Tulane University
Staff Advisory Council
Minutes of Thursday, December 6, 2007
ATTENDEES
ATTENDEES
DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
Glenda Folse
Tami Jenniskens
Roxanne Johnson
Paula Lucas
Linda Miller
Cindy Stewart
Shirley Tubre
Karen Hiller (proxy)
Merisa Pasternak (proxy)
Yesenia Vasquez (proxy)
Excused
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Absent
Present
Present
Present
Present
OFFICERS
Cynthia Hayes, Chair
Susan Barrera ,Vice Chair
Rhonda Earles, Elections Coord..
Kathleen Brumfield, Record Sect.
Cheryl Sterling, Corresp. Sect
Jered Bocage, Parliamentarian
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Present
UPTOWN CAMPUS
Marty Brantley
Gwen Peacock Chavez
Liz Davey
Shirley Dymond
Miriam Espinosa
Paul Forbes
Lisa O’Dwyer
Judy Vitrano
Linda Wright
Argentina Acosta (proxy)
Jenny Daigle Benoit (proxy)
Christi Longlois (proxy)
Aaron Martin (proxy)
Laurie Orgeron (proxy)
MEMBERS – AT – LARGE
Lisa Britton
Ann Case
Rob Platner
Verna Lee
Present
Excused
Present
Excused
Excused
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Absent
Present
Present
Absent
Absent
Excused
Excused
Excused
Present
INVITED GUESTS
Stefanie Allweiss
Present
NORTHSHORE
Eileen deHaro
Mary Little
Robert Johnson (proxy)
Excused
Excused
Present
VISITORS
Tony Lorino
Bronis Bell
Sheryl Smith
All Officers are serving the Staff Advisory Council term 2007 – 2008
Call to Order: Cynthia Hayes, SAC Chair, called the December 6, 2007 meeting of the Staff
Advisory Council to order at 3:30 p.m. The meeting was held at the School of Public Health &
Tropical Medicine in the Dean’s Conference Room, Tidewater Building 24th Floor.
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I.
Review and Approval of the Minutes: Cynthia Hayes, SAC Chair, called for a motion to
approve the November 8, 2007 minutes. The minutes were approved with no corrections.
II.
Report of the Chair
 The Wellness Committee has had two meetings and it is really exciting. Cynthia
believes that some real good benefits will come of the wellness program.
 There was a rather lengthy Benefits Committee meeting last Friday.
 Staff Issues: Tony Lorino is present at today’s meeting to discuss the parking issues
and concerns.
 The Constitution Committee will be having their first meeting December 17, 2007.
 There will be more details to follow in the spring with regards to the City Park
Project.
 Adopt-A-Family Project: special thanks to Judy Vitrano and Gwen Chavez for all
their hard work. Judy will report on the project later under old business.
III.
Guest Speaker, Tony Lorino, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Lorino began with announcing that Cynthia, SAC Chair, had sent him a list of issues
in advance. It was decided that Mr. Lorino would just go down the list of issues and
discuss each.
1) Parking Costs on the Uptown Campus, Staff amount increased this fiscal year,
faculty amount did not.
Mr. Lorino’s Response – He is not sure where that information came from, but it is
incorrect. The faculty component did increase proportional to the staff; however, one
thing that was done this year which could have confused someone is that the grades for
the faculty were adjusted. Someone from the SAC in a previous meeting sent them a
message that they felt the disparity between the lowest grade staff and lowest grade for
faculty was too large. In other words, someone who was making an amount from the
lowest level for faculty was far greater than the lowest level for staff. Therefore, the
concern was investigated and it resulted in adjusted gradations for salaries that are
consistent with gradations that we have for health insurance. If you look at last year
compared to this year, there is little trouble making the comparison, but the change in
grade was made. He can assure us that faculty rates were increased proportionately to
staff, consistent with the plan that was introduced three years ago when we were
informed of the increases that would be spread out over the past three years.
Cynthia Hayes– One issue that came up with regards to the grades at the Benefits
Committee meeting was that there is an issue with doing it that particular way. She is not
sure which came up first the health insurance or parking.
Mr. Lorino’s Response – It was the health insurance; however, the parking scale was
constructed that way because of the SAC. In the past, the SAC raised the issue of one
price for everyone and Administration responded by going to a similar scale as the health
insurance. Last year they adopted the exact same scale as the health insurance.
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Cynthia Hayes – There will be changes with health insurance and she is not sure how
things will pan out. The issue is that it doesn’t matter how much you make, you are still
occupying a parking space; however, on the other side of the coin, she understands that
we are using the pay scale method of payment because of individuals with lower wages.
2) Parking Increases are greater than merit increases. Administration needs to be
sensitive to this.
Mr. Lorino’s Response – They are aware of the issues. There are a lot of cost of living
and compensation issues in the city right now. They are seeing this across the board.
Parking increases as some of us know were set in place three years ago. He is currently
working on a five year forecast and there are no parking increases in the forecast. They
are continuing to operate at a loss. Were it not for insurance recoveries last fiscal year,
due to the settlement, we would have had an operations loss. We had a substantial
operating loss in fiscal year 06 in excess of 100 million dollars. There will also be an
operation loss in FYs 08, 09 and 10. He is sensitive to the observations; however, the
fact is that we are operating at a loss. What we need to do is to get out of this deficit
situation. There is not a lot of opportunity to do much more in terms of the salary
increases. They established the pool at 3% and that is what they can afford. Prior to
Katrina, the University pretty much operated at a break even level.
3)
What are the plans for parking when McAlister Drive is closed off permanently?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – The old Rosen House complex on Claiborne Avenue was
demolished. The immediate plans are for that location to be turned into a parking lot.
They have been slower than expected getting that project completed partly due to waiting
on FEMA. They are now trying to comply with the city ordinances. The ultimate plan is
that it will accommodate 341 parking spaces. That should be more than enough to
accommodate parking lost from McAlister when it is closed off. There are other possible
alternative plans for that site as well: 1) student housing, 2) relocating all medical
services to that site, 3) replacing the basketball arena and placing it on this site. The
Doris site where there are temporary modular buildings is a site that they are looking to
place another undergraduate dormitory. This was planned pre-Katrina; however, they
cannot afford it now, so it will sit there on hold until they can afford it. There is another
location right behind the Reily Center where the Monk Simon building used to be. The
building that was once there was demolished and now the modular student residential
facilities are there. Obviously, that is temporary as well. Whatever they do, they will
have to do their best to get it right.
He is pretty comfortable with closing off McAlister. It has been studied by internal and
external architects and planners that it will not decrease the number of parking spaces at
the Uptown campus.
Question: When is the closing off of McAlister scheduled to take place?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – It is not exactly firm; possibly the spring. They will not close
off McAlister until the parking lot at Rosen House is completed. It will not be anything
fancy. It will not have a super substructure; it will have a gravel substructure with a very
thin layer of asphalt.
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Question: Will there be raised elevation since that area floods?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – Yes, they will raise it as much as possible. Part of the problem
is if they raise it too high, then it will drain onto Claiborne Avenue, back up, and flood
Audubon Street. It is a sensitive issue.
Question: Can you explain what McAlister will look like once it closes?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – It will be closed to vehicular traffic essentially, but it will have
to accommodate service vehicles.
Question: Where will all the reserved parking spaces be moved to?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – They will either be moved further down on McAlister or at
various other locations. There is a possibility of opening up Newcomb Place from Freret.
4) Parking Spots Uptown are reserved for functions and not used, obviously this
limits parking availability.
Mr. Lorino’s Response – This should not be happening. There are very specific rules
about when parking can be reserved in this manner. Generally, it has to be limited to
functions involving board members or a board member.
5) With the increases in parking permits, why can’t streets of the Uptown campus be
repaved instead of patched?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – Every dollar of revenue coming in has already been spent;
there is no new revenue to fix streets. Newcomb needs to be resurfaced completely, but
the drainage underneath Newcomb needs to be replaced. It would be hard for him to
justify repaving Newcomb when he knows it will have to be dug up again.
6) When it rains/floods, staff would like the cross-bar next to the Library and the
Music Building opened immediately when it floods on Newcomb.
Mr. Lorino’s Response – Is the point that it is opened, but not opened soon enough or it
is not opened at all? It is his understanding that when they know flooding is eminent,
security is dispatched to all designated areas, particularly, those that are more prone to
flood. Their goal is to direct traffic, get individuals out that are in, prohibited individuals
from going in, etc. His understanding is that this was a routine function. He will talk to
security about this issue.
7) HEAL Garage, Downtown does not have working elevators, staff is using stairwell.
Mr. Lorino’s Response – Since he received the list of issues, he spoke to Mike Guidry,
Director Facilities Services. Sheryl Smith, Director, Parking Services did some on-site
investigation and this has been corrected.
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Sheryl Smith, Director Parking Services – They check the parking garage every day.
There is a bank of elevators that work toward the back near City Hall. Otis has been
working on the middle bank of elevators, so there will be two banks of elevators open
soon. During Parking Services daily inspection of the parking garage, they check for
trash, lights, etc. People make blanket statements that are just not there. There is a
problem with the stairwells because of the homeless. They constantly purchase Lysol to
spray the stairwells.
Mr. Lorino’s Response - There is an issue with abandoned cars; however, they cannot
do anything about it because of the law.
Question:
Will the Fogelman Arena Be Off-line After Basketball Season?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – This is a major issue which has not been worked out. A plan
was developed to renovate Fogelman. Not only to renovate it as a basketball arena, but
construct other venues so that it could serve as a performance arts venue and have many
other functions, substituting it for McAlister. There was a major donor who donated half
the cost of the project. When the project went before the Board, Athletics said that they
did not want what was proposed. Instead, Athletics wants a new area on the Rosen House
site which would be twice the amount of money it would cost to renovate Fogelman. The
Board decided that they should pursue Athletics motion of a new arena on the Rosen
House site. Fogelman went on hold. However, there is an alternate plan which will go
before the Board. He is not sure when it will go off-line.
Question:
With regards to the tiers for parking rates at the Downtown Campus,
some people have asked can it go back to a flat rate. Is that something
that can be discussed?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – Yes, this group is a representative of the staff. If you have
something that you want to discuss, take it through the process. If that is what you
conclude, write it up as a recommendation and forward it on to him. He cannot promise
that they will do it; however, it will be considered.
Question:
Is there anything in the works as far as putting the Registrar, Accounts
Receivable, Student Loans, and Financial Aid all in one location?
Mr. Lorino’s Response – That is a concept that is being bounced around with the idea of
“one-stop shopping” for students. The ideal place for that is Fogelman Arena.
IV.
Human Resources Liaison: Stefanie Allweiss, Executive Director of Employee
Relations and Equity

Stefanie has taken care of answering the Staff Issues Committee questions and
concerns. They are as follows:
1)
There were complaints voiced by many staff about the University’s concern for the
welfare of the staff with the inclement weather yesterday (October 22nd) – the rain
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and flooding affected everyone equally but the University cancelled classes (thus
students & faculty were allowed to leave) but the staff were required to remain at
work as the flooding continued and roads became hazardous.
WFMO Response – Emergency decisions are made with the most current
information available. Decisions affect the entire university community; therefore,
in most situations decisions cannot be “localized”.
2)
Policy on employees working from home – has there been a change in University
policy to allow an employee to work from home if they cannot come in to work? If
yes, is this a standard policy or is the arrangement made between the employee and
the supervisor under certain circumstances?
WFMO Response – There has not been a change in policy about employees
working from home. Working from home is generally not permitted for exempt and
non-exempt employees. “Flex time” for non-exempt employees is detailed in the
Staff Handbook under Employee Responsibilities at V. (F).
3)
Consideration to change staff retirement benefits to 20 years rather than 25 years –
including Reily lifetime faculty/staff rates, library benefits, athletic ticket discounts,
etc.
WFMO Response – We do not have a staff “retirement age”. There is no staff
“retirement” policy.
4)
SAC would like an update on the University’s plans to review the compensation
structure (salary ranges) since it has become increasing more difficult to hire
individuals due to smaller pools of applicants, lower salaries offered, etc? Also, in
many instances, new hires are coming in at higher salaries than existing employees
which is creating equity issues throughout the University.
WFMO Response – There is not any update on this at the present time. WFMO
will keep the staff apprised with any new developments when appropriate.
5)
SAC would like an update on the Employee Wellness Plan – would like to know the
specifics of the implementation, etc.
WFMO Response – Stefanie Allweiss and Cynthia Hayes both serve as members of
the committee and will provide monthly updates at each SAC meeting.
6)
The issue was raised about the University calendar not coinciding with Newcomb
Nursery School calendar.
WFMO Response – Licensing requirements dictate, like any other schools or
educational facilities, that Newcomb Childcare conduct in-service or training days,
so additional closing dates are required.
Should there be any additional questions on the above, please email Stefanie at
sallweis@tulane.edu and she will be glad to get further clarification.
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
The Staff Recognition event will be held on March 19, 2008 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00
p.m.
Vendors for the Recognition event have already been contacted.
Stefanie mentioned to the gift vendor that there have been some concerns in the past
about the quality of the gifts. The vendor responded that there is a process in place
for those who are recipients and are not satisfied with the quality of the gifts; they
needed to let him know. She will be meeting with the gift vendor at the end of this
month and is requesting that we email her with examples of poor quality gifts.
The Excellence Recipients – The committee met and has selected the recipients.
She is not sure of the date for dinner at President Cowan’s house.
Wellness Committee – They met a few months ago and discussed a number of
items. The committee established working groups and worked on a mission
statement. They are receiving support from the Administration; Anne Banos
attended the meeting. They have an entire schedule of proposed projects or events
that each member can get involved with. Cynthia and Stefanie will be working on
the Staff Appreciation event. They are proposing that instead of doing one big event
like last year, they would like to do something on a smaller scale for each location
that could tie into the Wellness initiative as well. The Staff Appreciation subgroup
will consist of Stefanie Allweiss, Cynthia Hayes, Tammi Starck, Allen Thomas, and
Lisa Britton.




V.
Officer Reports
A. University Senate: The Senate meeting was held on December 3, 2007. Report of
Meeting was summarized by Rhonda Earles and presented to SAC by Susan Barrera.

President Cowen announced the newest members of the Senate: Dr. Sachs
(replacing Drs. Miller and Hamm) and Dr. McSwain (replacing Dr. Pigott).
McSwain was absent.

Minutes of the Oct. 1 meeting were approved. (An informational session was
held in Nov. for new senators. Minutes were not taken.)

Of the five faculty put forward for election to the Committee for Review of
Faculty Status Decision Impasses, one was ineligible. Nominee David Mullin
was replaced by Jeff Tasker. The nominees were elected unanimously.

President Cowen gave his update:
>
Of the open searches he mentioned earlier in the semester, the position of
chief investment officer has been filled. Jeremy Crigler (BSM ’88) begins
on 1/1/08; he’s currently at Cornell and was with Duke prior to that.
>
Undergraduate Admission has a fall ’08 target of 1,400 freshmen. Thus
far, the university has received 27,000 applications and accepted 5,800 of
those applicants. (Past records at this time in the recruiting cycle were
19,000 applications with 2,300 accepted.) The deadline is in January.
>
The university continues to accept transfer students in an effort to close
the gap for the past couple of years’ lower numbers.
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>
The board has three primary topics to consider this month:
▫
campaign status update
▫
update on financial status of the university
▫
review of recovery of New Orleans and the role the university is
taking in three areas: crime, health care, and public education

Unfinished business
>
CEP’s proposal passed on second reading, thus permitting the dean of
Newcomb-Tulane College to serve as a nonvoting, ex officio member.
>
The report on the IRB was accepted.

Reports from the committees on social issues and budget were accepted. No
issues had been brought before Social Issues this year; the report describes the
committee’s function. Budget reviewed the FY07 financial results (previously
published), provided an update on FY08, and reviewed the preliminary FY09FY12 forecast. The forecast includes 3 percent raise pools during those years and
designates an additional salary pool of, as of now, undetermined amounts for
faculty and staff in an attempt to close the gap on some salary discrepancies.
New business
>
The FTFR committee report passed. This outlines grievance procedures to
be followed by each unit when evaluating policies in place; this should
provide some equity across the university.
>
Student affairs brought forward its joint proposal on establishing a smokefree environment on Tulane’s campuses. The proposal has been vetted by
athletics, SAC, facilities services, WFMO and student affairs. Excluded
from the proposal are grants from and investments in tobacco companies.
The senate agreed in theory to the proposed policy and referred the
proposal to Social Issues for a definition of “tobacco company.” A vote
will be taken at a later date.
>
The proposal to transfer the Payson Institute to the Law School was
approved without substantial changes.
University Senate meetings may be found online at
http://www.tulane.edu/~usenate/ once they have been approved.


B. Board of Administrators: No Report. Meeting scheduled for December 12, 2007.
VI.
University Senate Committee Reports:
1. Benefits – Cynthia Hayes presented report from Glenda Folse. The next year is going
to be extremely busy with regards to looking at various healthcare plans. At present,
they have UnitedHealthcare, Coventry, Humana, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. In the
past, they have been able to keep our rate increases at a minimal; eventually, that will
not be the case, the premiums will increase. Presently, we now have the three tiers,
eventually, that may be going away as well. There will be a rate across the board.
Mainly, the discussion was to see where, if they had fifty stickers, they would put the
most emphasis looking at our diverse population. Areas of interest included:
specialty care, rehab services, tests, co-payments, premiums, dental, vision, last
chance (someone critically ill), hospital care, mental health, pharmacy, prevention,
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and primary care. It was pretty involved. What they came up with as a group, the
group on healthcare oversight, the day before, also had similar results. There are
consultants working with the University who will weigh the results and see where the
thrust of it all is. Our claims since Katrina have increased tremendously, which is the
reason for the formation of the Wellness initiative. Obviously, if we have a healthier
faculty and staff, then they would hopefully see a decrease in claims.
2. Budget Review – There was a meeting on November 12, 2007. Report was given by
Cynthia Hayes.
 The budget review committee met to review the current year’s budget and
approve assumptions and a timeline for the fiscal year 09 budget.
 In general, for FY08 and as noted in the President’s FY07 report, we are still
operating in a deficit of more than 20 million per year. The University’s best
estimate is that we will run break-even budget by 2011 if we continue to pay
down debts and grow our overall enrollment.
 Based on approved FY09 revenue assumptions, undergraduate, graduate, and
professional tuition fees/room and board will increase 5.3% which is shown to be
on par with peer institutions based on a review by Cambridge Associates.
 Of the FY09 expenditure assumptions, the committee approved that salary pools
will be fixed at a dollar amount equal to a 3% increase over the amount of base
faculty and staff salaries approved in the FY08 budget. Additionally, the
University will designate an additional salary pool for faculty and staff which will
be used for academic and administrative units needing to enhance recruitment and
retention of employees with final basis for allocations to be determined.
 The assumptions and final budget are still pending review of the full faculty
senate and the board of Tulane.
3. Information Technology – No Report.
4. Equal Opportunity – No Report. There was a meeting last week. However, Cheryl
was ill and not able to attend. Robert was also not able to attend the meeting.
5. Physical Facilities – No Report.
6. Social Issues – Report was given by Liz Davey. About a month ago, there were brief
discussions about disbanding the Social Issues committee since they had only two (2)
issues over a number of years. On one hand, they had a lot of activity and on the
other hand, it is believed that the committee is more valuable as a standing committee
to deal with issues as they come up. This will assure that there is some kind of fair
process for the pre-existing committee to review controversial issues. Then, two days
ago, they received the smoking policy. The social issues committee has been given
the tasks of reviewing the entire policy. A meeting is scheduled for January 2008. It
is her understanding that the staff has already been consulted on the tobacco policy.
It was determined that the staff has not been consulted on the policy yet. Liz stated
that the policy has already gone through the University Senate Student Affairs
Committee which she believes does not have any staff representation. The policy
basically prohibits smoking in all campus buildings including residential facilities.
She will share the outline via email.
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VII. SAC Sub-Committees:
1. Election Committee: No Report.
2. Electronic Technology and Information: No Report.
3. Recognition: Report given by Lisa Britton, Chair of Recognition Committee.

Ricky Graham Performance – The best time will be during the day versus a
Friday or Saturday night. Ricky Graham can accommodate us, but it will
have to be on a Monday at lunch time. Realistically, it will not happen until
March due to calendar and location availability. The committee will have a
meeting in January to finalize the event.

Staff Appreciation – Will possibly piggy back on the WFMO’s Wellness
Initiative. Again, they are looking at doing something at the three locations,
but on a smaller scale than what was done last January.
4. Staff Issues: No report. However, Susan Barrera reported that she will schedule a
meeting in January 2008.
5. Constitution: Jered Bocage has scheduled a meeting for December 17, 2007.
Cynthia added: For those who would like to re-read the constitution and jot down
some things you see that might be questionable or need changing, please let Jered
know. Please send him an email @ jbocage@tulane.edu. The committee would like
to address everything and once it is put forth for review and approval by the SAC,
then it will go to the President’s office for their approval.
VIII. Old Business:
 Adopt-A-Family Program - The committee, who is chaired by Judy Vitrano and
Gwen Chavez, has two families that they will help. One is a mother with a 9 year
old daughter; the other is a mother with a 4 year old son, a 2 year old son, and a 7
month old daughter. They will make their first delivery of household donations to
one of the families this coming Sunday. They need everything so the committee
is still collecting donations. They have about $500.00 available. She found out
that the families have no appliances. They have had quite a few offers for
furniture. The agency will help with the logistics, picking up the furniture and
delivering it to the families.
IX.
New Business:

Robert Johnson – The University currently does not allow you to roll over
retirement funds from previous employers into their retirement plan. After further
inquiry on his part, Tulane appears to be the only University, or one of the very
few who does not allow this. Therefore, he would like this issue looked into. It
affects you in two ways that he is aware of: 1) If you are fortunate enough to
reach the age of 75 and you have rolled over money of your own into an IRA, you
have to start taking that money out, whereas, if you are able to roll money into the
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Tulane retirement fund, you will not have to take it out and 2) It will not allow
you to maximize your money that is consolidated into one particular fund.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held downtown at the The Lavin-Bernick
Center for University Life Korach Room.
X.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:58 PM.
Kathleen Brumfield
Recording Secretary
Approved ________on ____________, 2007
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