Unclassified Staff Senate Meeting
March 8, 2012
I. Meeting called to order at 3:00 p.m. by President-Elect Missi Kelly.
II. Approval of minutes as amended – M/S/P (Girth, Stewart)
a. Amendment was to the Treasurers report - $2.52 was collected for tax on
the money donated by individuals who attended the soup and salad
celebration, but did not bring a dish
b. Balance is $29.48
III. Other University Reports
a. Student Senate – No representative present.
b. Classified Senate – No representative present.
c. Faculty Senate – No representative present.
d. President’s Liaison – No representative present.
IV. Executive Committee Reports
a. President’s Report – Missi Kelly
i. B.B. met with Dr. Scott and they discussed the following topics:
1. University closing due to the storm last week
a. How did you find out that the university was closed?
Senators reported that they received the Pitt Alerts
via text and email, supervisor contacted them,
television, or arrived at work (no power at their home
and cell phone not charged)
b. Are peoples signed up for PittAlerts? – Of the
Senators at the meeting, all were signed up.
c. Is there a better way to communicate? – Consensus
was that the communications methods used were
appropriate.
2. Smoke-free campus
a. SGA is in discussions regarding putting the issue of a
smoke-free campus to a vote after spring break
b. Some students seem to assume that if the issue of
PSU becoming a smoke-free campus passes, the next
step would be for Dr. Scott to automatically declare a
smoke-free campus, but signing off on this
recommendation from the students is not a certainty.
He would take staff and faculty opinions into
consideration before making his decision.
c. Please let Dr. Scott know if you hear students
expressing that they feel the student body vote will
determine the outcome of this issue.
3. Student referendum on fee increase
a. Voting by students enrolled during the spring 2012
term on the fee increase advisory referendum will
occur from March 7 through March 14
b. The fee increase would support the renovation or
expansion of the Overman Student Center,
construction of a Fine and Performing Arts Center,
and the construction of an Indoor Event Center.
c. Please encourage students to vote.
4. Legislative issues
a. House Bill 2745:
i. This would eliminate funding for remedial
(courses designed to give students a basic
understanding, such as math and language
arts) courses at universities.
ii. This legislation would also reduce the qualified
admission exception from 10% to 5%. Under
the current qualified admissions criteria,
students are admitted to Kansas universities if
they earn a minimum ACT score of 21,
graduate in the top 1/3 of high school class, or
complete pre-college curriculum with a 2.0 for
residents and 2.5 for nonresidents. State
universities may admit Kansas residents who
do not meet the minimum freshman
admissions criteria, but the number of these
exceptions are limited by statute to 10% of the
university’s total freshman admissions. House
Bill 2745 would narrow the exception to 5%,
because the purpose of the bill is to redirect
students who do not meet the academic
qualification standards to community colleges.
iii. A senator asked if PSU had a stance on this
issue. The response was that we do not know.
b. President-Elect Missi Kelly – No report.
c. Secretary Heather Eckstein – No report.
d. Treasurer Lauren Werner – No report.
V. Committee Reports
a. Adhoc By-laws – Ron Womble, chair
i. Ron distributed a copy of the bylaws with the recommended
changes. (A copy of this document is included at the end of these
minutes.) Areas with changes to consider include:
1. Responsibilities of the secretary
2. Process to fill an officer position when open mid-term
3. Quorum
4. Professional expectations of Senators statement
5. Officer elections – update to Senator elections
ii. Ron is accepting comments and recommendations regarding these
recommendations through March 29.
b. Adhoc Professional Development – Amanda Williams, chair
i. The committee is tallying the responses to the survey; we received
47 responses out of 275 potential respondents.
c. Election Committee – Jenny Hellwig, chair
i. Election Results
1. President Elect – Andy Myers
2. Secretary – Susan Dellasega
3. Treasurer – Lauren Werner
ii. The committee is now working on the election of new senators for
the open cohort seats for 2012-2013
VI. Old Business
a. Unclassified Council KBOR Meeting
i. Met in Topeka on February 15
ii. Report of the Unclassified Council at KBOR included focused on the
issue of raises
1. Missi indicated that that Dr. Scott has heard our concerns
regarding the lack of raises for unclassified staff. Further, as
the Governor did not grant funding for raises, any
unclassified staff raises would have to come from tuition.
The Tuition committee is looking into this issue.
2. Senators and all unclassified staff may contact
representatives in Topeka to express their opinion on this
issue; be mindful to do this on your own time and from your
personal resources such as your personal email account.
iii. General discussion about whether individuals on campus know that
they are classified or unclassified.
VII. New Business
a. Conceal and carry update: At this time it appears we have the votes to
maintain the exemption amendment that would empower higher
education governing boards to control whether concealed guns will be
allowed on campus.
b. Redistricting: This process has come to somewhat of a halt. There are
now approximately ten proposed congressional maps in the House.
c. Fee Council Update by Lauren Werner:
i. Athletic Fee Council - At the meeting of the council held on
February 10, the proposed Indoor Event Center was discussed. The
estimated cost is $12 million: $1.1 million in private gifts has been
pledged, an additional $5.5 million in private funding will be
sought, $3 million in student fees has been requested, and the
balance will be requested from the City of Pittsburg. The current
athletic fee of $130 raises approximately $1.5 million – 95% of this
goes to scholarships.
ii. Possible fee increases for 2012-2013 include:
1. $5 Athletics
2. $3 Student Health Center
3. $ Student Activities
4. $30 Master Plan – buildings (The athletics portion of this
increase is $7, so the total fee increase for athletics would
be around $11.) Fee council approved recommendation of
the $5 increase to student fees for Athletics.
VIII. Announcements
a. Next Executive meeting: March 21 at 3:00 p.m. in Russ 211.
b. Next Senate meeting: April 5 at 3:00 p.m. in the Student Center Inaugural
Room. Please note that Dr. Scott will be attending this meeting.
c. Rita Girth announced that the Student Health Fee council met and
requested a $2 fee increase to cover the employer portion of the group
health insurance and a potential 2% unclassified staff salary increase.
IX. Meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Heather Eckstein, Secretary
Debbie
Cathy Lee
Jon
Misty
Ellen
Mindy
Susan
Jean
Heather
Rita
Lindell
Jenny
Barbara
Jamie
Missi
Holly
Andrew
Shawn
David
Jim
Tim
Paul
BB
Lauren
Amanda
Ron
Amershek
Arcuino
Bartlow
Button
Carter
Cloninger
Dellasega
Dockers
Eckstein
Girth
Haverstic
Hellwig
Herbert
Jones
Kelly
Kent
Myers
Naccarato
Nance
Otter
Pearson
Stewart
Stotts
Werner
Williams
Womble
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5/17/2012
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4/5/2012
3/8/2012
2/2/2012
1/5/2012
12/1/2011
11/3/2011
10/6/2011
9/1/2011
5/18/2011
Unclassified Staff Senate Attendance
2011-2012
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Proposed Bylaw changes: