Faculty Welfare Committee
Annual Report
May 23, 2014
Membership, Current and Future
Completing service:
Jim Temple
Berna Polat Aksu – Senate Liaison
I would like to thank them on behalf of the Faculty for their contributions for our
collective welfare.
Continuing service:
Keith Garrison – AY 2013 -2015
Chris Jones – AY 2013 -2015
Ted Tsukahara – AY 2014-16 (Chair)
Senate Liaison to be named
Elected replacement:
Brenda Hillman –AY 2014 -2106
Meeting Schedule and Minutes
A listing of meetings with agenda and minutes can be found under the Faculty
Welfare Committee (FWC) tab on the Faculty Governance webpage
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/faculty-governance/faculty-welfare-committee.
Agendas are posted in advance of the bi-monthly (most months) scheduled
meetings. Minutes are posted generally the week following each meeting.
Rules of Procedure
At the request of the Academic Senate, a statement outlining how the FWC will
conduct its business was developed and approved (Senate Action S-12/13 – 16).
This document was reviewed and ratified without change at our first meeting of AY
2013-14. In general, meetings are open subject to the confidentiality constraints
identified in the approved procedures. The rules of procedure are posted on the
FWC webpage.
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Faculty Workload Survey
The FWC conducted an informal survey of workload issues during the Fall Benefits
Faire in November to validate breadth and depth of concerns voiced by individual
faculty to members of the committee. A review of the responses suggested that a
formal survey process was needed to better focus the issues. FWC worked with the
Office of Institutional Research (OIR) during Jan Term to develop an on-line survey
instrument for full time faculty. The survey was launched early in the spring term.
The FWC asked OIR to prepare summaries of the responses to maintain respondent
anonymity. The survey instrument used and a summary of the findings has been
posted on the FWC webpage.
Faculty Salary Policy
The Board of Trustees approved a new Policy (FH 2.15.1). Under this policy (FH Sec
2.15.3.7) the FWC monitors compliance with the salary goals and salary
administration adopted. The data inspected is produced by the Provost based on a
peer group of 48 institutions identified in footnote 1 (FH p. 140). This data is drawn
from survey summaries prepared by College and University Professional
Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). This is the second year that the FWC
reported to the Academic Senate following this procedure.
The Full-Time Faulty Salary Scale AY 2014-2015 was posted on the Faculty
Governance webpage in early May. This scale added a Step 9 to Full Professor as
called for by the new Salary Goals (FH Sec. 2.15.1.2.) The three-year budget model
approved by the Board of Trustees in their January 2014 meeting adds an additional
Step 10 in AY 2015-2016 that will complete this Salary Goal.
The FWC will continue to work for greater transparency and long term planning for
faculty salaries as we work with the new Faculty Salary Policy adopted by the Board of
Trustees, January 2012. This year’s report provides an assessment towards meeting
the new Salary Goals and Salary Administration Policies. Recommendations were
made again for Senate actions to assist the work of the FWC to meet its charge.
Faculty Benefits
The Health Insurance Review Committee (HIRC) has now morphed into the
Employee Benefits Advisory Committee (EBAC) which members of the FWC are
expected to attend (FH 1.7.4.2. CFO Michell is chair of EBAC and the meeting time
scheduled conflicted with the teaching responsibilities of some of the members of
FWC. Thus, a guideline was adopted by the FWC to have at least two members
negotiate teaching schedules to attend these meetings rather than attempt to get all
FWC members to accommodate the meetings. Jim Temple and Ted Tsukahara have
attended the meetings for FWC.
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This year EBAC addressed two major tasks. In the fall the agenda was focused on
recommendations for health care benefit programs for employees that had to be
managed within the guidelines established by the College budget planning not to
exceed an 8% increase in costs. There were long conversations regarding how
much choice there should be for types of coverage e.g. HMO vs. PPO given the
premium costs provided, partially influenced by the impact of the start up of the
Affordable Care Act on health insurance providers. These conversations opened up
a review of the tenets adopted to guide HIRC and the need to revise them to help
guide the work of EBAC. The revision process required special meetings during the
spring term and produced a document for public discussion. However the
community meetings could not be scheduled given the intensity of campus facility
and time commitments already in place because of the short period between Easter
Break and Graduation Weekend.
HR will develop information about the tenets to be posted on their webpage. The FWC
has encouraged them to have community meetings early in the fall semester before
work begins on health benefits decisions again. The FWC is aware that the
complications related to Affordable Care Act will continue to negatively impact costs
of our current plans.
FWC has requested that the materials for the EBAC meetings be provided in advance of
each meeting so that adequate time is available to prepare for discussions, especially
when financial and accounting data is presented to assist recommendations. HUB
International, a national employee benefits consulting firm, prepares the EBAC agenda
and materials. CFO Michell has been asked to get the materials from HUB distributed
earlier.
EBAC created a sub-committee this year to focus on retirement benefits. The
Retirement Benefits Subcommittee (RBS) has met twice so far and plans to establish
a quarterly meeting schedule, including a summer meeting date. The stated purpose
of RBS is “to assist EBAC in its role of assisting and advising the Vice President of
Finance in fulfilling oversight responsibilities with respect to the retirement benefit
plans of Saint Mary’s College and to help assure that the plans are being managed in
the best interest of the plan participants and of the College. These plans include the
Defined Contribution Retirement Plan, the Tax Deferred Annuity Plan and the
Emeriti Retiree Health Plan.” The College has retained Heffernan Financial Services,
owned by TIAA, as the consultant to facilitate the work of RBS. Ted Tsukahara has
represented the FWC on the RBS.
Campus Facilities
The Campus Facilities Planning Committee (CFPC) has not been very active this
year. Chris Jones has represented the FWC at the scheduled meetings and reports
that nothing material to the faculty has been addressed this year.
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Special Cases Raised
FWC was contacted informally by a faculty member who desired more options for
investment of retirement funds and by a faculty member who wanted to know how
to access funds currently invested in TIAA to help plan for a retirement decision.
The new RBS is aware of the need to provide information to employees about
planning for retirement to augment what is currently available from TIAA through
its monthly visits to campus.
FWC was approached by faculty who were concerned about the current course
evaluation system, especially with the use of the data collected for Rank and Tenure
purposes. A meeting was organized on this topic and OIR was invited to participate
to help clarify the issues raised. The FWC assisted the faculty prepare a document
for Academic Senate discussion. The Senate agreed to work with the Provost, OIR,
and representatives of the faculty to find practical solutions to improve the course
evaluation system.
Faculty Handbook Changes Needed
The FWC notes that the current FH requires some new language to clearly identify
our current responsibilities. FH Section 1.7.4.2 should add language as follows in
italics:
Members of the Faculty Welfare Committee will be responsible for attending the
Employee Benefits Advisory Committee and the Retirement Benefits Subcommittee
meetings. A member of the Faculty Welfare Committee will also attend meetings of the
Campus Facilities Planning Committee. The Chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee is
a member of the campus Budget Committee and the Provost’s Planning and Budget
Committee.
The FWC observes that there is no description of the Employee Benefits Advisory
Committee (EBAC) and its Retirement Benefits Subcommittee (RBS) in the FH and
recommends that appropriate language be added to Finance Committees Sec 1.7.6.
Respectfully submitted,
Ted Tsukahara,
Chair, AY 2013 - 2014
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