(people laughing and speaking indistinctly)
-: Hi everyone online.
Do you wanna start the meeting again?
-: I will start the meeting again.
Sorry about that technology glitch.
Can we just get confirmation
that you can hear us on Teams?
-: We can hear you. -: I can hear you.
-: We can hear you.
-: Wonderful, thank you.
Could you hear me the first time or just now?
-: Just now.
(people speaking indistinctly)
-: February staff council meeting, take two.
Officially called to order at 12:09,
and Jen, I invite you to do your piece.
-: Everyone should have received a copy
of the minutes from the January 3rd meeting.
Can I have a motion to approve the minutes?
Thank you.
Can I have a motion, a second? Oh my god.
Can someone second the motion?
-: Yeah.
-: Is there any discussion?
No, great.
Everyone in favor of approving the minutes,
please raise your hand.
-: Staff council meeting? Come on in.
-: Anyone who does not approve the minutes,
please raise your hand.
No abstention. Thank you.
(people speaking indistinctly)
-: At this time I'd like to open it up
to public comment period,
so this is an opportunity for non-staff council members
to raise or address issues
that are otherwise not included on the agenda.
If we have anybody with us today
who's not a member of council and wants to say anything?
Go ahead.
-: No, no, that's showing that I'm not a member.
-: (indistinct) We're Master's students
in the UVM HESA program,
and one of our assignments was
to attend a staff council meeting.
(people speaking indistinctly)
-: We're glad to have you. Thank you for joining.
-: Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration,
the Master's program.
-: We technically can have students on staff council, so.
(people speaking indistinctly)
All right, if we don't have any comments or issues raised,
I would like to turn it over to Alan
to introduce our new representatives.
-: Yeah, so we have two new people
who have joined staff council from the respective areas.
And so I will introduce Doug,
if you want to give your quick bio of yourself.
The camera's over there if you wanna look at camera.
-: Hi, my name's Doug Stewart.
I work in Student Governance Association
in the business office there.
New to UVM, working at UVM.
I've been here just outside my probation this period,
six, seven months at this point.
So happy to be able to join the council.
Just looking to connect with more people
and get to know kind what's going on
outside my little bubble of SGA
in Davis Center where I hit home.
So that's kind of the gist of it all. Yeah.
Went to UVM a long time ago, graduated in '98
and worked in the ski industry most of my career.
So now kind of sitting at a desk doing accounting work,
which is what I was trained for at UVM back in the day.
Happy to do it again, but definitely a shift
from what I was currently doing.
-: Welcome. -: Welcome.
-: So I'm just reading comments
and so we also have Carly joining us from the Division
of Inclusive Excellence.
I'll be filling that seat that's been vacant
for a little while, so welcome.
Give yourself a little...
-: Thank you.
Excuse me. Hi, my name's Carly Duran-Marrero.
I use she, they pronouns.
I serve as the educator
for Inclusive Excellence in the Division
of Inclusive Excellence.
Tentative to be pending, given circumstance.
And I am new to Vermont. I've only been here for six months.
I previously was at the University
of Minnesota doing student and staff
and adjunct faculty development.
And so that's a lot of what my role is now,
is staff training, staff development as it relates to
equity, intercultural competencies and skills.
Yeah, I was raised in Minnesota.
Graduated from my undergrad in 2020. That's a Q.
And so I'm very excited to be here.
-: Awesome, Carly. Thank you. -: Thank you.
-: Would you mind telling
us which committee you're serving at?
-: I believe the Community Engagement Committee.
-: Community Engagement. -: Professional Development.
-: Professional Development. Wonderful. Great.
Thank you for joining. -: Yep.
-: One of our goals when
Jen and I assumed these privileged roles was
to see more members join staff council.
So I think it's especially near
and dear to my heart to see that
we've met some of those goals.
So appreciate you having us, having you with us. All right.
We're gonna move to standing committee updates.
The school chairs are gonna share with us what's going on
with their committees please.
Alright. How about the social committee?
Is Susan gonna? Yep, there we are. Hi.
-: So we've sold out of all 40 "Little Mermaid" tickets
for the Saturday matinee on April 12th
at 1:00pm, so that's great.
And the Palatine/Valentine sales are ongoing
through February 6th.
Diane will be picking up the orders
and trying to sort them,
depending on the number on February 10th.
And then they will be available for pickup
from the staff council office on February 11th and 12th.
And probably 13th I assume too.
For those who haven't picked it up by then?
-: No. -: No?
Are you not in the office? So just the 11th and 12th.
-: They have been told the 11th
and 12th, if they haven't come by then,
then we'll figure something else out. They'll be eaten.
-: Okay.
-: They will be eaten. -: Yeah.
-: Personal stash. Me and Diane.
-: I think it was figured out a way
to include extension and remote folks.
(people speaking indistinctly)
-: Staff line. -: Well two dates, right?
-: Yeah. 12 13th, -: The 12th
and the 13th, Susan is when they're picking up
on Wednesday and Thursday.
-: Okay, so we still have the 11th to sort then.
-: Correct. -: 12th and the 13th.
Okay. -: Thank you for that point.
-: Yeah, thank you.
I'm not sure how we're doing in terms of the sales,
but I knew there were at least 40 items
and 17 people that had placed orders at last count.
I'm sure it's gone up since then.
Also, we have our March skate night on Friday,
March 28th, three open skate.
You just need to bring your own skates to
the UVM Gutterson Arena.
And it's from 5:00 to 7:00pm is it at Gutters?
It is at Gutterson, but 5:00 to 7:00pm.
There'll be cookies just outside the rink area
as opposed to in the lobby this year.
Last year I had noted that the music didn't start till
halfway through.
Maybe Catherine had gotten there a little bit late.
I'm not a good techie person
or music person, so I will be there,
but I'm not sure the music was necessary,
but it did start halfway through.
So hot cocoa and cookies,
like I said, just outside the rink.
So help spread the word about that.
There were about three dozen people, I'd say,
who enjoyed it last year.
-: Nice. -: And...
-: It's a really fun event.
I think when I just plugged in my iPhone, Susan
and there was somebody there that helped me do that.
So maybe have a backup because the-
-: Well, I don't have a playlist on my phone.
-: I just downloaded one, skate music.
But if you don't wanna do it,
I'm just thinking maybe have somebody who does
and then a backup.
-: Okay. -: Just an idea.
-: I can send you a playlist.
-: I also don't have unlimited data, if it uses data.
Although I would be on UVM campus though.
But there's wifi.
-: It's such a joyful event
and it just really is like, you know,
skating is very freeing and it's families
and I've always enjoyed it when I've gone.
-: It's a combination of people that-
-: Yeah, it is. -: They appreciated it.
They had fun. -: Good.
-: I think we had light attendance last year
'cause it fell on a holiday weekend.
It was Easter weekend last year.
-: I think I broke my skate at the last one.
So not that back.
Love the new skates.
-: So those are things going on at the moment for us.
-: Thank you. How about PPD?
-: Good afternoon.
PPD, we're getting,
starting excited about promoting our Cat Chat
that's in March
and happening on March 13th in (indistinct).
And we are also excited about, we've been working closely
with HR and specifically talent development
and there's lots of things
that they are getting underway in that area.
And one of them is a lunch and learn series.
And so what PPD is gonna do is occasionally going
to sponsor a lunch and learn series.
And so we'll pick something from the big list of all kinds
of talent development opportunities
and say, hey everybody, here's a date.
We're all gonna do this together.
Let's commit to it and do it.
So we're kicking one off on Valentine's Day
and it is a free lunch as well too.
So, and it was, the information is in the staff
council, staff line that went out this week.
And it's specifically one that we try
to make applicable to everybody.
It's on Microsoft 365 and all the different tools
and products and things that you can use in Microsoft 365.
So we're excited to be collaborating with HR
and helping them promote these
professional development opportunities.
So there will be more of those coming.
We are also working
with HR on collecting feedback on the performance evaluation
process of which many people are going through right now.
It's going to be revamped.
So if folks have feedback, please reach out to any
of us on the PPD, so we can share that with HR.
And we are also looking at
if there's other projects,
other things we can focus our attention on,
in particular things around your physical work environment
because that is part of the charge of our committee.
So yeah, I think that that is about it for us.
Yeah.
(people speaking indistinctly)
-: Wasn't is the lunch and learn?
Just, I didn't, I couldn't get all your words.
-: Is it free?
Is it the lunch free this one time, February 14th?
Or are they providing lunch? I didn't mean to say freeze.
-: The one on February 14th is, they are providing lunch.
It is free.
You can register in person and get free lunch
or if you don't wanna come in person,
you can also register online.
So it's both options.
Unfortunately if you register online,
they're not delivering lunch to you, you have to come yet.
-: Sure. -: Why.
-: And, moving forward, some of the Lunch and Learn series
may have lunch, sometimes they may not,
sometimes they just might have a sweet treat.
It's gonna go back and forth, at least when the PPD
sponsors and promotes one of them.
-: Thank you (indistinct).
JP, is PPD gonna be working on the Affinity Groups
or is that the community engagement group?
-: We were excited to work on that,
but then it felt like we took a step back from that
because it seemed like somebody that was,
I know you were having meetings with the...
if if we wanna step in and do it, we you're happy to,
but if somebody else is doing it, that's fine as well too.
We can step back from that.
-: Make a quick comment that yes, thank you.
We just wanna update you that we have successfully engaged
with the faculty senate to have a collaborative effort
between faculty and staff.
And so we're trying to flush out some of those details
and then I think we'll be ready to move it down
to a committee level for establishing groups.
And just a really quick update here about that is that
with the Affinity Groups, we already recognize
that there are groups
that exist on campus without the formality
of the UVM affiliation.
So we're gonna be leaning into those groups
to maybe become more formalized if they so desire as like,
kind of like our seeder groups, seed groups.
And then what really stood out with our meeting
with the faculty senate is having a group
that really addresses people new to UVM
and people new to UVM and Vermont
and kind of looking at how do we create community around
that and how do we help new people feel welcome
at the university and welcome in the state
when a lot of information is is not easily available.
I will say there are a lot of people who've done a lot
of work to find out about faith organizations
and ethnic shops and I'm just scratching the surface here,
but you know, when we hire talent,
we want them to stay, right?
So part of that is making people feel welcome
and allowing them to live their authentic selves here.
And so those are some of the priorities
that the faculty senate mentioned
because I think they're getting a lot
of talent inquiries from across the country, specifically
because of academic freedom.
So there's a lot of pieces behind the scenes
that are driving new people to Vermont and new people to UVM
and we wanna be intentional about creating a very
welcome community for that.
So, it was a little long-winded, no surprise. But anyway.
-: Hey Monica, maybe that's something we put on the staff
council exec board meeting is to decide
who it best filters down to as far as that next step.
-: Perfect. There's our first agenda item. Thank you.
-: Yes, of course.
-: The lunch and learn 12:00 to 1:00?
It doesn't say on the invite
or staff line, I assume it's lunchtime?
I just signed up.
-: It is 12:00 to 1:00.
It is a 45 minute like structured period
and then they have 15 minute for Q&A.
-: Sweet. Thank you.
I'm gonna send it to my group.
-: Okay. Yes.
-: Is the interest in Affinity Groups based on race
or ethnic identity at all? -: It can be.
-: Yeah.
-: We're really looking for these groups
to be circled around shared interests.
That can be identities, that can be, you know, activities.
And I think having as many different kinds of groups,
there's a little of concern with the faculty senate
that there's some people maybe
that don't want the larger community to know their business.
So we wanna be mindful of that.
But really, and I think what the priority
for faculty senate is
what is the value in establishing the Affinity Group.
And so the value is gonna be
that you're gonna be having access to UVM resources.
And then I think it's important for groups
that are considering this to have a conversation around,
you know, are we okay with being visible?
And the other piece that hasn't had an opportunity
to come forward but has the potential
for the future is it gives these organizations a much
stronger voice on campus.
So if you're trying to work
with senior administration on an initiative, something,
even like bringing a speaker to campus, you will have,
you know, a certain amount of legitimacy
by being a UVM Affinity Group.
-: My question is based around at other institutions,
the model is usually that the staff council as well
as the faculty senate in accordance with any
union relationships simultaneously would curate,
for example, like a Black staff and faculty association.
-: Okay. -: So then resources
are funneled into that
or Latino staff and faculty association.
And so I'm curious if there's a certain model
that we're trying to move into
or if this is beginnings of possibility.
-: It's the beginning. -: Okay.
But we'd like to recruit you.
-: Okay, great. I can be supportive of that.
-: I love that. Thank you.
-: Thank you so much. JP, I didn't cut you off did I?
-: Nope, that was it. Send me your questions.
-: What about CBB?
-: I don't sadly have much to report from CBB.
Our next meeting is actually coming up next week,
sorry, in two weeks, the 19th.
So at this time we don't really have much
to update you all on.
We do have our current project list.
We did have a great guest speaker as well come in
and talk to us from HR,
but that's about it.
Sorry.
-: No that's fine. Thank you.
And then I guess we have community engagement please.
-: Yes. Thank you.
So we met what feels like a long time ago now,
but our primary updates will be upcoming events.
So February 12th is a busy day in community engagement land.
We have on that Wednesday, February 12th from 12:00 to 1:00,
the book club meeting.
It is a hybrid meeting with tea and snacks.
If you join in person there is an RSVP link
and more details that came out in staff line this morning.
So that's February 12th, 12:00 to 1:00
in the US foundation room.
And then also that day, later in the day
there is the staff art show opening
in the Davis Center from 4:30 to 6:30pm.
So the staff art show is happening,
I believe it's on the fourth floor of the Davis Center
and we have been having our Tuesday Traipse.
There's a group that would've gone out today.
They go out every Tuesday at 12:15.
I was very thankful to be able to join the group last week
and we had a half dozen people so it was nice
to get out in the sunshine even though it was
about five degrees.
So that group is going out consistently
and we'd love to have you.
That's all.
-: Chelsea, quick question of clarification.
-: Yes.
-: On the Tuesday Traipse is, am I correct in saying
that's currently just running through February
and then you're gonna reevaluate it?
Is that correct?
-: I believe that's the plan.
Depending on attendance
and attendance patterns, we would revisit
and see if there's a model
that would suit you know, the purpose better.
This was kind of imagined as partly a winter activity.
It helps to get some momentum.
But how many people Tuesday...
I see a question in the chat.
I've gone when it's about four
but I've also gone when we've had like six or seven
or maybe there were eight of us.
It's hard to...
I wasn't particularly counting
but it, you know, we've had enough people
that it really helps to stay motivated
to go get some vitamin D.
-: Yeah.
So I'm just curious about
how well the promotion is going
given that it's a weekly thing.
I know for last week's I sent out a reminder the day
before, coupled with there was another reminder
of something else that was happening the same time.
This week, I did not because staff line went out today,
which is the day of, and of course it was in staff line.
So I'm just curious if there's a way to know
how the promotion of it's going.
So that's all.
-: I think last week there were more people
than the week before so your notification probably
did help at that. -: Yeah, yeah.
-: I would agree with that.
It was a pretty big group because
before it had been like five or fewer,
the times that I had gone personally,
obviously I can't go today,
but I'll check in with folks who did go on the walk today,
later this afternoon and see how they did.
-: Thanks. -: Yeah, it's really nice
and it's a really fun way just
to have some lighthearted conversation
with people across campus from different areas
and it's always good to be outside
and I like that it started in the winter
but I imagine it might be easier to have more people join in
as the weather gets better
and you know, people feel a little safer on the sidewalks
and maybe everybody who goes can bring a friend next week.
Right? So then you get a larger group going.
And it's a nice walk, it's a good walk.
-: Yeah that was part of the idea was that,
sorry I'm in a common area, that we would,
having the occasion would help get people outside.
But yes, campus is lovely in the springtime
so we'll certainly revisit.
-: Anybody that manages like the Instagram as a place
to be putting marketing.
-: Okay. -: Was outta curiosity. Okay.
-: Okay, I think that covers the standing committee updates.
Any questions for any committee members, thoughts
or ideas to be shared?
Any in chat Ellen? Nope.
Alright, we'll move on to leadership meetings.
There is a lot going on with leadership.
Let's see.
So we had some
conversations with this chief of staff, Jonathan,
regarding the spring elections
for the staff council positions,
the president and vice president positions, largely centered
around some questions due to the fact that we have
non-represented and represented staff on campus
and how that intersects with the positions.
And I think that we
were aligned in our thoughts on those positions
and forwarded that onto the nominating committee.
And essentially these roles
in some ways supersede those boundaries.
And I think that for the staff council
to understand that it is something
that must be taken very seriously.
You know, it is a privileged information session many times
not just an opportunity for us to share
our agenda items,
but these roles are privileged
to sensitive information regarding the university
and that needs to be taken seriously
and that requires the cone of silence sometimes.
Any questions about that?
'Cause I know that can be a little tricky
and we can get into that more later too if you want.
All righty, let's see.
Most recently the primary topic
of our conversation was regarding academic institutions
and executive orders by the President of the United States
and the impact that that is having.
So it's about as clear as mud
and there are different arms of the university
that are working on that.
I know there are a lot of people
that are concerned about their jobs, about funding,
about research.
This has a wide expanding range of impact
and I think the most important piece of information
to share is that this is applicable
to all academic institutions.
So if you kind of think
of the academic institutions in this country as a coalition
that are all gonna be having a very shared interest
and seeing these items prioritized and addressed
and managed efficiently.
And certainly we can even go so far to say
that there are some organizations
where this is a even greater and more impactful issue.
You know, like the organizations that are
much more heavily involved in research than we are.
Of course we have research
and we're also moving into R1 status
and that means keeping R1 status.
So there's a lot of ripples in this pond,
but I think the discussions have been moving forward
in a very positive way
and that just understanding
that across the country people are working together
to get clarity, one
and two, determine any steps needed to move forward
and we're just gonna keep the conversation open on that.
-: I'd like to add too that we really stressed
staff's feelings about all of this and how nervous staff are
or can be when rumors go around
and then stress the importance of communication,
with communication just because everything is so unclear.
-: And I think this is an opportunity for people
to voice those concerns and ask those questions
and really bring them forward to, you know, staff council
or staff council members is really important in getting the
correct information
and understanding what is going on
so we don't have, you know,
our own stories building in our head.
'Cause there could be a lot of stories. Right?
And unnecessarily so.
Yeah, so when we think about being in times of stress,
and I think there's a lot of pinch points right now, we need
to think about how do we minimize stress
and minimizing the stories is a great place to start.
Any questions about that?
Please go back to, you know, your constituents
and you know, be bold.
You know, it is really hard for people to step forward.
Like sometimes they'll talk amongst themselves
or we will talk with each other,
but I think this is a time for staff council to be bold
and just say, you know, how do you feel about this?
Like, ask the questions, right?
Be curious, get your finger on the pulse
so we can have more conversations about it.
We also met with human resources
and talked about the upcoming performance review process.
So just for clarity,
there are two separate activities that are happening.
One is for non represented staff who have the option
of not going through with a performance evaluation
and represented staff who are still required
to have a performance evaluation in its existing form.
The third piece of this is that HR is reviewing the
process and procedures and guidelines.
And as part of that
we will be seeing changes around positions.
So I think we're gonna move from position descriptions
to jobs.
It's gonna follow more of a national standard.
And the reason for that is
because it will more closely align with
professional certifications
and qualifications to a position.
And that's the goal.
So that's gonna be, you know, a lot
of work for HR and they're doing that
and we wanna make sure that it best represents, you know,
the value that individual staff bring to the university.
So this is gonna be an opportunity for us
to have shared conversation with them.
Any questions about that?
Yes, go ahead.
Member: Sorry.
Sorry.
I'm working from home and I have a plumber doing some work
downstairs, so no camera or whatever.
But my question is, for the process you just described,
how would that be communicated out?
I'm sure HR is gonna send emails,
but how would staff council kind of support
that communication or you know,
what would be helpful as far as answering questions
or passing along information not to overlap
with what HR might already be doing?
-: No, that's a great question. I think-
-: That's where PPD comes in.
That's exactly what we're working on.
So if you've got feedback, send it to any of us
and that's the avenue.
-: Excellent. Okay. Thank you.
-: And I think HR is having conversations
with the different HR units across campus
and so I think it's really critical that we get
that information to the PPD committee so
that boots on the ground can have their voices heard about
what's important and valued for the positions at UVM.
-: Maybe we plan for our next staff council meeting
to have a discussion about this so everybody can go out
and get feedback over the next month
because everyone's gonna be in the thick of it right now
and it'll be a great time to get that feedback
and then we can collect it all at the next meeting.
-: That's a great suggestion. I like that.
-: I also think, and correct me if I'm wrong,
non-unionized staff have already undergone this.
Is that not right? -: Not at this scale.
-: Oh, okay. -: To my understanding.
-: Okay.
-: I think the classic comp piece has already happened.
-: Okay.
-: Yes. But only for nine. -: Yeah, correct.
-: For nine. -: Okay.
-: It's a pretty ginormous shift, so.
-: Just one follow up question for JP is
if you can provide, I mean, happy to do it independently,
but if there's a framework so that
we're collecting information consistently across groups,
just even like four bullet points or something like that.
I'm not even sure how many people in my unit would be,
you know, affected by this,
but I do think it is a deeper,
like many, this is as you said Monica,
broad topic, so I just wanna make sure I'm
asking the right questions at the right time.
So thanks.
-: I could try to put something together
but I wouldn't want it to be,
'Cause it is so broad, so I wouldn't want it
to be just contained to that.
But I can put something together if you ever give some kind
of direction, help people ask questions for sure.
-: Great, thank you. -: And I think
what can be the baseline for these thoughts is
that the general consensus across campus
that the existing performance evaluation process is rather,
what's the word I'm looking for?
-: I would say tedious,
but I don't know if that's the word really.
-: It's not particularly relevant, right?
It doesn't have any impact.
It doesn't really drive any activities.
It certainly doesn't have anything to do with any kind
of salary changes.
I think that while career goals and ideas
and professional development might be discussed,
it just kind of lands there and sits there.
So I would encourage you
to think about if we're revamping this process
and if we wanna invest in talent at this university,
that means moving through jobs,
having different jobs across campus potentially.
And, that particular aspect has not been very well
realized to this point either.
And for the university to understand its larger talent pool
so that HR can then in turn reflect
on current talent and possibly do internal recruiting.
Right?
So I think there's a lot of pieces to this,
but we need to start
with right now the process doesn't really serve anybody
and what would it look like if it did?
So then I'm gonna move into our conversation with Stratcom
and basically we
had two main topics.
So the Drupal migration is really big
and that's been like really the focus
of the communications team
because the older Drupal versions are sunsetting
or have sunsetted in January.
And I think that that process is going really well.
We certainly would love any feedback if your department
or area has been struggling
or is facing a wall there.
College of Medicine is a little bit separate.
They are moving into Drupal as well,
but they weren't previously on the Drupal platform.
So they don't have the same limitations, restrictions
or deadlines as the rest of the university.
And we talked about
really aligning conversations with staff council
and strategic communications.
I think in the past,
strategic communications was mostly referred to
as an external communication source
and Jen and I have been, you know, promoting, advocating
for having more of a partnership internally.
I just don't really get the impression
that staff, students and faculty really particularly excited
to get the news from WCAX.
Right? Tell us first 'cause we're your people.
So we're looking at different methods.
I mean that's always a challenge
because not everybody uses the same system
and I mean you even think about people in facilities,
they're not even logging onto a computer.
Right?
So I think we had some good discussion around that
and there was, what was Adam's suggestion?
Jen, do you remember that?
Or thought?
-: We've been advocating for this kind of landing page.
-: Oh I remember, landing page.
But again, not everybody logs in,
but maybe if you open a web browser on a university computer
that dumps you into the UVM page to start with.
So it might be a good like window
to like some key information like open enrollment
and so kind of forward facing information versus like, oh,
I found it in my email or I found it in a newsletter.
Having something more kind of like
that jumps in your face a little bit
that you can then dive deeper on your own time.
I think that's-
-: Talked about my UVM being promoted
at onboarding sessions too.
-: Yes.
-: I don't know if any of you all use myUVM.
I never did.
I was never told about it till like last year, so.
-: No.
-: And just having more training and information available
that it's a really powerful resource that is underutilized
and for existing and onboarding purposes.
Did I cover all of the P1s?
I'll just do a quick note that
please take the time to encourage your constituents
to take a look at Ron Lumborough's email
regarding the presidential search.
I pushed hard for him to send that out.
I think it's really important
to let everyone in the community understand
that the process is moving forward
and that the processes adhering to the guidelines
and he speaks to that in the email.
-: So about a week ago or so. That one?
-: Yeah. -: Okay.
-: About a week ago.
So it's always hard, right?
Because there's a process
and I do want people to know
that there is a process in place and it takes time
and at different intervals there will be more communication
to the community and then there's gonna be stretches
of silence while things are happening in the background.
And again, we don't want people making up stories
in their head, just a reminder that
the process is moving forward
and that Ron did send that email
and if people, you know, have questions
to take a look at that.
And then I think that brings us to the next part
of the meeting. -: Right on time.
Amazing.
-: Oh, must be getting better at this.
-: Well, some of us do.
-: Oh, okay.
So at this point I'd like to get a motion
to enter into executive session
to discuss the spring elections.
-: Move to motion into executive session,
but also approve outside of staff council folks
to stay in the meeting. -: Okay.
-: So- -: For executive.
-: I'm gonna need a little help on understanding that
'cause what are the limitations
of executive session versus having
non-council members present?
-: So, I believe if we decide that
non-staff council representatives can stay
for executive session, that's fine.
And we just stop recording. Correct Alan?
Is that-
-: It's gonna stop recording no matter what.
-: Right.
-: And no minutes will be taken no matter what.
But the secondary issue is
allowing non-staff council people such as our HESSA guests
and the nominating committee who are not on staff council
to stay during that period of time.
-: Okay. -: So you have the
ability to vote on whether or not-
-: So executive session does not mean staff council only.
We can explicitly open it like you just did.
-: If we don't specify, it does mean only.
-: But what we specify.
Okay. Can I get a second?
That has to be a council member. Okay, thank you.
So at 10:15- -: Not done yet.
Any further discussion? -: Any further discussion?
-: Then, all in favor.
-: And all those in favor of moving into executive session,
please raise your hand.
Any opposed?
Any abstentions?
Okay.
So we- -: Again.
-: All right, we will open up the floor
for council members to make any comments
or bring forward any concerns
and I think Richard has his hand up
and we've got somebody else to want to.
Richard, go ahead please.
-: Thank you.
So you probably got, well not probably,
you got the email yesterday
that the campus climate survey is launching on Monday.
So this is just my plug
to complete the campus climate survey when it
launches on Monday.
So sometime next week,
ideally Monday you'll get a general campus communication
that will include a link that takes you to the webpage.
That will include the link. Yes, it's a link to a link.
I apologize. That's how we preserve anonymity in this.
We have separate links for faculty, staff and students.
So there's a couple of different versions of the survey.
So just please when you get the request
to complete the campus climate survey, this is something
that senior administration takes very seriously.
They put a lot of value in it,
they wanna see a very high response rate.
If you have any questions about it
and anonymity/confidentiality/concerns, either
you or anyone in your area, please don't hesitate
to reach out to me or potentially Erika Lala in DOIE.
She's another one of the leads on the survey.
We're available to answer any questions
and concerns about it to really try to get people
to respond to the survey.
So we appreciate it.
-: Richard, can you really quickly just explain what it is
for people who are new?
-: So the campus climate survey is asking people's opinions
essentially about all aspects of how things are going
for you on campus.
It involves things like if you feel that you are valued,
if you have any,
for some reason the right words are not coming
to my mind right now, in terms
of there's any abuses going on.
I don't know if abuse really is the right word there,
but if you think there's any,
harassment was the word I was looking for.
Like if you feel like you've been harassed at any point,
either based upon any sort
of personal characteristics,
negative interactions you've had with anyone on campus,
ideally the results are gonna be, you love it at UVM,
but obviously if there's any issues you have with any aspect
of your employment, that's
what the campus climate survey is getting at
and the results do factor heavily into the inclusive
excellence action plans
and departmental planning in general.
-: Thank you. -: Alan?
-: Thanks. So, thanks for that Richard.
As you mentioned, Erika Lala is one of the contact people.
She has asked to come to a staff council meeting
and will be at the next full staff council meeting
to talk about the climate survey as well.
Certainly not-
-: Oh, she did not tell me that.
-: There you go.
So it's certainly not to dissuade you from continuing on
with the process and reaching out for any questions.
But again, she will be at the next scheduled meeting.
-: Anyone else have any comments, concerns, accolades?
Go ahead, Allen. -: Sorry, just
because not everybody can see the chat, question was asked
about the survey as a survey just about those
who are on campus and Richard replied, everyone, students,
faculty and staff.
It's open to the whole UVM community.
-: We do make sure that people who are not part
of the UVM community can't take the survey.
So you will be asked
to authenticate when you click on the survey to ensure
that you are associated with UVM.
Although you are asked to authenticate,
we do not collect identifying information as part
of the authentication process.
So even though you're asked to authenticate,
it is still completely anonymous.
-: Yeah, and I just wanna add to that, that
at this point in time, you know,
we're a very data-driven society
and a lot of leadership actions are driven by data points.
And so the importance
of the climate survey cannot be stressed enough.
And the more data that we collect that can be stored,
reviewed, processed, you know,
that helps drive the direction in the future
of the university in a way
that senior leadership can stand behind.
Right?
As seen in our climate survey,
we are moving forward in this action plan.
So it is significant
and plays a huge role in the strategic planning
of the university moving forward.
Any other comments?
I'm hearing none.
I will adjourn this meeting at 1:27
and thank you very much for joining our lively discussion
today and your service.