Smith College Staff Council
Meeting Minutes
March 7, 2001 (Approved at April 4, 2001
meeting)
A meeting of the full Staff Council was held on March 7, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. in the Mary Maples Dunn Room at Pierce Hall.
Attending: Cristen Abrams, Cyndee Button, Mary Clayton, Michelle Finley, Serena Harris, Patty Hayes, Patty Kimura, Bob Lesko, Steve Monteiro, Patty Rist, Sam Rush, Stephanie Schoen, and Bill Sheehan
Excused: Chrissie Bell, Sandy Bycenski, Patti Corjay, Patick Diggins, Lisa Dwinell, Dottie Goulet, Honey Gillman, Mimi Lempart, Deb Letourneau, Mary Martineau, Janice McDowell, Joe Stoddart, and Maria Vallejo
Patty Kimura began by stating that the meeting did not have a quorum probably due to the previous two snow days at Smith. Instead of trying to reschedule the meeting to the following Wednesday, it was decided that the meeting would continue, but that no official business would be conducted. The meeting began at 2:05 p.m.
REVIEW OF FEBRUARY MINUTES
Minutes will be approved at
April meeting due to lack of a quorum.
PRESENTATION ON
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:
BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS
Sharon
Bolotin, board member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Chair of the
Campus
School Craft Fair, approached Serena Harris about increasing Smith
employees' involvement with BB/BS. The organization's next fundraiser is
"Bowl for Kid's Sake," a Bowl-A-Thon, on March 31, 2001 from
12:00-6
p.m. at Northampton Bowl. Teams consist of four people and each
team member
needs to raise $50 to participate. Further questions: call
Sharon at
584-6117 or 537-2021 or "Reiss" at BB/BS 253-2591.
CAMPUS CLIMATE WORKING GROUP CO-SPONSORSHIP
Patty Kimura asked if there was interest in Staff Council co-sponsoring
CCWG witholding financial backing. She realized that many Staff Council
members are attending CCWG meetings and thought it would be a good way to
offer further support. Staff Council agreed, vote to be taken at next
meeting.
4. DIVERSITY PROPOSAL FOR 2001-2002
Serena
Harris is researching ideas for continuing Staff Council diversity
training in the next year and has been in contact with the Cornell Troupe
who performed at the last Community Forum. CITE can tailor programs to
our needs and offers many options to increase team building and
diversity.
A shorter training program, such as CITE, would address the
significant
problem of release time for many Staff Council members.
Suggestion to combine
a shorter training with a longer, more intense
training should be explored,
also. Discussion to be continued at the
April meeting along with the consideration
of an ad hoc committee.
AD HOC COMMITTEES
Spelling Bee Update
P.
Kimura reported for Mimi Lempart who could not attend the meeting. 20-21
people have volunteered to participate in the Spelling Bee, but only nine
people are needed for the three teams sponsored by Staff Council. Since
there are no volunteers from the service area of Smith, Bob Lesko and a
few council members will work on druming up interest. Patty reiterated
that it is important to meet the goal of forming a diverse group from
Smith
in a reasonable time frame.
Lunch & Learn
Series
Sam Rush reported that not too much has happened with the
series but planning
will resume. The first series may be at the end of
March. It was agreed
that Staff Council would cover the cost of
beverages.
MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE
CONSULTANT: REVIEW
Stephanie Schoen reported that Staff Council
was well represented at the
meeting. She mentioned that she was
concerned that the large group attending
from Advancement may have over
represented some concerns of that department
and not the majority of
staff concerns. Overall, the questions and comments
were very
interesting and helpful. Patty reminded members that staff may
nominate
people for the presidential position by sending a letter of
recommendation
or just a a name to the committee; alums have already been
active in nominating
people. Any ideas or questions, please call or
email Patty.
PARKING
At the Steering Committee the
problem of unregistered cars parked in Smith
staff spaces especially in
Henshaw, Albright and Unity lots was brought
to attention. Patty Kimura
drafted a letter for suggestions/approval but
because the letter was
prematurely circulated in an office Patty immediately
brought the letter
to Sharon Rust. Sharon was receptive to suggestions
and will step up
ticketing before 8:00 a.m., particularly in certain problem
lots.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Activities
Reporting for Patti Corjay, Patty Kimura said that only 38 tickets have
been sold for the Foxwoods trip. Two buses (57 & 49 passenger) have
been reserved. Please talk trip up around campus mentioning that the
cost
is $20, which includes a $25 free coupon booklet.
Pottery painting at the Easthampton studio has been cancelled due to the studio closing.
March 2 was the last day of the Food Drive @ collection totals have not been tallied as of yet.
June 23-trip to the Bronx Zoo. Tickets will be atleast $25.
6 Flags season passes have been selling slowly, but the committee believes that sales will increase when spring arrives. Single day passes will be arriving soon for sale.
Several members of the Activities Committee will be attending the first organizational meeting for this year's Faculty/Staff picnic. In previous years, picnic planning was confusing because no one knew exactly who was in charge of which details.
Communications
Sam Rush reported that there was much
discussion about the van tours aided
by M. Martineau's in-depth notes.
Content versus coaching seems to be the
big issue with the tours and will
be further discussed at the next meeting.
The liaison list is still being worked on to increase communication between staff. Sam passed the list around at the meeting asking members to sign up for departments that would be a natural fit to pass information on to.
Nominations and Elections
The upcoming election and
possible changes to the ballot were discussed.
Personnel
Policy Committee
No update.
NEW/OLD
BUSINESS
Patty Hayes gave an update on the newsletter that will
be coming out at
the end of April. Dick Fish's interview with Ruth
Simmons will be the featured
article along with other miscellaneous
articles--possibly one on "essential"
employees and the past
snow day coverage.
The Staff Art Show reception at McConnell Hall was very well attended; the last day for show is March 16.
The meeting ended at 3:04 p.m. Patty thanked everyone for attending even though there was no quorum.
Respectfully submitted,
Cyndee Button
Co-Secretary, Staff Council