Approved 02-18-21

 

ASEC Minutes

2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, February 4, 2021

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93936751067

Members Present: Donna Cole; Jenny Dahlberg; Tim Dalby, chair; Stephanie Elkins; Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Deb Shapiro; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler

Guests: Jenny Faust, Lesley Fisher, Karen Massetti-Moran, Charles Meyer, Lauren Meyers, Matthew Mitnick, Mike Pflieger, Mark Walters

The meeting was called to order at 2:01 p.m.

The minutes of January 28 were approved.

General Reports

Tim Dalby, ASEC Chair, reported on updates from recent meetings with the chiefs of staff and the governance chairs and secretaries. The rejection rate for testing is now down to below 1%. We are waiting for more doses of vaccine and are currently running almost 8,000 tests per day. Tim discussed ASM’s proposal for a COVID Relief Fund and the mask ambassador amendment that was passed on Tuesday. Tim, Mallory, Jenny, and Jake met with Mark Walters and Karen Massetti-Moran on Wednesday to discuss concerns on a July implementation of TTC.

Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff, reported that the TTC Governance Advisory Group has resumed its meetings. There was substantial discussion as to whether a July implementation was feasible from an employee perspective. Jake provided an update on the first meeting of the Athletic Board Selection Committee. Jake also reported on the Faculty Senate’s passage of changes to the Budget Committee charge and the renamed Committee for Women in the University.

Liaison Reports

Deb Shapiro reported on the recent meeting of the Librarians Assembly, where the new External Discovery portal was discussed. Some librarians met with Allison La Tarte regarding ways to involve the libraries in this project.

Stephanie Elkins reported that the WPM CASI will have a dedicated space for reports in the WPM all-staff meetings going forward, both from the co-chair and from the WPM Director.

Bill Tishler reported that the DCS CASI wants to do a lunch and learn on shared governance in February or March.

Guests: Jenny Faust and Charles Meyer, Office of Strategic Consulting (Policy Library Project)

The Policy Library Project started 2 years ago at Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf’s urging. After two years of work, and with a project team comprised of more than 60% academic staff, the Policy Library is now a reality. In 2018, University Relations created a webpage linking to everyone else’s webpages that had policies. Jenny and Charles demonstrated the new policy library site as comparison. The project used a commercial product for the search engine holding the policies, and UW-Madison Libraries helped create the interface. The project team also developed a set of guiding principles for policy development. Broad cross-campus collaboration and strong project management were key to the success of the project. There are a few policies yet to be published, and a policy library coordinator is yet to be hired due to budget circumstances. Some unit webpages also need cleanup or redirects, and the rollout of the library is in process. Helping campus to normalize standardization of policy format and terminology will be critical. A policy life cycle was also created as part of this project. The next steps for the project include completing any web cleanup, encouraging use of the new template for policies, and acclimating campus to the notion of a single location for guidance.

Motion to Convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to Discuss Appointment to the Committee for Women in the University (Cole). Seconded. Approved.

Motion to Reconvene in Open Session (Dahlberg). Seconded. Approved.

Business

·         Appointment – for vote

Motion to appoint Hannah Silver to the Committee for Women in the University (Shapiro). Seconded. Approved.

·         February Assembly Prep

ASEC discussed the upcoming Assembly meeting. The ASPP changes will be brought forward by PPPC, and the resolution will be introduced by Tim.

Guest: Matthew Mitnick, Chair, Associated Students of Madison

Matthew discussed ASM’s proposal for a COVID Relief Fund for students and asked for ASEC’s support for the proposal. There is money that is available in ASM reserve funds, and administration has $10 million of funds available for disbursement through the Office of Financial Aid. There are concerns from ASM about some students being ineligible, and ASM would like to have the reserve funds supplement the other funds. ASM has been informed that the proposal would be in conflict with UW System Policy, and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Laurent Heller sent ASM a letter on the legal aspects of why the recent mask ambassador amendment would also be in conflict with policy. ASEC posed a question about the precedent that such an amendment might create and encouraged further dialogue with administration about ways to support students within existing structures offered by Financial Aid and other offices on campus.

Guests: Mark Walters, Chief Human Resources Officer; and Karen Massetti-Moran, Director of Total Rewards, Office of Human Resources

Mark updated ASEC on the status of the proposal for a one-time increase in the amount of bankable hours for ALRA. After looking at the provisions and the cost, and after discussions with UW System, the cost implications of having that increase in bankable hours were prohibitive, as were the cost implications for a similar ability for those at the university with 0-10 years’ experience. Discussions with UW System yielded concerns about costs for Madison and for other campuses. OHR is working on a communication to employees, along with articles in Inside UW and Working@UW, regarding awareness of leave balances and the need to use carryover from fiscal years 2019 and 2020 before the end of this fiscal year. FY21 leave can still be carried over into next year. The communication will focus on well-being of employees in addition to not wanting employees to lose balances.

Regarding promotions and consistency across schools/colleges/divisions, promotions are current with respect to processing, but OHR has been consistent with S/C/Ds in the message that budget shouldn’t be a reason for holding up promotion. Anticipation of TTC should also not be a reason to hold on promotions. Looking at numbers provided today in FY20, there were 185 promotions. Currently in FY21, there are 178 promotions that have gone through. ASEC raised concerns from some areas about mixed messages regarding opportunities for promotion.

Going back to well-being, this will be a foundational piece with respect to policy intersections with diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. There is a new unit in HR dedicated to examining policies through a DEI lens, and reps from that unit will come to ASEC in the future. This process has started with TTC and the standard job descriptions, making sure to remove any language that perpetuates structural racism.

ASEC recessed at 4:07 p.m.

ASEC reconvened at 4:12 p.m.

Business

·         March Assembly Agenda

ASEC reviewed an initial draft of the March Assembly agenda.

·         ASEC Orientation and Communication Discussion

ASEC discussed several issues around the ASEC Orientation session and other ideas for communication in conjunction with the Secretary of the Academic Staff Office, including formalizing orientation for new ASEC members in a digital space like Canvas, further discussion of a newsletter, a proposal for “ASEC office hours,” and discussion of hybrid in-person/virtual meetings.

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Jake Smith, Secretary of the Academic Staff