April 12, 2013
Highlights from April 3 Classified Senate meeting
Here are the highlights from the April 3 Classified Senate meeting. A draft of the meeting minutes is available at http://www.k-state.edu/class-senate/minutes/apr13.pdf.
President Kirk Schulz attended the meeting. He reviewed the Kansas legislative session so far this year, and talked about the issues still to be resolved. The Kansas House is proposing a budget with a 4-5 percent reduction for higher education, and the Kansas Senate is proposing a 2 percent reduction for higher education. It appears there will be no raises for classified employees again this year. President Schulz acknowledged the work of the Alternative Service Committee in exploring the options available for classified employees. The administration is neutral on this position but looks forward to working with the classified staff concerning the outcome of the vote. Annette Hernandez thanked President Schulz for his support of the Recognition Ceremony, and Mike Seymour thanked him for his support of the Employee Suggestion Program. President Schulz said our governance role was an important part of the university.
Gary Leitnaker informed Senate that the information and forms for the Employee Suggestion Program is now available on the Division of Human Resoures website.
Carol Marden, on behalf of the Campus Affairs Committee, reported that work on updating the Senate website is almost complete. Public Relations Committee co-chair Lindsay Thompson reported that the next issue of the ROAR will be published around May 1.
Classified Senate voted to change the by-laws to establish an ex-officio non-voting member of Senate. The position would be held by a member of the Alternative Service Committee, and would be appointed by the chair of the Alternative Service Committee. This would keep an open line of communication between the Alternative Service Committee and Senate.
Elections for Classified Senate officers for 2013/2014 were held. The following people were elected: Kerry Jennings, vice president; Susan Erichsen, secretary; Annette Hernandez, treasurer; Michele Edwards, at-large member; and Rob Reves, parliamentarian. Results of the Classified Senate elections were announced. Rob Reves, Pam Warren and Lindsay Thompson were all elected to second terms. Amy Capoun, Jen Schlegel, Brian Sheaves and Michael Seymour II will be new members of the senate beginning in June.
Carol Marden, reporting for the Alternative Service Committee, said the committee will create an employee handbook for the Board of Regents and will work on that from May to September after the information sessions are finished. The vote for whether or not to switch to alternative service is tentatively scheduled for the week of Nov. 18.