Administrative and Professional Assembly

Friday, February 21, 2003

Dixon Conference Center

Ballroom A.

APPROVED -  September 30, 2003

The meeting was called to order by Kathy Harmon at 10:06.

The following members were present: Dennis Block, Cara Mia Braswell, Amy Douglas, Lisa Fleming, Kathy Harmon, Phyllis Harris, Harriette Huggins, George Konstant, Melissa Morris, Karen Rankin, Betty Reese, Anna Reynolds, Linda Sayers, Melvin K. Smith, Thomas Stofer, Martha Taylor, Mary Ann Taylor-Sims, 29 in audience.

Absent: John Asmuth, Stacey Boseman, Drew Bergering, Cathey Ramey, Kim Trupp.

The minutes of the December 2, 2002 meeting were presented in printed form. ON a motion by Lisa Fleming approved on a motion made by Lisa Fleming and seconded by Phyllis Harris.

Kathy Harmon introduced President William Walker

“At the mid-point of the academic year it has been a good one for Auburn. The FY03 will be made without proration because of being bailed out by the rainy day form approved by voters in a referendum last November. With war looming in Iraq and a weakening economy we need to keep a tight rein on our resources.”

“The budget year beginning October 1, 2003 looks bleak with a possible 10% reduction in the education budget unless new sources of revenue are found. Auburn is not alone in budget woes. There is a trend across the county from Virginia to California. More and more public universities are receiving less support from state government. We hope in Alabama we will be able to do something about it with the new leadership in Montgomery. The $5000 spent on each college student in Alabama ranks us 13 among 15 southern states. If Alabama spent the same amount per student as Mississippi, higher education in Alabama would get an additional $40 million per year. If Alabama spent as much as Georgia per student, there would be an additional $60 million, which is the entire amount Auburn gets from the state.”

“Alabama Commission on Higher Education has asked for a modest 4% increase in funding for the next fiscal year. What we would like to see the legislature approve is a $350 million increase in operation & maintenance and $1 billion bond issue for capital improvements. This would require significant tax reform that would all those additional revenues.”

Have we done enough belt-tightening. Auburn has led the way in cutting programs and trying to shelter the tax dollars. All the universities have participated in the legislative initiative to eliminate programs that don’t produce many graduates. A number of programs have been cut across the state. We have accomplished out goal of becoming a lean a well-run university. That is not to say we do not continue to look for ways to hold down spending. We have made much progress in that area in the last five years. I believe it is now time for the legislature to recognize our good stewardship of state funds.

We should all recognize that the public universities in this state long ago ceased to be “state-supported” institutions. We are a “state-assisted” university. Sadly that is a trend that is not going to be reversed in our lifetime.” For this university to survive and to thrive it is going to have to learn how to generate other sources of revenue. Private fund raising is a key.

In spite of how the next fiscal year develops, I believe for the first time there appears to be a real confluence of thinking in Montgomery about the real possibility of tax reform; the real possibility of education reform and indeed even the possibility of constitutional reform. There is a sense that now is the time to do it. Education groups at all levels along with business groups are at long last working together to develop a plan for all education based on needs. Business leaders recognize that their interests are intertwined with the larger interests of the state. Now that happens to be Tax reform; educational reform; and constitutional reform.

Auburn and other research institutions are supportive of these efforts. We are working diligently with these groups outlining our specific needs and requirements. There is no question this is a time of financial crisis in Alabama, but is also a time of great opportunity. I believe our leaders in government and indeed the people of the state would be foolish not to take advantage of this time and this place in our state’s history. There seems to be a feeling among many people that if we are ever going to do something constructive with respect to our finding situation, now is the time to do it. I hope that is true, because frankly, Alabama stands on the brink. We either make a bold move ahead or fall back into the darkening gloom of despair.

As professional and highly valued staff of this university you would like to know the budget situations and prospects for the future are going to affect you personally. The short answer is “I don’t know…” For the first time since I have been in Alabama, I believe there is some reason to think, the stars just might be aligned in the very near future for some substantive changes. I can assure you that as long as I am President, I will devote my full energy in helping those advances take place.

In closing let me share with you some of the University’s recent accomplishments:

1. We recorded our all-time highest enrollment of 23,276 students during fall semester. Nearly a 4% increase over the previous fall.
2. US News and World report ranks Auburn in the top 50 public universities.
3. Freshman class largest in the history of the university 4,184. The freshman class has a combines average of 23.8 on the ACT and 3.4 GPA.
4. School of Architecture was ranked 10^th in the nation tied with Columbia and Rice University.
5. Aubie was named the #1 collegiate mascot for the fifth time in the past 13 years.

Questions:

1. Tom Stofer, Public Safety. You mentioned the 4% increase in enrollment over last fall. Where do you see enrollment going? When is too much too much? The Board of Trustees established a limit of 25,000 – 20,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students and reconfirmed that a recent meeting. The practical answer and the one that bothers me the most is when the day comes that the University of Alabama has an enrollment of one student larger than Auburn the Board of Trustees will tell us to get out and recruit more students. We have got to be the biggest university in the state. That is the mindset that bigger is better. I don’t like that mindset. I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Texas. When I was at Texas, it was smaller than Auburn is now, There were 18,000 undergraduates The University of Texas has 50,000 students now. Bigger is better—I don’t think it is a better place at the University of Texas. I am really worried about that. The natural pressures that occur that will come from the Alumni, the Board is to continue to be the biggest. Where that will take us , I don’t know. We don’t have enough facilities now for the students we’ve got. If we went to 30,000, the financial demands for space would be enormous.

2. Frank Dillard, Poultry Science. The Board of Trustees passed a resolution to get faculty and non faculty salaries to the regional average. Is that goal attainable?

We have made some progress. I think as a practical matter it may not be in 2004. The Board is working on that. They are dedicated to the notion. Can we do it in 2004? Probably not, but we will be a lot closer than we were. The Board is not hypocritical in its view that in order to have the quality of University that all of us want, we have to pay salaries to attract the quality of people we need here. Frankly, the most outspoken members of the board say we ought not be talking about regional averages, rather national averages because that is the environment we ought to be recruiting faculty and staff…. That ought to be our goal. This is a great place to live, a great place to work.

Additional comments from Don Large: When we developed that plan there were different variables agreed upon that we needed to address. One of the variables was to raise tuition, cut costs, redistribute, and the state would fund at 1% or 2% growth for each of those five years. That is where we are falling short. Even next year if we fund at 2% growth we could probably hit it in 2004. If they cut us there is the challenge. The only way to hit that goal is to rethink tuition. The University has done its part. The state has to fund us a little bit better or we will never reach the goal. That is why we may not make it at least if the state does not deliver level funding next year.

3. Lisa Fleming, Housing. Recently there has been a lot of talk in K-12 they may be laying off janitors and when hot weather arrives they may not have air-conditioning. We know the woes of Auburn University and where we sit. As I travel around the state I see Junior Colleges continuing to build and build and build. I don’t see how we can not support two ends but spend it all in the middle.

Your point is well taken. Describing Alabama politics is a career. Education is not something that the taxpayers in this state in the past have felt was that important. As a result various segments of education have found themselves in a battle with one another to survive. For those who think education is the work of the devil, that is great. They do not want to expand education. What has happened recently is those of us in education have come together. We are either going to fail or succeed together. We have worked hard to prepare a document to submit to the Governor and the Legislature called Alabama at the Crossroads: crisis in education, telling them what we need—not to be the best in the country but what we need to survive. We have enlisted the support of the business community. The data indicates that the taxpayers are receptive. Two years ago the citizens of the state felt that education was OK. Two years later in 2002, 60% of the people say education is in bad shape and we really have to do something about it. Those surveys are encouraging folks like me. But when push comes to shove, and we go to the voters with referendi, it will be a political battle. We are going to have to contact everyone we can for support. I am going to have to be in touch with everyone of the alumni in this state asking them to get out and campaign to support what we are trying to do. AEA is going to do the same thing. University of Alabama is going to do the same thing. The Business Council is supportive. I am optimistic.

4. Cara Mia Braswell, Planning and analysis. Have you heard any talk about making K-12 K-16. Has that been brought up? Roy Johnson was trying to take the Junior colleges out of Higher Ed and putting them in with K-12. Roy Johnson has tried to do that, but there may be some accreditation issues. I do not support that at all. Junior colleges have got to be part of the Senior college system. We have got to have some say about what they are teaching. We are required by law to accept some the courses they teach, therefore they have got to be accountable. That is part of the accreditation standards.

5. Karen Rankin, Outreach, I was wondering if you could give us any insight into the direction as to what the Diversity Leadership Council hopes to take after they receive the results of the diversity survey currently being conducted? I have not been meeting with that group. When I show up at a meeting then I become the focus as opposed to the subject. I am very interested in that group as you know. They are doing the survey to determine what is the climate on campus. They are going to generate some recommendations. I think what has to be kept in mind is this whole thing of diversity is a journey and like any journey every step may not be ahead. You think you are going in the right direction, but you may not be. That is what we are doing now. I wish I could tell folks this is what you have to do to get to where we need to be. I think it is very important that you participate and let your feelings be known. What I am interested in is the notion of diversity becoming a core value of this campus. I am interested in people appreciating that there is strength in numbers and strength in different perspectives. If everybody in this room was my clone, this would be an incredibly boring occasion and secondly, I would not need the rest of you because you all think like me. Therefore, strength is in diversity of thought, diversity of approach, the diversity of outlook. To me, that is what this campus needs to be and this is what we need to be teaching young people. We’ve got kids graduating from this place and in a matter of weeks are getting on airplanes to fly to work or to the military. I am terrified at the thought we may not have taught them what they need. We have probably taught them to be good engineers. If you go to Saudi Arabia and do some things wrong, you lose your head. People need to understand that. That is diversity. We want the notion of diversity to be part of the being of our children. If we have students come to the university and that is not the environment in which they have lived. I agree that we may not change them or that we should even try, but I do believe they deserve from us to know what is expected in society. You can believe what you want to believe, but here are the standards of behavior. It is incumbent on us to help students in that regard. Ideally, students would have that knowledge, but surely they don’t.

6. Dennis Block, Environmental Institute. You brought up subject of staff who have gone on active duty, has the University given any consideration to salary supplement? I would hate to see anyone suffer a great financial inconvenience. I would hope that supervisors, managers, Deans or vice-presidents would bring the issue up so it might be handled on a case by case basis. I think we have to be careful of establishing a policy that opens the vault in Don Large’s office.

There were no committee reports.

Kathy Harmon presented information related to a proposed stipend to be paid to Chair, Chair-elect, and Past-Chair of the assembly. University Senate has approved 10% of salary. Compensation will begin for officers whose terms begin April 2003. The Staff council has approved $5000 for the Chair, $4000 for the Chair-elect and Past-Chair. Compensation will begin with the current term. After discussion with no clear consensus, Kathy appointed a committee of Phyllis Harris, Chair.;Lisa Fleming, Dennis Block, and Phyllis Harris to bring a report and recommendation to our next meeting.

Kathy Harman announced a meeting related to the Parking and Traffic Master Plan to be held a Facilities Conference Room, Friday, February 28, 2003. at 9:00 am. Members of the assembly are invited.

Harriette Huggins announced a Parking and Traffic Master Plan Open Forum meeting will be held in Haley Center 3195, Thursday, February 27, 2003, 4:00 to 5:00.

There was a request from Frank Dillard A&P members who serve on campus committees report to the Assembly about their meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 am.

Harriette Huggins,

Secretary.

.