions committee. Staff Senate should decide how often they want to use resolutions. Let’s have an example:
The Ethics Statement. It was passed by Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and ASUM, thus showing the strength of the three pronged shared governance. Perhaps Staff Senate would want to look at ASUM’s resolutions, but attack topics from a staff’s perspective. Mariah offered to advise us as we build the process. To begin, Staff Senate’s first resolution would to be build the process into our bylaws.
Senator Armstrong reported on the Communications and Visibility Committee (CVC). She reminded us that the
Title Boxing event is upcoming on April 23. CVC discussed late spring and summer events during their meeting this month, including another Mount Sentinel Hike in June and Lawn Chair Luncheons. CVC also asked that Judy talk with Hannah about bringing in Union Reps and having Captain Gladwin come in for training. Senator
Armstrong shared that Service Saturdays are being posted on social media. Also, CVC is working on plan to have personal contact with new employees. Judy Wellert can provide a new list of new employees, however, it can be a long list so it would need to be split up to tackle. Logistically, CVC would possibly do it quarterly and have
Senators sign up to welcome and introduce Staff Senate to particular employees, whether it is in person, via email, etc. Senator Weisenburger inquired if Lawn Chair Luncheons will still be on Friday’s. Co-Chair Senator Fox thinks Wednesday might be a better idea. Also, Ice Cream was a challenge to provide at the Lawn Chair
Luncheons, so CVC would more likely provide lemonade or other beverages. President Singleton explained that
Unions are being scheduled to be guests so that Staff Senate will have more information to share about Unions.
Senator Mangold questioned what power a resolution passed by Staff Senate would have on various Unions.
Senator Armstrong proposed that the by-laws committee write a resolution to amend the bylaws to include resolutions. Motion passed.
Senator Mangold reported on the Fundraising Committee. The Tamarack event was well attended. Although we didn’t make as much on the 50/50 raffle, we feel that we had quite a few people and had good attendance. Staff
Senate can expect a check in the mid to end of April. Judy Wellert sent out two options for initiatives that the
Fundraising Committee is considering. Senator Mangold explained that the Fundraising Committee knows they will need more help from all of Staff Senate, but the help would be a bit different depending on T-Shirt sales or the garage sale (reference committee report for February). Senator Filer noted that garage sale happens once, but we could do t-shirts later on. Discussion ensued about logistics for t-shirt sales. Senator Linder inquired if and what responses Senator Mangold received from the email. In terms of the responses from Judy’s email inquiring about which initiative, Senator Zellmer-Cuaserma recommended a fundraising activity of a “day in the life” where
Staff Senate sells raffle tickets and the winner could swap jobs with President Engstrom on an agreed upon day. It was noted to keep this idea for future fundraising activities. Senator Armstrong brought up the fact that the shirts would tentatively just say “staff”, and recommended to put the heart of the grizzly logo on it or the M-Pulse.
Senator Terpe shared that the garage sale logistics would be difficult, and that it would be a labor intensive event.
Discussion ensued about whether or not the garage sale was a well-attended event, with it being noted that the event is very weather dependent. Senator Fox shared that it was well attended a few years ago. A vote was taken on which Fundraising activity Staff Senate would do this semester, with a vote of fourteen for shirt sales, and none for the garage sale.
Senator May reported on the Elections Committee. Fourteen people’s term is up. Ten have responded, half are running for re-election, half aren’t. If running for re-election, Senators should email Senator May by Friday,
March 14 th . March 28 th is the deadline for staff to submit to run for election. Senator May explained there is a need to recruit senators as there are seventeen open positions. Judy Wellert has prepared a mailing to go to the crafts and technical classifications (275-300 employees getting these) encouraging them to run. Senator
Singleton? shared that it is difficult for crafts and technical to serve as their job is imperative and time sensitive,

for example they can’t leave a plumbing problem to come to a meeting. Also, those staff might be dirty and don’t want to come into a meeting in that state. Senator May is willing to go to crafts and technical meetings to discuss
Staff Senate. Discussion ensued about how best to recruit new senators. Senator Csorosz stated sometimes the nature of the job just doesn’t allow for them to serve, but a good way is to have staff serve on a committee or work on another project.
Senator Filer noted there was no report for Bylaws Committee.
Senator Nelson reported on the Scholarship Committee. Due to snow day, she made the decision to extend the application deadline to the following Monday. Ten submissions came in, last minute. Staff Senate plans to have those students at the April Meeting to present the scholarships. The Scholarship Committee is planning a time to review submissions. Discussion ensued about when we want to schedule the recipients to come in and receive their scholarships, with the determination that the presentation would be scheduled for 11:30am.
Senator Fox reported on the Staff Awards Committee. The Committee determined the two winners and have submitted their decision to the President’s Office. The President’s Office sends letters, and the chair of the committee (Fox) will get notification when the letters go out.
The Survey Committee had no report. President Singleton brought up re-running the employee satisfaction survey. Senator Naylor reported that some other questions have been proposed by CVC. It was determined to do survey next Fall.
Senator Csorosz reported that ADA committee was cancelled for Snow Day.
Csorosz reported on Sustainability Committee, explaining the director submitted resignation letter for May. That committee will be in fluctuation, and the co-chair will take over for that committee.
Senator Armstrong reported on the Library Committee. She shared the new flyer and newsletter that has been created. A PDF will be coming out soon and Senator Armstrong will share it electronically.
Senator Weisenburger reported on the Athletic Committee. Their primary focus is having degree audit added into
Banner programing.
Senator Mangold reported on the University Budget Committee. The Budget Allocation Model (BAM) has been postponed due to backlash and confusion that the BAM would affect the current budget decision, although it doesn’t. The Budget Committee is also working out kinks for variables on the faculty side, and it is being tabled for now. The Committee reviewed cost savings updates from the Cost Savings Workgroup. The Cost Savings
Workgroup has rated savings in terms of priority and implementation, and Senator Mangold thanked Senator
Phillip for her work on the Cost Savings Workgroup. Additionally, the degree audit system and online graduation application are moving forward.
President Singleton reported that the Employee Recognition Day’s theme is “Be True to Your School”/a Beach
Boy’s theme. It is April 18 th from 3pm-5pm, and all employees are encouraged to come to this fabulous event.
Additionally Senator Singleton encouraged employees to enjoy all week and talk to supervisor about a potluck or other celebratory. Senator Linder noted it is also Student Employee Recognition Day that week.
Senator Mangold works with the Missoula International Friendship Program, and reminded Senators of the
International Food and Culture event on Sunday, March 23rd. Senator Maier can provide posters.

Judy Wellert has noticed three Kaimin stories about staff, and that that was wonderful. She encouraged Senators to think of a good idea about staff and let her or Senator Armstrong know about it. Senator Weisenburger noted we need to have photographer and other communication outlets at the scholarship presentation in April.
Senator Maier shared that if anyone is interested there is an active on-campus chapter of Weight Watchers and invited others.
Next meeting: April 9 th , 10:00am-12:00pm, UC 332/333.