January 21, 1997 - 3:00 p.m.
Room 213, James E. Foy Union Building
Shawn Corrigan Asmuth, Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. Representatives present: Shawn Asmuth, Fred Bobo, Elizabeth Cromwell, Kim Durbin, Carl Gagliano, Robert Gottesman, Ellyn Hix, Angie Jacobs, Jack Lawton, Minnie Melton, Michael Miller, Donna Mitcham, David Moncus, Betty Reese, Kevin Robinson, Peggy Stallworth, Jim Stone, Sherry Sydnor, Ted Trupp, and Teresa Vest.
The minutes from the October 22 meeting were reviewed. Gottesman moved that the minutes be accepted. Melton seconded the motion and the motion carried. Check the A&P web page for minutes and agendas of meetings at http://www.auburn.edu/administration/governance/ap/au_ap_assembly.html.
Dr. William Muse, President of Auburn University addressed the Assembly. President Muse said he was pleased that Administrative and Professional employees now have a voice through the A&P Assembly where we may have input to issues on campus. All entities of the university are represented by some organization: faculty are represented by the University Senate; staff by the Staff Council;, students by the Student Government Association; alumni by the Alumni Association; and retired employees by the Retiree Association.
Dr. Muse spoke on the challenges that face Auburn University for funding.
Governor James is expected to
present a budget that will call for another year of level funding for
higher education. President Muse told
the Assembly that Governor James' argument that universities are over
funded is based on expendi-tures
per capita. Alabama's expenditures per capita are $226 per student, with
only Mississippi spending more.
Dr. Muse feels that we should look at funding per student compared to
similar institutions. AU spent
$4,900 last year per student, while the University of Georgia spent
$7,800. This results in a difference of
$60 million per year in funding. He went on to explain the disparity
between per capita spending and
funding for students:
Old Business: Bruce Lewis gave an update on the ad hoc committee formed to determine the make-up of the University Committees. Lewis and Gottesman will meet again soon with Kent Fields, and Gary Swanson to present a proposal for A&P representation on these committees.
Asmuth reported that the input received on the 21st Century Commission will be presented to the Board of Trustees on Monday, January 27 to be voted on in March. She reminded us that this document contains the vision statement of Auburn University, along with institutional goals.
Asmuth gave an update on the Policies and Procedures manual that Personnel hopes to have complete soon. In a meeting with Darwin Liverance, Mr. Liverance told Asmuth that the plan was for this one manual to cover all non-tenure track employees, including A&P employees as well as staff. The manual is written from an administrative standpoint and will show detail when policies and procedures differ for A&P and staff. For example, the A&P grievance procedure is included in the manual, as it differs from the staff's grievance procedure. Two separate handbooks would be developed at a later time which will be written from an employee standpoint.
The A&P Executive Committee had an opportunity to review the draft over the holidays. In the Executive Committee's January 16 meeting, it was favored to accept the manual (with some suggestions) with the understanding that this was an interim manual for A&P, as we would look into developing a manual for A&P employees.
There were some questions from the Assembly about whether we should have our own manual, or at least have more input in a manual that will be representing our employees. The Assembly was reminded that this manual reflects policy as it currently is, and will not take away from A&P developing our own manual in the future. Discussion followed and then ended with Asmuth saying that she will find out about members of the Assembly having an opportunity to review the manual to make suggestions.
Additional old business included discussions of a way to communicate with the entire A&P group in a timely fashion so that we can have feedback on issues at hand. There is no progress to report on at this time; however, Michael Miller has created some listservs that we can use to communicate with the Executive Committee and Assembly members. Send email to apexec@mail.auburn.edu for discussion with the Executive Assembly, and assembly@mail.auburn.edu for Assembly members.
New Business: President Muse has asked the different governance groups to review a new Smoking Policy. The main difference between the proposed policy and the existing policy is that the proposed is stronger and does not allow for smoking inside buildings, except in residence halls where smoking preferences of the occupants are considered. Smoking at events in the Coliseum and athletic facilities will be regulated by the management of those facilities. Moncus moved that the smoking policy be accepted. Sydnor seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Asmuth asked the Assembly to consider the direction of the A&P Assembly as we move into 1997. We need to be able to communicate with our constituents and get as much feedback from them on issues that affect us, so that we may have input in those areas. Asmuth encouraged everyone to think about the direction of the Assembly.
Vest suggested that we look into permanent funding. In the past, funds have been transferred into an A&P account, but we need permanent funding now.
The Spring Quarter meeting will be Tuesday, April 22 at 3:00 p.m. in Room 213 Foy Union. We will announce Summer and Fall meetings dates at the next meeting.
Durbin moved for adjournment. Lawton seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Angie Jacobs, Secretary