Tulane University
Staff Advisory Council
ATTENDEES
ATTENDEES
OFFICERS
UPTOWN CAMPUS
Lane, Christopher,Chair
Orgeron, Laurie, Vice Chair
Bouyelas, Sheri, Election Coordinator
Bourgeois, Kathy,Recording Secretary
Ardeneaux, Carol, Corresp.Secretary
Lossi, Suzanne, Member At Large
Present
Present
Present
Present
Excused
DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
Conners, Linzi
Davis, Patrick
Haase, Tanya
Heisser, Michael
Kivell, Anita
Leger, Kay
Miller, Michael
Pasternak, Merisa
Pick, Amy
Slatkin, Allan
Stewart, Patsy
Vasquez-Lockhart Yesenia
NORTHSHORE
Guichard, Kenny
Waguespack, Desiree
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Cantero, Linda
Chavez, Gwen, Immediate Past Chair
Eugene, Zina
Griffith, Mike
Keck, Jeanny
Leonard, Angelica
Loshbaugh, Alysia
Mitchell, Scott
Murphy, Louise
O’Dwyer, Lisa
Platner, Rob
Richards, Whitney
Robinson, LaShanda
Smith, Lawrence
Vega, Kimberly
Weingart, Kady
Present
Present
Graham, Tiffany (proxy)
Hyde-Augillard, Sharon (proxy)
Mann, Forbes (proxy)
Page, Karissa (proxy)
Pierlus, David (proxy)
Schneider, Louie (proxy)
Schor, Meredith (proxy)
Souquet, Jon (proxy)
Sugarman, Meredith (proxy)
Ussin, Nikita (proxy)
Woodard, Cathy (proxy)
INVITED GUESTS AND VISITORS
Superintendent Jon Barnwell, TUPD
* Via teleconference
All Officers are serving the Staff Advisory Council term 2011 – 2012
Present
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Present
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 2
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chris Lane at 3:30 pm.
I.
Review and Approval of the Minutes
February 2012 and April 2012 minutes were approved.
II.
Guest Speakers
The new TUPD Superintendent, Jon Barnwell, spoke to us. He appreciates the SAC committee
and understands the importance of our group. He came from North Carolina State University
where he served six years on their Staff Senate. Jon has fifteen years in law enforcement. He
was the Deputy Chief of Police at North Carolina State and was also the Public Information
Officer for thirteen years there. The unique challenge of unifying the uptown campus with the
downtown campus was one of the things that brought Jon to Tulane. Before he arrived, we
were operating on separate policies, procedures, uniforms and reports. In the short time that he
has been here, they formed a field recommendations committee. He charged that group with
changing their uniforms, badges, patches and stripes on the vehicles. The only stipulations he
gave to them was to make the word campus disappear since we are a University and the
uniform couldn’t resemble anything that they currently had. Jon is very happy with what they
came up with. The uniforms, etc. will go live on July 1, 2012. He was charged with getting the
downtown police eight hundred megahertz radios. Currently the downtown police officers are
not only unable to talk to the uptown police officers, but if they are assisting NOPD, they don’t
have a common channel that they can switch to in order to communicate with them. During 911
and Katrina, communicating with the different agencies was the biggest concern. The
downtown radios should be done as early as the following week. Within the next month, he will
hire a professional standards manager, which is an internal affairs manager, and an
accreditation manager. This will house all of our internal investigations and complaints. If they
get a complaint over the phone or even anonymously, they will investigate it to the fullest extent.
Enhancing the customer service and delivery of services is at the top of his list. If we have a
problem of any kind, they want us to be able to call the Police Department and they will direct us
to the person or department that can help us if they can’t. Persons reporting problems or even
suspects should be treated as they would treat a family member. They should be treated with a
level of dignity and respect, which goes further in the long run. Their goal is to be an extension
of the academic environment. When dealing with students, they want to look at the opportunity
to be a part of education outside of the classroom. Our students come to Tulane to get a Class
A education. While doing so, they are also developing socially. That is where they can come in
and help guide their actions from a social interaction standpoint. When possible, they want to
use the office of student conduct to alleviate some issues that don’t reach a high criminal level.
If they have to make a physical arrest, they will, but they want to try to utilize education first, but
based on the nature of the incident and the level of compliance that they are getting from the
student, they may have to take it to another level. He hopes to be accredited by CALEA
(Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Administrators) in the next twenty seven
months. This will show our partners and the campus community that we are meeting or
exceeding internationally recognized standards for the delivery of police services. Within the
next six months, we want to become dually accredited by IACALEA (International Association of
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Administrators). Four years ago North
Carolina State became the sixth University to become dually accredited. The plan is for Tulane
to be in the top twenty Universities that are dually accredited. Five years from now, he wants to
apply for the gold standard accreditation. This means that we would be the flag ship or the
bench mark. Others that want to become accredited would call us to find out what our policies
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 3
and procedures are. His goal is to become the premier police department in a private University
setting. They are going to develop a career development program to get anyone that is not up
to speed trained.
He then opened it up for questions. Alysia asked if there is going to be a way for faculty, staff
and students to text emergencies to the Police Department. Jon said that they will be beta
testing an app for the phones this summer around June 1, 2012. It will allow us to provide
information and upload photos. The system will also include a virtual escort. You will program
the amount of time you think it will take you to get somewhere and then you set a timer. If you
are not to your location by the time the timer goes off, it will buzz you to see if you are still on
your escort. If you need extra time, it will extend it. If you don’t answer, it will immediately send
a message to TUPD so they can call to verify that you are safe. If necessary, they will send
someone out to assist you. It also has a panic button that you can press as you are walking. It
also lets you know where the buses and shuttles are located and the opportunity to request a
SAFE ride after hours. They will be talking about this program during Orientation, but the rollout
date won’t be until August 1st. The Orientation staff will test this program to see how they like it.
Gwen asked what the jurisdiction is downtown. It is from Canal Street to Poydras, Elks Place to
Claiborne Avenue and all of the area in between. NOPD usually re-deploys their resources.
We also have an extended jurisdiction uptown. This is something that they plan to keep and
has been working out very well. What we have done is put a buffer around the main campus,
and it has been beneficial to NOPD and us. The uptown area is from Carrollton to Jefferson
and from Audubon Park to Claiborne. If the NOPD is running a special detail or investigation
that they need the resources for, they ask us to add a few extra patrols for a couple of nights
while they continue with what they are doing. They have a perimeter of detail that is ten officers
strong during the week and they supplement with additional NOPD on the weekends, but that
doesn’t include the four or five that just police the uptown campus itself. They are in
conversations about doing this in the summer, because it is so beneficial to the uptown
community. We don’t want to allow the crime to creep back in.
Laurie asked if they still plan to build the station on Broadway where the old frat house was.
That is a potential staging area for the library, so they may not get to break ground until 2014.
He is trying to convince them that trying to cross Broadway with materials is not going to be
easy.
Jon is looking into working with the Orleans Emergency Communications Center to see if they
can make that substation a two story building with an upstairs 911 Center. This would benefit
Tulane University and also be a backup for the city. That would provide federal funding that we
could use to pay for the 2nd floor.
Laurie asked if the Primate Center falls under their jurisdiction. It does and they consider it part
of the downtown campus. There is a captain, sergeant and twelve officers there. Elmwood is
ours, but they don’t actively patrol it, but they respond if needed.
Laurie has an issue with her office in McAlister Auditorium since Katrina. There have been
many instances when she would come in to work in the morning to find that the doors are wide
open. It has been reported on several occasions, and she asked if they check those doors.
She was told that they do check, but the doors should be locked if they are checking them. She
asked if this could be a priority on their nightly checks. At one point she found someone living in
the auditorium. It makes her nervous since she is the only one in the building. Jon said that he
would look into that for her. They have also partnered with Admiral Security and brought one
security guard in during the day to do the unlocking and two at night to check the doors. One of
the things he has been tasked with doing is to develop and implement a security management
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 4
system for the University. This would integrate CCTV and access control for security purposes
so that we have one splash card that operates access to buildings. Every building would have
one primary access control door. All of the other doors would stay secure after hours on an
automatic locking system. When you would walk up to the door and swipe your card, the
camera takes a photo of you. It overlays to your picture on your splash card and verifies that
you are the person that the card belongs to. This system takes money, and would have to be
done in phases. It is something that would take five to seven years, but they will get a head
start on it this summer.
Alysia mentioned that every once in a while they will have someone that is a bit scary walk into
Gibson. She asked if there is a way to call the Police Department and say a secret code word
so as not to alarm the person, but let them know that there is someone in the building that
should not be there. This is something that they have been working on. He suggested looking
into the panic duress buttons. They are also looking into crisis intervention training for their
officers. It is very helpful with the hospital side of the policing, because it is a basic requirement
for dealing with mentally disturbed individuals. It allows the officers to be able to respond, deescalate a situation, recognize that the individual is in a crisis from a mental standpoint and
move toward a level of diversion as opposed to arresting them for trespassing. Diversion
means to have them psychologically evaluated and get them on their meds so that they are not
repeat offenders.
Rob said that they do not keep cash in their office, but at times they get an irate student in
Accounts Receivable. They called TUPD to come in, and they responded well. The officers
evaluated the situation, but he said that TUPD might not know what they are walking into, so it
would be good if they had something in place to alert the officer as to what the specific situation
is. Jon is open to looking at other safer ways for the officers to respond. If they put a security
camera in there under the security management system, they would be able to see what was
going on in the dispatch center and they could alert the responding officer on their laptop. The
officer could actually then see what is happening.
Gwen asked if the auto assistance program will continue, and Jon said that it will. They want to
become even more customer service oriented. They will offer jump starts and vehicle unlocks
as a courtesy to the community.
Jeanny asked if they could have an officer check Newcomb Hall occasionally to show a police
presence. A patrol plan will be implemented over the summer, and certain buildings will be
checked several times per day. She mentioned that there have been cases of theft and rape on
campus. Jon did a thorough historical check of our crime records, especially since it is a much
different environment than where he came from.
A member also noted that the Tidewater building normally has many people that are there for
classes or walking the halls. He asked if there could be an increase in patrols all over the
building. The Security officers in the building are our people, and they will be changing uniforms
with the others in July 2012. If we see someone that doesn’t seem to belong there, we are
asked to call TUPD to check the area.
They are developing pedestrian corridors. LaSalle and Cleveland have stood out to them from
a staff and student standpoint. They will be patrolling those areas in their reflective vests to be
more visible. The lawyers of Tulane are working with the lawyers of the city and Public Works
to allow TUPD to implement a totus lighting project. They provide highly conducive 100 watt
LED lighting, but when it senses motion, it bumps up to 150 watts. It gives the sense that you
are being watched and it is equipped with a camera. The partnership with the city would allow
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 5
us to use their existing light poles and they would continue to provide the power. He had a good
meeting with a subcommittee that was surprising to him since he came from a public University.
When they talked about needing money for this safety, a lady with the last name of Bernick
(who he later found out was the name of the person the Lavin Bernick Center is named after
and the CEO of Procter and Gamble) asked how much money we needed. She said that they
would work on getting the money for the project. TUPD put a wish list together that is going
before the board.
Someone from Housing told us that they are using Phelps and Irby for summer school students.
She asked if they could have patrols in those buildings. One of the things that they are doing is
implementing a community liaison program in which they assign an officer to each residence
hall. They will provide some programming to the RA’s to provide to the students, and they will
partner with the RA on duty at the twenty four hour desks to make rounds periodically. As a
police department, they don’t want it to look like they are walking through trying to catch
someone doing something wrong, but that they are there for safety reasons. At the same time,
they want to have that working relationship where the students know the officers on a first name
basis, and the Housing Staff can network with them to work on projects. Phelps and Irby will
probably be the pilot projects during the summer.
Someone that works in the Murphy building asked if they are still supposed to walk through the
back street instead of Canal. They verified that this is the best place to cross to the Tidewater
building.
Chris said that in the last year that he has heard more of a concern for safety from his students
that he advises. When he looks at the crime stats, it doesn’t appear that there is a rise in crime.
TUPD is seeing a rise in perception, which also has to be policed. They are trying to promote
the positive side. The Hullabaloo called Jon to see if they could do a story on the recent rash of
crime, but he told them that there hasn’t been a recent rash in crime. We only had two incidents
in a month. He finds that this is the case all over New Orleans even with the wonderful things
that New Orleans has to offer. The perception of crime seems to overshadow all of the positive
things such as the arts, entertainment and food. The students were telling Chris that they had
been hearing about the rash of petty crimes against students outside of the Tulane area. Jon is
working with the student safety committee to develop an educational campaign. He wants the
students to understand that he doesn’t care if students drink, but he wants them to be aware of
what is going on around them and get home safely. One of their top priorities is to promote
responsible behavior. They are trying to teach them what it is to be a good neighbor and good
member of the community, to look out for one another and report suspicious activity. It is
surprising to him that a student could pass out in the basement of the LBC and the friends
would walk away leaving her alone. There are some cultural things that have to change here.
We have great students that he feels are willing to take this challenge to change their behavior.
Laurie is part of a parent’s council. She was surprised that a parent suggested that Tulane put
a police officer at every bar that the students go to so they can escort them back to campus
safely. The students need to be responsible enough not to walk home alone at night or early
morning after drinking. During Orientation, TUPD will spend some time speaking to parents
about their roll. Parents need to reinforce the safety message and call to check on their children
periodically.
Chris brought up the parking issues. He asked if there is a way to reduce demand on parking or
come up with some special pricing for people that carpool. Members have voiced their
frustration with the lack of parking on campus in recent meetings. One of the things he is willing
to look at on the uptown campus is a share ride/reduced parking permit. It would be a greener
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 6
way of commuting while helping the staff. There has been discussion of parking decks, but
space and cost are issues. Parking is new to Jon. A member was told that he can use his
downtown parking permit on the uptown campus. The uptown parking permit cannot be used
downtown, though.
In anticipation of all of the construction that is about to take place, Laurie alerted Jon to the fact
that a lot of the construction workers were taking a lot of our parking spaces previously. They
are supposed to be limited to the number of spaces they can use. The construction of the
library addition will take a lot of parking for staging.
When there is a board meeting, they block off parking, but they don’t use the spaces. Jeanny
suggested that they do valet parking on those days. Jon said that this call would be over his
head. He suggested that Collette come in to give us updates on the construction plans.
Kathy Bourgeois asked about the parking during games once the new stadium is built. They are
looking at using Rosen, Diboll and Loyola and shuttling from Oschner and Baptist parking decks
and possibly the dome. Audubon zoo area is also being considered. Thursday night games
may be a problem since it will begin before the work day is over. Laurie said that this kind of
defeats the purpose of having a stadium on campus if you have to park off campus and take a
shuttle to the game.
Laurie jokingly asked if there would be a ramp from the Boot to the new Zimple Dorm. They are
not going to have an entrance to the dorm from that street, because there will be a railing there.
They will have to enter near the chapel. Laurie asked if they could put parking on the lower
level of that dorm, but the height of the building would be an issue.
Debbie Grant’s office revamped the TUPD website, and it includes all of their contact
information.
III.
Report of the Chair, Christopher
Lane
A special group worked on putting a staff appreciation event together. It seemed well received
by Ann Banos, but the President’s council thought it wasn’t well thought out. They thought it
was too close to the Wednesday get together for the graduation volunteers. Ann had told us
that it shouldn’t be a problem since it was on a separate day. Since President Cowen thought
that Friday wasn’t a good day, we had moved it to Thursday. It doesn’t seem as though we can
reschedule it. Chris felt that he had a hard time keeping up with the chair duties and the
committees. The person that we expected to take the lead resigned and Gwen was on
maternity leave. We didn’t realize we would have a problem with it until January, so we didn’t
have enough time to come up with something else. A member said that Ann suggested in the
past that we have a get together every other year. Our money will roll over, so we can use it
next year. We should have about $3,500 left over from this year. We could save money if the
tents and tables and chairs are donated. Laurie asked if we should make a motion to have the
event every other year. We will instead put it down as an item of discussion for the new officers
that will be voted in at the next meeting.
Kathy generated a list of departments in groups by buildings so we can have adequate
representation for every building/department. We used to have jurisdictions. Cynthia Hayes or
Rhonda Earles Brown may be able to advise us as to how we used to do it.
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 7
Chris thought that with Jon’s past involvement with SAC at North Carolina State, we may want
to mention that we would like to get someone from his office more involved. Laurie said that
someone from his office should be on our committee. One of the officers from the Primate
Center used to be a member.
IV.
WFMO Liaison
Alysia had a question about the hiring process at the last meeting. Once a candidate is chosen,
we should submit the hiring proposal to the employment team. If it is applicable, the packet
would go to OIE. This is because they have the underutilized positions that OIE is responsible
for tracking. Once OIE approves it, then you would make a verbal offer. If you have a
candidate, you should stress that the verbal offer is contingent on the background check. Then
let employment know if the candidate is accepted or not. The candidate will receive a
background check release form from Employment. Once it is complete, the candidate is
released for hire. Not all positions are required to go through OIE approval.
The list that we asked for is going to be set aside until the next group of SAC members comes
in.
The carpool issue was addressed with Jon Barnwell.
We had a question about the alternative medicine providers for some of our employees.
Contracts are negotiated every year, so we can’t do anything this year. We can address this
issue with our benefits committee. They always make those decisions based on the needs of
the entire University, so they have to balance it out depending on the number of people that
have certain needs.
We had asked for a list of WFMO employees and what their jobs are. Christine said that the list
is on their website http://tulane.edu/wfmo/index.cfm . Click on the box that says How may we
help you and click here to see contacts by service.
Someone had a question about the employee assistance program link, but it seems to be
working now. Here is the link http://tulane.edu/wfmo/employee-support/employee-assistanceprogram.cfm .
Some members made suggestions to make their website more user friendly. They have made
changes to it, but it is expensive to hire someone to revise it.
Gwen asked if they are going to have more incentive programs. They haven’t hired the
wellness coordinator under The Well yet, so she isn’t sure if they will continue these programs
or not.
We didn’t have any new business for Christina to take back to WFMO.
V.
Officer Reports
A. University Senate
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 8
Neither Chris nor Suzanne could make the last meeting. Mike went to the meeting, so
he gave us a breakdown. The meeting lasted about thirty to forty five minutes. The
President’s report from the last SAC meeting mirrored most of what was discussed at
the last University Senate meeting. They are making a change to the faculty handbook
with regards to the conflict of interest. They discussed the football stadium. They made
an amendment so that they Library addition could move forward. It is all about the
communication between the University and the neighborhood. He mentioned that Mayor
Landrieu is on the side of the University.
B. Board of Administrators
No Report
VI. University Senate Committee Reports
1. Benefits
No Report
2. Budget Review
We should have about 1600 freshmen coming in. The new dorm will have 256 beds,
and It should be completed in August 2014.
3. Information Technology
No Report
4. Equal Opportunity
No Report
5. Physical Facilities
No Report
6. Social Issues
VII. SAC Sub-Committees
1. Election Committee
We fell behind on the representatives elections. Gwen said that we need to get the
number of employees from all three campuses as well as who is rolling off. We need to
figure out how many need to be replaced and how many new ones need to be added.
We should have one representative for every one hundred people. If this can be done
quickly, the newly elected people can run for office. She needs to make sure she does
paper ballots on all campuses as well as the electronic ones. Sheri will meet with Rob
for help. Christina can get the number of full time employees on each campus. We will
elect officers in the June meeting as well. The representatives need to be voted on
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
May 11, 2012
Page 9
before the June meeting so we can elect officers. The officer elections need to get out
before the June meeting, because some people may not be able to attend the June
meeting, but they can still have a vote and send Sheri their ballot. Have them sign their
name on their ballot to prevent double voting.
2. Electronic Technology and Information
No Report
3. Staff Appreciation
We talked about this in the President’s report
4. Staff Issues
No Report
5. Health and Wellness
No Report
6. Community Service
No Report
VIII.
Old Business
IX.
New Business
X.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Bourgeois
Recording Secretary