Staff Council receives official recognition after 23 years
| STEPHANIE DAVIS Assistant Campus Editor The 2,400 University staff members now have a self-governing council to represent them to the University. The University Staff Council was voted self-governing by the Board of Trustees at its Oct. 4 meeting. The staff council was started in September 1973 by Ben Lanham, a former vice president of administration. It was then called the University Staff Advisory Council. The purpose was to provide a forum of direct communication between the employees and the administration. The council had no real power, and they could not establish policies or resolve individual grievances. "Their primary role was to be strictly advisory. They were there to be a voice for the staff. They didn't have any governing role," Jim Ferguson, vice president of administrative services, said. "From 1973 until recently, they were integrated into the governmental process, but on an informal basis," Ferguson said. The most recent action taken made the staff council a formal governing body. They now have a role to play with representing the staff, Ferguson said. "This puts them on the same footing as the University Senate and the Administrative Professional Assembly," he said. Minnie Bryant, chairwoman of the University staff council said, "Now, instead of reporting to personnel services, we report to Dr. Ferguson who is our liaison to the president." There are about 60-65 members on the council. Each department elects one member for every 50 staff workers. This person represents his department on the council. The council meets once a quarter for about an hour. Since its organization, the council has provided advice or assisted in many changes which have taken place on campus.
|  Bryant The staff has aided in the improvement of the sick leave benefits. They have become full voting members of the University Senate and helped establish a flexible spending plan. "The staff council has been involved in several issues and has helped us evaluate situations which have led us to significant decisions," Ferguson said. "The staff council had a lot to say about the employee tuition waiver benefit which eventually led to its approval," he said. "The staff council has also been involved in looking at improvements for the parking system here on campus. And they are trying to help us come up with a plan to resolve that problem," he said. Ferguson said the council's primary role will continue to be representing the staff and to make sure their interests are considered. "We will try to do everything we can to do what is best for everyone," he said. Waymon Abner, chair elect, said, "If we fix the problems of the staff, then the morale of the staff will increase." "Until recently a lot of people didn't know we existed. Now we are at the point of getting out there and letting them know that we are here for them," Bryant said. |
| JIM ALRED Associate Sports Editor Auburn's possible switch from quarters to semesters highlighted the evening at the Student Government Association Senate meeting Monday night in Foy Union. Much as the issue has dominated headlines in local papers as of late, the senate spent the majority of the night discussing the possible switch. Three members of the senate, Chris Borden, Tara Meadors and Melissa Parker, met with Provost Paul Parks to discuss the issue. "I felt like we hadn't really been given any good reasons for the semester change before I went to the meeting," Borden, a senior in psychology, said. "Parks gave us good reasons which haven't come out yet." Because both the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech appear to be headed for the semester system, Parks informed the trio it only made sense that Auburn make the same switch. "We were told this might have dire consequences for the engineering co-op program at Auburn," Borden said. Parks also informed the senators the entire curriculum would be re-examined and some classes might be dropped because they wouldn't fit in, Borden said. Although Parks appeared to do most of the speaking, the senators did offer one piece of advice to the provost. "Our suggestion was to put a page in The Plainsman explaining all the benefits of a semester system," Borden said. "We feel like a lot of students could read it and decide for real if they like the changes or not." One of the other senators in the trio came away from the meeting basking in a positive glow. "I definitely came out feeling like semesters would really benefit students," Meadors, a junior in business said.
| The senators then discussed the pros and cons of a possible switch and Thomas Ruchti, chair of the Academic Affairs committee, announced Parks would be attending the Nov. 4 senate meeting to discuss the quarter/semester issue. Earlier in the evening Ruchti, a senior in electrical engineering, spoke about the new e-mail address for his committee. "We now have an e-mail account (SGA-AA@mail.auburn.edu) and I think it might allow us to conduct a better survey than The Plainsman," Ruchti said. "In our survey people can actually say what they think instead of just checking a yes or no box." Ruchti said he believes feedback from students is important, but he doesn't think Auburn students are ready to make the switch to semesters. "There are so many students out there who just don't know about it and I think we're not ready to change," he said. Two other items highlighted action in the meeting as the Water Ski Club received $800 to help purchase a new boat. Last year a dispute erupted between the club and the SGA over whether the association promised to pay for an $800 slalom course for the club. Since the club incurred the cost of the practice course, it couldn't afford a new boat to practice with. "This won't be something that comes up every year," Nell Drake, club adviser, said. "I hope we won't ever have this problem again." After hearing Drake's case, the Senate voted to give the club money. The final major issue of the night revolved around a possible code of law change for homecoming participants. "We want to make a clarification in the code of laws because people in the professional schools at Auburn are allowed to run for Homecoming Queen and Miss Auburn, but the Tiger Cub doesn't include this," Bud Phillips, chairman of the code of laws committee, said. Confusion followed the statement, and the senate decided to table the issue, saving it for next week's meeting. |
Honors program receives A-Day dollars
| SALLIE OWEN Assistant Campus Editor The University Honors Program recently received one-third of the proceeds from last spring's A-Day game from the athletic department. William Gwin, director of the honors program, had sought extra funding for the program after a large number of freshmen swelled the program while funding stagnated, he said. "I started going out and trying to find where else we might find funds, and that's how I happened to come to Housel," Gwin said. David Housel is the University's athletics director. "He said he not only would provide the one-third receipts after expenses for the A-Day game, but would, as long as he was athletic director, commit to doing that," Gwin said. Housel said, "We were made aware of the acute need the honors program had. "We support the concept of the honors program. We try to recruit the best student athletes to Auburn, and we wanted to help Auburn recruit the best students to Auburn," Housel said. Gwin said he was grateful for the donation. "One of the positive things to me about it is that Auburn is really known for its excellence in athletics. I think it's really wonderful to see that excellence in athletics supports excellence in academics. "That's what makes a community, and that's what makes a University," Gwin said. | A-Day profits were down this year. "It was a very small amount because we had a very small A-Day crowd. It was less than $2,000, which was the lowest amount distributed, so we're going to do a better job of getting paying customers to our A-Day game next year," Housel said. Gwin said in previous years a third of the profits would have been $5,000-$6,000. This was the first time the honors program got a slice of the A-Day pie. "Coach Pat Dye in 1981 started divying up the A-Day profits between the band, the library and the A Club," Housel said. "This year we divided it between the band, the library and the honors program," he said. The ranks of the honors program have ballooned lately. Currently, 564 students are in the program, which is 3 percent of the student population. The number of students has more than doubled in the last few years, Gwin said. The program provides members with priority registration, smaller versions of core classes, leadership opportunities and the option of living in one of the two co-ed honors residence halls. Entering freshmen need a minimum of 29 on the ACT or 1280 on the SAT and a 3.5 GPA to join the program. Students already enrolled at Auburn with a 3.4 GPA can also join. Gwin said the funds from the athletic department will probably be used to finish furnishing the Honors Student Center in the basement of Broun Hall, one of the honors residence halls in the Quad. |
