Tulane University
Staff Advisory Council
Minutes of Thursday, February 14, 2008
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)
Present
Present
Present
Present
Excused
Absent
Absent
Excused
Excused
Excused
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
Present
Present
Absent
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
Excused
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Excused
Absent
Excused
Excused
Present
Present
INVITED GUESTS
Stefanie Allweiss
Present
NORTHSHORE
Eileen deHaro
Mary Little
Robert Johnson (proxy)
Present
Present
Excused
VISITORS
WilliamThacker
Ruth Wilson
All Officers are serving the Staff Advisory Council term 2007 – 2008
Call to Order: Cynthia Hayes, SAC Chair, called the February 14, 2008 meeting of the Staff
Advisory Council to order at 3:30 p.m. The meeting was held at the Lavin-Bernick Center for
University Life in the Korach Room.
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I.
II.
Review and Approval of the Minutes: Cynthia Hayes, SAC Chair, called for a motion to
approve the December 6, 2007 minutes. The minutes were approved with one correction.
Report of the Chair
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III.
Wellness Initiative - UnitedHealthcare is going be leading the way with medical
screenings and we may coordinate that with Ron Peterson, Student Health Center to
add what they can bring to each campus. Later we will hear from Lisa about the
events that SAC is planning. She thinks that this is a great opportunity to assist staff
members with health issues. When they initially rolled out the Wellness Initiative
and this wellness program, they were very ambitious in thinking they could do from
A to Z; however, it is not that way due to time constraints on everyone’s part. There
will be some real strategic things that will go on this year. There will be some
branding of the program (logos, etc.). Perhaps soon they will be able to sponsor a
walk-a-thon.
Adopt-A-Family Program - Cynthia, personally thanked Judy and Gwen for a
wonderful effort on the part of the Adopt-A-Family program. It is phenomenal to
see what we were able to do. They took the bull by the horn and ran with it. We
were extremely successful in reaching out to two (2) families this year.
Staff Excellence Award – Glenda Folse, SAC member was congratulated for being a
recipient of the Staff Excellence Award.
During the month of January the SAC committees have been meeting.
Cynthia asked each member when they have the opportunity and some time to look
at the SAC website and give suggestions as to what can be posted on the website.
She received a memo as a Director from Anne Banos. There is a formal procedure
to file for re-classification of an employee. Because there were inconsistencies in
what were doing to re-classify employees, there is now a formal procedure for reclassification of an employee. It is very thorough and time consuming.
There are still some openings on the SAC New Hire Orientation Sign-up sheet.
Cynthia will send out an email through the listserv requesting participants.
Guest Speaker, William Thacker, Ticket Sales Associate, Athletics
 Women’s Basketball
o Game scheduled tonight – “Think Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Game”.
The game will be televised. Mr. Thacker invited everyone to come out.
 Men’s Basketball
o Will play Memphis on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at Fogelman Arena.
If you would like to purchase tickets, call immediately because they only
have about 300 tickets left. They are expecting a sell-out.
o There will be a block party before game beginning at 5:00 pm. There will be
a band and all sorts of good things.
 Men’s Baseball
o Opening day is Friday, February 22, 2008
o Season tickets are still available. All faculty and staff tickets are half price
for the season. They do not have any discounted tickets for individual
games. Individual game tickets will go on sale tomorrow, February 15,
2008. If you are interested in certain games tomorrow will be the day to call,
especially for the opening day and LSU.
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o Opening Day Weekend – 1) On Friday, there will be a ribbon cutting
ceremony. All the big donors will be there. It will begin at 5:30 pm.
President Cowan and Rick Dickson, Director of Athletics, will be present.
The official name of the stadium is now “Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
Gates will open at 5:45 pm. Irma Thomas will sing the National Anthem
followed by the shooting of fireworks in the outfield. The first pitch will
begin at 7:10 pm. They will be taking a panoramic picture of the crowd for
the first pitch and probably sell it at the gift shop. 2) On Saturday, the game
begins at 2:00 p.m. There will be a block party starting at noon right outside
the baseball stadium. They will be shutting down Ben Weiner Drive so don’t
try to drive there on Friday or Saturday. 3) Sunday will be kid’s day – They
will get to stand next to the baseball players during the singing of National
Anthem and run the bases after the game. If they are in the kid’s club, they
will get in free for every Sunday game.
o Tulane is pre-season ranked 22 and are scheduled to play several ranked
teams
o There will be 36 home games
o Tulane will host the Conference Tournament this year
o Tulane will also host any post-season games this year
Question: Have the purchased bricks been laid?
Answer: If you have already purchased a brick and you cannot find it, perhaps the chart
that is being sent out to all donors will be helpful. The chart will tell you where your
brick is located. If they have not been laid yet, they will probably be laid by April.
IV.
Human Resources Liaison: Stefanie Allweiss, Executive Director of Employee
Relations and Equity
Stefanie introduced her new Assistant Director, Ruth Wilson. As most of you know,
Steven Kirsch is now the Director of Strategic Planning. Ruth started Monday and
attended New Hire Orientation on Friday. She will critique New Hire Orientation. Ruth
was with Verizon Wireless for the 10 years prior to coming to Tulane.
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New Hire Orientation – will now be held from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Stefanie
explained that the time for SAC’s presentation at the orientation will change. At that
point, Cynthia Hayes, SAC Chair, passed around a sign-up sheet for orientation and
encouraged SAC members to sign up.
Staff Excellence – Although Stefanie’s name was on the nomination letters that went
out to the recipients, due to other time commitments, she was not actually engaged in
the process this year with ten committee members. She has been getting some
feedback about it. She has been getting some phone calls about recipients being
disappointed that Dr. Cowen did not come around this year. Stefanie will be taking
the project back over next year. She would like to have some feedback; however, not
in this forum due to time constraints. She would like feedback through the Staff
Issues committee.
Staff Recognition – She is still in charge of Staff Recognition and is very excited
about it. There are 269 milestone anniversaries that they will be celebrating on
March 19, 2008 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The invitations are out and the certificates
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V.
are in. For the first time, they will be giving 5 year recipients a choice of gifts. It will
be pretty much the same as last year where they had tables set up. There are two (2)
40 year recipients this year. She has already provided their names to Tulane New
Wave. They will be interviewed and an article will be done on them. There will be a
cake for each year increments. The RSVPs will come back with the supervisor’s
name on them and they will email the supervisors personally to make sure those
individuals will be at the event.
Wellness Committee – They met today and talked about the staff appreciation event.
They are looking at doing a smaller version of what was done last year in January at
each campus. They are thinking that the staff appreciation event will coordinate with
some of the kick-offs they are planning.
The Provost, Dr. Bernstein, Dean of the Medical School, Dr. Sachs, and Dr.
Winstead, Chair of Psychiatry, are very committed to reinitiating the program that
Stefanie set up right after Hurricane Katrina that involved a number of mental health
sessions through UnitedHealthcare and Cigna for first responders and then went out
to the different departments by request. Dr. Sachs has already sent out to his
Executive team emails reminding them of all the different avenues that employees
have. Studies are showing that this will probably be the worst year since many
employees are not back in their homes yet and they are seeing an increase in
employee relations issues. She has negotiated with Cigna and UnitedHealthcare for 3
University hours; however, there is something called critical care hours. She will be
meeting with the business administrators from the School of Public Health. They will
be able to do about 4 to 5 sessions per week. Should you have any questions, please
email her at sallweis@tulane.edu.
Officer Reports
A.
University Senate: The Senate meeting was held on Monday, February 11, 2008.
Report of meeting was presented to SAC by Rhonda Earles.
 Hugh Long was nominated to replace Tom Langston as vice chair of the Senate. The
election will occur at the March meeting.
 President Cowen provided copies of the Board resolution in which the declaration of
financial exigency was lifted (December 2007) and his report to the Board at that same
meeting for inclusion with the minutes. He did not elaborate on the report’s entirety
but did provide a few significant excerpts and fielded questions from the senators.
o The provost’s office is examining criteria and protocol surrounding the
doctoral programs and will issue the university’s guidelines later this semester
or summer. Departments will then begin examining their programs to
determine viability.
o Undergraduate admission received 30,000 applications for Fall 2008. The
number of completed applications and the number of deposits submitted are at
all-time highs. While the yield is unknown, the projection (based on postKatrina indices) is 1,400 to enroll in the fall. If pre-Katrina indices were used,
we would expect 1,700 to 1,800 to enroll. Approximately 200 transfer
students are also projected.
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Benchmarking of faculty salaries is occurring and a set dollar amount has been
established that would provide increases in faculty salaries over and above the
3 percent budget assumption previously approved. There is also a set amount
to similarly raise staff salaries. While all faculty and staff will not be affected
in FY09, the administration will continue to review salaries to bring them in
line with peer institutions.
The administration is in the final stages of filling the leadership positions, i.e.,
deans of architecture and liberal arts.
The fundraising goal of $700 million has been reached and exceeded and six
months remains in the campaign. President Cowen extended his thanks to
Yvette Jones, Luann Dozier and the deans for their roles in making this
happen.
Included in the budget assumption for FY08 was a projected operating loss of
$33 million; the loss will be less than projected due to one-time revenues (i.e.,
insurance and FEMA payments).
Discussion of the faculty handbook will occur at the March meeting of the
Board.
A question regarding the 6-ledger accounts arose in conjunction with faculty
recruiting and retention. Those accounts that were established prior to
Hurricane Katrina were frozen and remain so; accounts established since the
storm are not frozen.
The university does foresee a shortage in student housing within the next few
years and is investigating options to alleviate the problem. Graduate student
housing does not exist on campus and an affordability issue exists at the
Papillon.
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Report from FTFR
o Bob Hill provided his report electronically, prior to the meeting. His report
included a table on the number of professors of practice within each unit.
o Linda Carroll raised a question regarding the number of non-tenurable faculty
at Tulane. She wants to see the table expanded to include all full- and parttime faculty. Friendly amendments were suggested and much discussion
ensued. FTFR will be asked to include all adjuncts as well and to indicate the
percentage taught by tenure/tenure-track faculty; it was felt that a comparison
of pre- and post-Katrina numbers would be helpful.
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Report from Library Committee
o An archival system for electronic journals has been established.
o Federated searching, allowing access cross databases, has been established.
o Ongoing recovery: FEMA has approved funding for two new floors to be
added to Howard-Tilton; 300,000 volumes have been returned from the
restoration companies; and 50,000 documents from the music collection have
been returned.
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Report from Student Affairs Committee
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o The committee reviewed the smoke-free campus proposal, approved it and
forwarded it to the Senate for consideration. (The Senate sent it to the Social
Issues committee for review.)
o The code of student conduct is currently under review and change. The new
code should be in place for fall 2008.
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University Senate meetings may be found online at
http://www.tulane.edu/~usenate/ once they have been approved.
B. Board of Administrators: The Board of Administrators met on December 13, 2007.
The report was presented to the SAC by Susan Barrera.
Guests: Deborah Love (VP Institutional Equity)
Sharon Jones (Ex. Director of Cowen Institute)
President’s Report:
 Progress Report on FY ’08 Priorities/Objectives
o Continue to implement the Renewal Plan (focus on SOM, SSE, CPE and
Newcomb)
o Develop a timetable, process & criteria to determine portfolio of doctoral
programs
o Continue to build student enrollment while continuing to enhance academic
quality
 Excellent progress being made (approx. 30,000 applications, previous high
was 19,500)
 Accepted 7,100 students, previous high 3,000
o Gather benchmark data & develop a plan to increase faculty salaries in areas
where Tulane is not competitive w/ peer or aspirant universities
 Data collected and analyzed
 Plan implementation to begin in FY ’09 & is also being done for staff
 Continue to review the size and composition of the faculty
o Leadership Priorities/Objections
 Complete Dean’s searches for Liberal Arts and Architecture
 Rebuild investment management function
 New CIO was hired
o Continue to build Athletics
 Program additions underway
 Searching for a #2 person in Athletics (Chief of Operations)
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Raise at least $75 million in private gifts and grants
 On target for completion
 Where do we go next once the campaign is completed (want to be in the
top 50 institutions)
 Develop & gain Board approval for a post campaign fund raising strategy
in process
Capital Project Priorities/Objectives
 Completed baseball stadium
 Complete planning for Yuleman Event Center
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 Need a practice facility for basketball and volleyball and need an
upgraded facility for games & and an event center
 Complete next re-location phase as part of Renewal Plan
 Finalize physical expansion & financing plan for Primate Center
 Continue to update and refine the capital plan for next 5 years
Financial Priorities/Objectives
 Meet budget & cash flow projections for the year (anticipated exceeding
these goals)
 Continue to aggressively pursue insurance and FEMA reimbursements
 Continue to reduce debt assuming adequate resources
 Develop financial projections thru 2011 – completed
Other Priorities/Objectives
 Continue to play a leadership role in city’s recovery
 Continue to play an active role on the national level for the advancement
of higher education in society
Yvette Jones’ Campaign Progress Report:
 Goal to raise $75 million this year
 Hit goal of $650 million by 6/30/07
 Worked w/ Deans to reinstate development staffing, annual fund goals & fund
raising priorities (Summer ’07)
 Implemented university-wide & multi-year reunion (Oct. ’07) – raised $3.9
million from reunion
 Did all this w/ 50% staff
 In 2007 – cost 7.2 cents for every $ raised due to reduced staff (2004 was 13
centers)
 @ $670 million in goal – expect to hit by Dec. 31st & expect to raise an additional
$25 million by 6/30/08 – will probably raise $725 million
 $291 million came from Alumni base
 110 donors have given more than $ 1 million (1/3 is from the Board)
 Board set a goal to provide 25% of the campaign goal – are approximately $12
million short – expected to cover by Dec. 31st
Budget Committee Report:
 Approved FY ’09 Budget Assumptions
o Will be presented & approved by the Board in May
o Approx. 5.3% increase in tuition and fees
Audit Committee Report:
 Formal approval of financial statement for FY ’07
VI.
University Senate Committee Reports:
1. Benefits – Meeting is scheduled for next week.
2. Budget Review – No meeting. The next meeting will be scheduled for either April or
May 2008.
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3. Information Technology – No Report.
4. Equal Opportunity – No Report.
5. Physical Facilities – No Report.
6. Social Issues – Liz was not able to attend today’s meeting. However, a meeting was
held.
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.
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Lisa would like to come up with a name other than Staff Recognition. It was
agreed unanimously that the name should be changed to Staff Appreciation
Committee.
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Staff Appreciation – A smaller event than last year, one uptown, downtown,
and the Primate Center. Would like to piggy back with what the Wellness
Committee is doing.
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Ricky Graham Performance – will be held the end of April on a Monday.
They will need some sort of RSVP to get a head count of the number of staff
who will attend. They would like to serve refreshments. It will be done at
lunch time.
4. Staff Issues: Meeting was held on January 28, 2008. Report was given by Susan
Barrera, Chair of Staff Issues Committee.
New Issues Discussed:
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In order to continue to attract some of the best talent to Tulane, faculty and staff,
and keep up w/ the changes in domestic partnerships, there was a proposal sent
forth to ask WFMO to at least add another option to the Statement of Domestic
Partnership Eligibility Criteria under the requirements for No. 7. These days
many people can register their partnerships officially through government
agencies. In fact, MetLife, notes this on their form for eligibility, The Tulane
affidavit document should be updated and some suggested language is as follows:
 Registered as same sex domestic partners or members of a civil union with a
government agency or office where such registration is available
 Allow certification of an official registered domestic partnership in place of
the affidavit
The committee felt it would be best to bring this forward to Human Resources so that
they can follow up w/ Legal Counsel.
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
Issues w/ Signage for Handicap Bathrooms – in particular in the Tidewater
Building there is no signage indication where the handicap bathrooms are in the
building. Is this an issue in any other buildings?
The committee would like to bring forth to Mike Guidry.
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Each department needs to have a main email address w/ someone checking it
everyday.
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Staff Excellence Awards – negative feedback as to the way it was handled (no
personal visit from the President or any other University Official) and no
communication came out until several weeks after the awardees were notified
Old Issues Re-Addressed:
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Parking – Do we want to consider proposing a flat rate for everyone?
The committee wanted to know what the fee would be if everyone paid the same
and exploring the option of the faculty paying one rate and the staff paying
another rate
Committee will follow up w/ Tony Lorino.
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Re-address the rain incident on Oct. 22 – response from WFOM missed the point
– faculty & students were allowed to go home and staff was not – this was
perceived as inconsiderate to value students & faculty more than staff.
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In reference to the policy regarding employees being allowed to work from home,
as Stephanie to explain what “generally not permitted” means: What are the
exceptions to allow it?
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Committee would like an update on staff position review process.

Re-send comments to WFMO on issue of exempt essential personnel who worked
during Katrina not receiving overtime pay or a comp time when the non-exempt
personnel were given pay and earned overtime.
5. Constitution: Jered Bocage encouraged each member to review the constitution and
give comments. Rhonda Earles suggested that you review with a post-Katrina mind.
The big priority is cleaning up the document. The committee will meet next week.
Please send him an email @ jbocage@tulane.edu.
VIII. Old Business: No
IX.
New Business: No
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Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held on March 13, 2008, downtown at the
School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, Dean’s Conference Room, Tidewater
Building
X.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:51 PM.
Kathleen Brumfield
Recording Secretary
Approved ________on ____________, 2008
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