February 10, 2005
Members Present: Fran Emory, Charlie Errico, Barbara Hathaway, Patti Hill, Joey Horobetz, Marjorie Kinnaman, David Lavis, Bill Schran, Bill Shannon, Ruth Stanton, and Maxine Toliver
Members Absent: Judy Benavides, Gene Brown, Janet Bush, Myles Embry, Marsha Fisher, Gert Heslin, and Barbara Howard
1. Call to Order: Chairman Errico called the meeting to order at 2 p.m.
2. Review and Approval of the Minutes: The minutes were approved as distributed.
3. Chair’s Report: Charlie Errico said that the Committee’s report and recommendations regarding the Classified Emeritus program was delivered to President Templin. The Committee’s recommendation that a study on salary equity be conducted on faculty salaries was also delivered to the President. Charlie Errico also gave the President a copy of the Committee’s recommendation directed at the Senate regarding faculty salary increases. When Charlie met with the President, Dr. Templin said he was interested in the suggestions from the committee, but that there were other salary-related issues he felt needed attention as well. In particular, the College is having real trouble attracting and retaining Medical Education faculty. The Senate will take up the salary proposal in two weeks. Ruth Stanton and Fran Emory will present the motion to the Senate.
The President shared the salary increase proposal with the Administrative Council and there, it seemed the group saw the proposal as applicable only to teaching faculty. The committee clearly intended the program to address salary compression among administrative and professional faculty, as well. This will come up later in the agenda.
4. Vice President’s Report: Alison Baker said that there was good news and bad news coming out of the legislature. On the good side, salary increases above those recommended by the Governor seem to be likely. Teaching faculty could get even larger increases depending on the outcome of the budget conference committee. It looks unlikely that we will get full funding for the Bond projects’ shortfalls, and this could have a serious impact on the College’s ongoing projects at Alexandria, Annandale and Woodbridge.
5. Old Business:
A. Faculty Salary Equity Proposal: The proposal states that it would increase the salaries of College employees holding faculty rank, not just teaching faculty, however, the group agreed that the proposal as presented to the senate should specifically state its applicability to teaching, professional and administrative faculty. The Committee agreed that the proposal should be so amended prior to presentation at the Senate meeting. Ruth Stanton agreed to make the amendment and Charlie agreed to discuss the matter with Al Ross, Senate Chair.
B. Enhanced Retirement Program: The question of next steps came up at the meeting. We know that faculty and the Committee are in favor of a phased retirement program like the ERP. Bill Shran reported that there was no active faculty group in Virginia that was pressing for any legislation or that had particular ideas about how to achieve a phased retirement program that would work with IRS regulations and VRS limitations.
Charlie Errico was opposed to the Committee’s members taking on an active organizing role in researching and advocating a program. He believed that this role properly belongs to the administration. The committee discussed various approaches either to pressing for legislation or attempting to design a program that would work despite the VRS regulations. Patti Hill agreed to research whether a part-time P-3 appointee is eligible to receive pension benefits.
6. New Business:
A. Workplace Violence Policy: Alison Baker had distributed a draft policy for dealing with workplace violence. The Committee discussed it briefly and agreed to bring the matter up at the next meeting.
B. Telecommuting Policy: Alison Baker had distributed materials regarding a proposed telecommuting policy, though some of the materials could not be read by all e-mail recipients. The materials will be sent again and the matter discussed at an upcoming meeting.
7. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 3:50.