Clerk’s Committee Meeting Minutes, February 2, 2016

by Dave Dobsonin Clerk's Committeeon Posted on

Clerk’s Committee Meeting Minutes

February 2, 2016

1:00 – 2:15 PM

Bauman 1st Floor Conference Room, Bauman Telecommunications Building

Attending: Dave Dobson (Clerk), Gwen Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sarah Estow (Social Sciences), Sherry Giles (Business, Policy, and Sports Studies), Sadie Hunter (Community Senate), Alex Ricks (Student Government Association), Beth Rushing (Vice President for Academic Affairs & Academic Dean), Steve Shapiro (Natural Sciences & Mathematics) and recorder for this meeting.  Not attending: Lisa McLeod (Humanities) and Kathryn Shields (Arts).

  1. The Committee convened and began with a moment of silence.
  2. The Committee reviewed and approved without modification the minutes from January 26, 2016.
  3. The Committee added a few items to the February 3, 2016 Faculty Meeting Agenda.
    1. At the beginning of the meeting, the Clerk will
      1. Announce that Jim Hood (ENGL) will be joining the Compensation subcommittee on Peer Comparisons.
      2. Ask the Faculty for approval for Barbara Lawrence (JPS) to serve on the new Strategic Priorities Oversight Committee.
    2. The chair of Nominating Committee will announce the two nominees for Clerk: Dave Dobson and Jim Hood, and invite additional nominations from the floor.
  4. The Committee discussed the differing status associated with tenure-track faculty members, faculty members with an administrative function (e.g., Librarians), and staff members with advanced degrees who have teaching responsibilities. In addition to pay disparities and differences in job security, some of these people have opportunities to help shape the direction of the college (e.g., by serving on committees) while others do not.  Action Item: Beth and Gwen will work together to develop ideas for how to address these issues.
  5. The Committee discussed the upcoming forum concerning three proposals to change policies for how people are compensated for handling certain additional responsibilities, and committees, departments, and divisions could be restructured. The Committee discussed a concern that there are already many substantial changes being made at the College and we may not have sufficient time to think through all of these changes – and the possible unintended consequences.  The Committee also discussed the timing associated with implementing these types of changes and the conflicting need of Nominating Committee to fill spots based on the current organizational system.  The Clerk mentioned that if the new system were not approved during his time as Clerk, the next Clerk could move in a different direction. However, the Clerks also noted that the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean has the authority to determine the organization of departments and divisions without Faculty consensus.
  6. The Clerk outlined the rest of the agenda for the February 3 Faculty Meeting.
  7. Discussion – Salary philosophy from Compensation Committee

The Clerk reported that the “prioritization list” was, in fact, written in order of priority – a concern because faculty compensation would be addressed in the last item.  The Committee discussed the notion that if we fix hiring salaries before we address current faculty and staff salaries, then the current employees will continue to be inequitably compensated….  This “salary compression” does not reward employees who remain at Guilford and thus does not help retain effective employees.

The Committee requests that the language from the Compensation Committee be clear (no ambiguities) and observes that if the Compensation Committee does not recommend changes in how we determine compensation, we will not obtain a different (and improved) outcome in how we pay our employees.

We will return to this topic during another meeting and have additional discussion.

  1. Scheduling: Future topics for faculty forums

We need to plan carefully – and soon – for the February 24 forum.  We have additional possible forum times later in the semester.  Possible forum topics: LAGER and January Term.

  1. For discussion: Appropriate standards for position allocations and staffing decisions

This topic was postponed and will be discussed in a subsequent meeting.

  1. The meeting closed with a moment of silence at 2:15 PM.