18 November 2009

Staff Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes for 18 November 2009

Members present:

Mary Marissen, Anna Headley, John A. Dukes, Jr., Terry McGrath, Tami Gura, Cathy Pescatore, Carolyn Saufley, Lynn Grady, Janet McSwiggan, Val Gibson

Ex-Officio members present:

Melanie Young representing Human Resources and Sharmaine LaMar representing the EEO Office

The Staff Advisory Council (SAC) of Swarthmore College was called to order at 9:30 am on Wednesday November 18, 2009 by moderator Mary Marissen. The following items were discussed:

On-line Directory

Difficulties with the on-line directory were discussed. The primary problem is that you can’t search for people by department. Can ITS resolve this? Mary Marissen will pursue with ITS.

Jury Duty

Can staff donate the checks they receive for jury duty? No – because employees are paid for the time they spend on jury duty, their check (minus transportation costs, if applicable) should be signed over to the College. The explanation for this is the handbook in chapter four and states that it is inconsistent with our mission and non-profit status for the College to make charitable donations. It was felt by SAC members that this practice isn’t very well known to employees and they requested that supervisors remind employees when they are notified of an absence due to jury duty.

Winter Gathering

This year the award ceremony will be held in the Lang Concert Hall and the food reception will be held in LPAC lobby. This is being done in an attempt to relieve overcrowding and congestion in the food lines.

SAC has been asked to help people with limited mobility to get into LPAC lobby after the award ceremony and to help move people through the food lines, as well as with handing out programs, so please arrive early to help.

Staff Development Week

Over 20 sessions will be offered in three days from January 12th -14th. Managers and Department Chairs have been positive about the event and are being strongly encouraged to allow staff to participate, especially for the opening sessions on Tuesday morning, January 12th. President Rebecca Chopp will make welcome remarks and Dr. Christopher Lee, author (see http://www.performanceconversations.com/) will be the keynote presenter. Look for additional announcements beginning on November 30th.

All Staff Meeting Response

Response to the recent all staff meeting has been fairly positive despite the bad news on benefits. Although many people are unhappy about the decrease in benefit bank cash and/or the tuition grant, most employees seem to understand the need to make some changes. The Faculty Staff Benefits Committee will continue to work on these issues through the end of next semester, so please contact your representatives if you would like to make a suggestion. They are Vince Vagnozzi, Post Office, Anne Garrison, McCabe Library and Jen Moore, History