Employee Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, March 5, 2003
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Boardroom Day Hall

I. Call to Order and Introductions

J. DeMarco, Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m.

Attendance:

Present: Deb Billups, Joseph DeMarco, Donna Goss, Tammy Johnson, Lisa Rose, Thomas Shelley, Mary Smallwood Churchill, Brandi Smith

Excused: Patricia Mahoney, Dawne Martyniak

Others Present: Michael Esposito, Tammy Bishop, Pat Haugen (AAD), Pam Hampton (CALS), Lynette Chappell-Williams, Allan Bishop

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

J. DeMarco asked for any late additions.

There were none.

III. Approval of Minutes

February 19, 2003

J. DeMarco asked if there were any corrections or additions that anybody would like to make to the minutes.

There was some discussion about the minutes: summary VS verbatim. Everyone voiced their opinion and most would like just a summary. J. DeMarco said that they would revisit at the next EA meeting,

IV. Report from the Chair

• The Executive Board met on February 26 and discussed:
  • Orientation Packet
  • Staff input on Workforce Planning — will be in PawPrint tomorrow and site is up for staff to submit their questions.
  • D. Goss and J. DeMarco met with Mary Opperman on Feb. 4 to talk about the current fiscal situation. It is a good idea for the EA to do another Town Meeting and include more precise information. D. Goss will work on getting a date and already has Biddie Martin and Carolyn Ainslie ready to present at it. M. Esposito asked if Mary Opperman would be there to present the softer side of it. D. Goss said that this will focus more on the financial side rather than the HR side, but would ask Mary to join. J. DeMarco agreed.
  • J. DeMarco spoke to G. Pratt about removing the interim from the Vice Chair title that D. Goss holds.

T. Johnson made a motion to remove interim from D. Goss title.

T. Shelley seconded.

Motion was unanimously passed.

J. DeMarco welcomed Pat Haugen and Pam Hampton who were visiting

V. Committee Reports

IOC

T. Johnson said that she will wait until Lynette’s presentation is over to give a report.

VI. Lynette Chappell-Williams

Unlocking the future through Diversity, Equity, and Life Quality

Lynette said that it has been 3 years since she has spoken to the EA about how they can partner.

The Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality (OWDELQ) was established in January 2000. It used to be called the Office of Equal Opportunity. The goal was to be more proactive and weave everything together.

Equal Opportunity and Compliance

Resolution of Discrimination Complaints: This is the sole office on handling investigations for sexual harassment complaints or, in the case of faculty matters, assisting with such investigations.

Workplace Accommodations: This is when there needs to be an adjustment in work environment because of disability or religion. The disability accommodation policy became official in May 2002 to work with employees with disabilities and departments�there is a separate office for students with disabilities. A religious accommodation policy for employees is being developed, but they are still working out the policy and are hopeful that they will be able to role it out as an interim policy in the Fall.

Training of Harassment Advisors: Harassment advisors are assigned to each college and administrative unit and serve as be a point of contact for issues related to harassment. Harassment advisors receive training twice a year.

Affirmative Action Programs

University Affirmative Action & Diversification Plan: An affirmative action plan was put together this year in an effort to be proactive. It incorporates the numbers of women and minorities, as required by federal law, and also includes programs designed to address the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce.

Meeting with Sr. Administrators yearly: Bob Harris and Lynette Chappell-Williams meet with the deans in the Fall and the VPs in the Spring. They meet with the president in the Fall and Spring to update him on what each department is doing.

Training of Affirmative Action “Officers”: Each unit and college has a designate for Affirmative Action. There are 2 programs/year for training.

Diversity Initiatives

Bias Response Protocol: Established in November 2000 to supplement the complaint mechanism. It is an opportunity for OWDELQ and the bias committee to become aware of bias activity that occurs. They are recorded and tracked with the goal of developing proactive strategies to reduce the likelihood of future bias.

University Diversity Council: In November 2001, the University Diversity Council took over the function/activities of the Campus Climate Committee with the goal of moving the university’s diversity initiative forward while better utilizing resources. There is a newsletter that goes out 2 times/year, in the Chronicle once/ month, and on the information will be available on line, once the website is established in about 2–3 weeks.

Staff Diversity Council: They have been meeting since 1999 to see what they can do from a staff prospective about inclusiveness.

Skilled Trades Diversity Committee: To increase the pipeline of women and minorities in skilled trades within CU and contracts. There has been an increase in the past two year of both women and minorities who are on jobs.

Implementation of Diversity Retention Initiatives: The University Diversity Council has assisted in the development of Guidelines for the Development of Comprehensive Diversity Plans to assist colleges and departments who are developing a plan over the next few years to address inclusiveness.

Life Quality Initiatives

Child Care Grant Subsidy Program: There has been an increase of applications. 335 this year, 229 last year (the first year).

University Summer Day Camp: In the process of putting it together. There will be a weekly schedule beginning June 25 and ending August 29.

Work and Family Advisory Council: Established in 1990. This group meets monthly with the goal of making the quality of life better for employees. The predecessor to the Work and Family Advisory Council created approximately 38 recommendations to improve the quality of life for employees. One of these recommendations called for the establishment of a flex policy.

Flex-Policy Implementation: Flex-time has been in effect for quite awhile, but they are addressing how to get people to use it.

Life Cycles Workshop Series: There are a series of workshops on parenting, eldercare, pet care, etc. Established 2 years ago.

Bring a child to work day: OWDELQ will take this over next year.

Multicultural Reading Circle: Established in an effort to reach out to the local community to address diversity issues. Reading Circle is a book club where members meet monthly and read books written by an author from a diverse background.

Sandbox Socials: Designed for faculty and staff of color who are single and have similar backgrounds to learn about what Ithaca has to offer. It is not a dating service.

Kid’Scape: Piloting this year for single parents. There are activities planned for parents and kids in the local community.

Annual Life Quality Meeting: This has been in effect for 3 years. The goal is to bring people who are interested in Life Quality to think about the things that Cornell has accomplished over the course of the year and what they need to accomplish and keep the issue on their radar.

Partnership Opportunities

Provide Representation at monthly Staff Diversity Council Meetings: The EA can get the word out that diversity is a continued commitment.

Assist with Implementation of Staff Diversity Initiative: Help implement the strategic plan.

Incorporate “Targeted” Social programming into current EA Activities: Programming for a particular population. Watch calendars for religious holidays, etc. Do some outreach for those who feel marginalized.

Assist with Developing “Best Practices” for Flex Policy Implementation: Talk to others and find out who uses flex time, who wants to use it, and who feels that they can’t use it.

Provide EA Representation at each staff-related Diversity and Life Quality Event: Someone from the EA to attend each program and event.

Lynette said that when they are having an event and would like EA participation, she will send a message to OA to forward on.

VII. IOC

T. Johnson said that the IOC has 2 recommendations that they would like to bring to the EA for approval.

• Henry Granison from the Law School is interested in the UA and Peggy McKee’s (who was laid off) seat is available until the end of May. Henry is interested in filling that seat. There are only 3 meetings left. The IOC recommends that they appoint Henry Granison to that seat which is an employee seat on the UA.

T. Johnson made a motion to fill the UA employee seat with Henry Granison.

T. Shelley seconded.

Motion was approved unanimously.

• The IOC has met with Stephanie LaLonde from the Law School to take Leti’s seat (1 year and 3 months term)

T. Johnson made a motion to fill L. McNeill’s seat with Stephanie LaLonde.

D. Billups seconded.

M. Esposito asked if a statement sheet was filled out.

T. Johnson said yes, to the IOC

M. Esposito asked if it was passed around to the EA.

T. Johnson said no, it is in the charter that it is up to the IOC to review and make a recommendation to the EA, but she can pass it out.

M. Esposito said that he would like it to be passed out.

Motion passed unanimously.

• T. Johnson received 1 nomination for the VC Finance seat: Pat Mahoney.

T. Johnson made a motion to have Pat Mahoney take over the VC Finance and Secretary seat of the EA for the remainder of C. Bucko’s term.

B. Smith seconded.

T. Shelley asked if Pat has a finance background.

No one knows.

Motion passed unanimously.

T. Johnson said that the UA Public Service committee is presenting at the next leadership meeting.

VIII. Allan Bishop

Allan gave a presentation on RecruitSoft, which is an online source for applying to Cornell.

The goal was to bring consistency to the hiring process and have a searchable database to help reduce the cost and time to conduct a search.

The site will go live the week of March 24.

IX. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:37 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Tammy Bishop