University Life Council
Minutes of Meeting
March 27, 2006
LC 31J
Present:
Bill Reese, Dan Smith, Ben Shaw, Martin Hildebrand, Candace Merbler, Gwen
Moore, Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Michael Christakis, Bob Yagelski, Julia
Filippone, John Murphy, and Joan Savitt (Chair)
Meeting commenced at 3:30 p.m.
Chair’s Report
Minutes from March 13 meeting approved with minor changes. Chair Savitt announced that
Elizabeth Gaffney was unable to attend the meeting but sent her regrets.
Chair Savitt provided a brief status update on the Family Leave Report and stated that the
document is being reviewed by other councils.
Chair Savitt then addressed the status of the mandatory health insurance concept. Chair Savitt
was able to obtain some more information after communicating with Dr. Peter Vellis (Director of
the University Health Center) and stated that three other University Centers do require health
insurance. There is an RFP out that mandates that the issuing insurance company also handle the
hard waiver but whether the RFP is by campus or SUNY-wide was unclear.
Candace Merbler asked how the other centers determined who was required to have health
insurance and who was not and Chair Savitt said that it seemed to vary depending on the campus.
Chair Savitt would like to bring the ULC opinion (which is favorable) regarding mandatory
health insurance to the Executive Council and members discussed next steps in formatting a bill.
Family Leave Bill – 3:45 p.m.
Jennifer Stromer-Galley presented a draft bill for review. She reviewed some specific areas in
the bill that the committee should pay particular attention to and ULC members commended her
on a job well done.
It was pointed out that one of the major changes that the bill recommends is the change to the
current Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) policy which would now extend to male staff
members and the ability to invoke FMLA if you adopt a child.
Members also suggested that given the changes to the policy, it may be beneficial to consider
developing a chart in which the current policy and new policy issues could be placed “side-byside” so that employees could easily compare and contrast the changes.
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J. Stromer-Galley expressed concern about some of the language in the bill because of
procedural issues it may raise, specifically areas that reference employees taking sick leave and
the amount of time off that would be allocated for staff that fall into different “categories”. Other
concerns were also raised regarding the potential inequality in how the policy treats time off and
pay for academic members and professional faculty members. Some of the concerns included:
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timing when it involves teaching semester-long courses when a faculty person takes
family leave and how to determine who will teach it (i.e. what if a faculty person desires
to start family leave at the end of the semester)
fairness in using accrued time off for academic year employees versus calendar year
employees (i.e. academic year employees do not accrue “annual” time) and in particular
the equality in possibly allowing a calendar year employee to use annual time, sick time
and then invoke FMLA, whereas an academic year employee would not have the accrued
annual time to be able to use
there is language in the current UAlbany HR policy which defines and recognizes
“domestic partnerships”. ULC members all agreed that it should be considered and to
take the language from the HR policy and use it in the family leave bill
tenure and permanent appointment extensions and how extended family leave can affect
(or not affect) this issue
Committee members discussed these issues in great length and attempted to reword the
document to address this potential problem.
After some debate and discussion, Chair Savitt suggested that perhaps it would be in the
committee’s best interest to create a new draft, especially given that EPC has a copy of the
current report and is reviewing it. J. Stromer-Galley would like to give EPC a more solid
document for review and said she would work on edits and circulate to the council via email.
Athletics Resolution – 4:45 p.m.
Committee members reviewed the draft resolution in support of the Athletics Department
acquiring a full-time person to run the intramurals program and assist with running the
recreational facilities.
Candace Merbler suggested some changes to the formatting of the resolution, including editing
some of the capitalization and removing numbering.
John Murphy asked if there is a compact plan from Athletics that includes a full time intramurals
person. Michael Christakis confirmed that there is a proposal in place in Dr. Lee McElroy’s
compact plan.
Gwen Moore raised a concern about a resolution supporting a hiring. Dan Smith stated that in
previous years, the precedent had been set, in which councils have brought bills/resolutions
supporting the addition of hiring staff.
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Chair Savitt will bring what the ULC develops to the Executive Council. As such, a motion to
approve the resolution, with suggested changes, was unanimously approved.
No new business.
Next Meeting is on April 17, 2006 at 3:30 p.m.. Room location is LC 31J.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nancy Lauricella, Recording Secretary
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