August 3, 2020 Meeting of Executive Committee

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

AGENDA

August 3, 2020

1:30-3:00pm

Zoom Meeting

 

1. Approve minutes – July 27
2. Question Time
3. Library Assessment Committee membership
4. Staff and AP representation at EC – Senate Committee
5. Agenda for AULs – 8/10

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes

August 3, 2020

1:30-3:00 pm

Zoom Conference Call

 

Attendees: John Wilkin (Chair); David Ward (Vice-Chair); Paula Carns; William Maher; Mara Thacker; and Lynne Thomas. Lucretia Williams; Recording

 

Senate Members present: Kelli Trei, Cindy Ingold, Antonio Sotomayor, and Steven Witt.

 

1. Minutes of the July 27, 2020 EC minutes meeting were approved upon the motion by Lynne Thomas and second by Paula Carns.

 

2. Question time – Dean Wilkin updated EC on the last Council of Deans meeting. Most of this meeting was spent talking about the Budget and getting more specific about what the challenges will be. There is still some uncertainty about what the financial resources will be until after the beginning of the Fall semester. COD discussed ways to find out what the financial implications are and the strategy that they might employ for the loss of revenue.

 

There was also a document shared at Council of Deans regarding the procedures for the classroom (see https://covid19.illinois.edu/covid-19-classroom-management-info/). This document showed how classroom activity might be managed and the procedures that instructors should use; expectations for students are also laid out. This document was also shared in the Massmail that went out August 3, 2020. The HR Committee on campus level that Skye Arseneau serves on finished their work and the Chancellor approved a number of documents. Skye Arseneau did share those documents with Dean Wilkin. There will be much more clarity on expectations around testing and workplace behaviors in the future.

 

David Ward updated EC on the BTAA Public Services Head call. The session was devoted to HR questions. Many of the peers are attempting to figure out how many staff will be available, what the process is to request accommodations, and how to get those approved. Dean Wilkin mentioned that the documents that did get approved gave HR a clear path on all of these things and ways to approach those things.

 

Dean Wilkin mentioned the fabulous work that Jake MacGregor, Jen Yu, and Hanna Lafond-Hyman did on the Library Human Resources Survey. This was a very valuable instrument on gathering data that will be helpful to us as an organization in moving forward with our staff’s responses to the pandemic.

 

Bill Maher suggested that we invite the Faculty Agenda team members to an upcoming EC meeting to join discussions of how to balance faculty meetings with library-wide meetings, including frequency of faculty meetings, and possibly moving some agenda items to the library-wide meetings. David Ward suggested to EC this should be discussed at the next September 2020 Faculty meeting to inform Faculty of the direction that EC going as it relates to this topic.

 

3. Library Assessment Committee Membership – EC approved the Library Assessment Committee Membership request for adding a replacement member. Lucretia Williams will contact the individual to get an official offer/acceptance and report back to EC and Jen-Chien Yu.

 

4. Staff and AP representation at EC discussion with Senate Committee – David Ward mentioned to EC, Kelli Trei, Cindy Ingold, Antonio Sotomayor, and Steven Witt some of the discussion in the last few weeks spurred by some of the ongoing conversations in the library-wide Zoom meeting that Dean Wilkin has hosted, and some of the feedback. Specifically the discussions have been what are some ways we can improve representation in decision-making processes in the library. One option suggested was adding AP and Staff representatives to EC, but there are elements in the University Statues which specifically states that the Executive Committee of a college must be a faculty group. Then it was discussed pulling in all the senators to look at taking a proposal or perhaps partnering with other colleges to take a proposal to the Senate; to examine the statutes and think about ways across the university to have more inclusion in the decision-making process. Other alternatives were also discussed; perhaps how some of the duties are allocated between EC and AC. A lot of the decision processes that we have in place have to do with ongoing day-to-day issues. Also, something to think about is who we invite to come speak regularly and advise at EC.

 

The overall thoughts started out with this idea by looking at the statutes and but then has been since broadened to consider how we might shift some of the actual decision-making discussions to AC or other groups that the Library has more control over membership.

 

EC is committed to trying to expand the involvement of people in the Library, particularly those that are not in faculty roles in decision-making in the library so that it’s more representative across job classifications.

 

5. Agenda for AUL’s at EC on 8/10/2020 – AUL’s will give regular updates to EC. Tom Teper will also give updates on the Building Project. Chris Prom will also give updates on the return to work plan. Lucretia Williams will reach out to the AUL’s and inform them of the topics they will need to discuss at EC on Monday, August 10, 2020.