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Minutes Council September 2022 Packet MetroFA DRAFT
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Inter Faculty Organization (IFO)

Faculty Association (FA)

At MetroState University – a MinnState institution

August 2022 Packet

Return to Table of Contents

Minutes Received and Added

  • CCSPA
  • CIS
  • CLA

  • CNHS
  • COM
  • COS
  • LIB
  • UED
  • CF Caucus
  • Disability caucus
  • FOC caucus
  • Women's Caucus
  • LGBTQ+ caucus

September 2022

College/Unit Meetings

IFO Council monthly meeting

IFO FA (union) Officials

                        * denotes pending training

Upcoming Packet

For more information about our union, archives of minutes, or a current copy of the contract go to our website www.metrostatefa.org 

For information about the statewide IFO go to the statewide website at www.ifo.org

Members Present:

Cindy  Harley, Lesli Blair, Allen Bellas, Alvaro Plachejo, Mark Asplen, Barbara  Beltrand, Jessica Blaxton, Queen Booker, Emily Bowman, Megan Brown, Donnamaria Culbreth, Tammy Durant, Becky Evan, Crystal Fashant, Brian Goodroad, Mike Green, Marcia Hagen, Donovan Jackman, Robin Johnson, Mehmet Koseoglu, Christine Larson, Nantawan Lewis, Maureen O’Dougherty, Rebecca Church, Ailesha Ringer, Shannon Skarpohl, Gary Starr, Mike Stein

Guest:  Thanaa Ghanem

Call to Order 10:03am

  1. Approval of Minutes
  1. Motion: Approve August 2022 IFO FA Council Minutes located at https://www.metrostatefa.org/minutes

Motion: Approve, seconded.  Carries.

  1. Call to Order

 Call for additional agenda items or reordering the agenda.

  1. Key topics from Meet and Confer
  1. Reorganization and retrenchment report
  1. The president stated at Meet & Confer on September 7, 2022 that she had no plans for reorganization or retrenchment.

  1. Policy withdrawal decision.
  1. In our May 2022 packet it was stated that several policies were up for withdrawal because they were outdated. Our response is overdue
  1. From the May Packet: Administration is proposing withdrawing the attached policies and/or procedures. These recommendations (in yellow) have been thoroughly reviewed by the Policy and Procedure Council – they are policies or procedures that are outdated or otherwise no longer appropriate. The original list included 5 additional proposed withdrawals (in red), and the P&P Council pulled those additional withdrawals for further review. The P&P Council, including the IFO members on that Council, recommend these withdrawals.

Motion to approve, seconded.  Carries.

Motion: FA President email this decision to Administration. Seconded.  Carries.

  1. Consent Agenda (items below appear in a light gray highlight)
  1. Move the proposed names from item VB
  2. Support for the change in duties of the RF and CF VPs V G2
  3. Support the hiring of a parliamentarian (V. H. 3)
  4. Support LIB motion for syllabus template consistency VII D
  5.  Support for adding 2 CF to the equity by design team (VII E)

Motion to approve as a slate.  Seconded.  Carries.

  1. Action Items
  1. Constitution and Operating procedures has been an ad hoc taskforce since March 2017. It was supposed to convene ‘at least every 4 years’. As this committee has continued to provide valuable insight and clarification into our governing documents, it is possible that perhaps it should be made a standing committee.  In this process we could re-evaluate membership and ensure that we are not overburdening the existing committee members.

COS IFO Motion: Remain a workgroup and not become a standing committee.; Seconded; PASSES

CCSPA Discussion (no motion): We defer to Council and the current members of the  Constitution & Operating Procedures taskforce as to whether it should be created as a  standing committee.

CF Caucus Motion: CFC supports turning the taskforce into a standing committee but requires a CF seat on it.

CLA Motion: MOTION to approve standing committee for Constitution and Operating procedures

LIB MOTION: Library supports creating a standing FA Constitution and Operating Procedures committee. Requests that one member of Exec. continue to be a member. Second. Fails.

COM: noted.

  1. There are still key positions vacant on the committee and council rosters. Vacancies are in yellow.  If interested, please include volunteers in your unit minutes or email lesli.blair@metrostate.edu .

University councils and committees roster

FA committee roster

** Statewide positions including MinnState will come in separate emails from the IFO office due to a change in their process. If you were mid-term it is assumed you are completing your term. **

COS IFO puts forward the following: Rondedrick Sinville UED advisory, Chen Thao RIGR, Katherine Johnson Library; Cindy Kaus urban teacher advisory

CCSPA Motion: We appoint Heidi Frankard as CCSPA rep to Faculty Issues Committee. We  further move to switch the HSRB Committee so that Therissa Libby will now be the CCSPA  Rep and Rob Wilson will now be At-Large Rep #1. We further move that Scott Cooper to be  nominated to the Standing List of Search Committees and Administration Short-Term  Projects. Seconded. Motion Carries.

CIS: Carol Lacey’s name should be removed from the Learning Communities Task Force (retired). All other committee assignments (e.g., for two-year terms) are correct.

CF Caucus: Advising and Student Issues Committee: Mousumi Munmun, Kara Branyon (alternate) Distance Learning and Intellectual Property (DLIP) Committee: Mousumi Munmun Mission, Vision, and Values Committee: Marcia Anderson

LIB: noted

COM: noted.

CNHS: Advising and Student Issues: Fatuma Kotile

  1. Deadline extended-- Statewide representatives needed:

IFO is looking for people who are interested in serving on the steering committee for the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum revision. This will involve the following:

This is an important group that will manage and oversee the MnTC redesign process from beginning to end.

If interested, please email Cindy Harley (cindy.harley@metrostate.edu) including:

 Applications are due September 2nd

Lib: Noted

  1. Please take this survey to enable us to better perform our duties as a union-- it aids us in determining the best time for meetings in addition to other means to better engage our members. The survey is for both members and non-members. Much of this survey arose as a motion in the May council meeting.

Deadline September 30th https://metrostateie.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_etzu1w8aP1uFQto

screen reader accessible version: https://metrostateie.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eOQmbnMDM4F1cz4

Lib: Noted

  1. The new exec was tasked in the May council meeting to survey our membership about the potential of office sharing or hoteling (see VII 5a i in the May packet). This survey is for IFO and is anonymous. Please fill it out as we need this important information from RF and CF. The survey is for both members and non-members.

Deadline September 30th

https://metrostateie.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3pBW949PORYlF0a

  1. In response to discussions with our sister unions

Motion:  IFO requests that the administration direct the head of campus safety and security determine a manner to issue weekly reports of all safety and security incidents occurring on the St. Paul campus to faculty, staff, and students.

COS IFO MOTION: Move to support; Seconded; PASSES

CCSPA Discussion (no motion): We are currently unable to support without further context,  rationale, or background information.

CF Caucus: ​​Point of clarification: Explain the threshold for determining the timing of announcements (immediate versus weekly) and the process used to issue quick notifications.

CLA MOTION to amend IFO campus safety [amendment in green]: IFO requests that the administration direct the head of campus safety and security determine a manner to issue weekly reports of all safety and security incidents occurring on all campuses to faculty, staff, and students. Second. Carries.

LIB Motion: Library supports weekly reports of safety and security incidents to the university community.

Rationale: Security had previously proposed a campus “dashboard” for safety incidents. We’re interested in the status of this.

                COM Motion: Moved to approve. seconded. Passed

                CNHS: Supports

Motion:  Request an update on the security dashboard.  Second. Carries.

  1. Motion: First reading of proposed changes to Chapter VIII of the FA Operating Procedures:

D. Meetings

1. The Faculty Council will generally meet once a month as needed.

a. Annually, no later than August 1, the officers shall set the calendar of Faculty Council meetings for the academic year. The locations of Faculty Council meetings shall rotate among the Saint Paul, Midway, Minneapolis, and Brooklyn Park campuses. Subsequently, meeting dates may be changed by Faculty Council as necessary.

COM Motion: Moved to approve. seconded. Passed

COS IFO sense of the body: No consensus.  Points made on both sides. We think it’s important to be equitable to all campuses with respect to Council meetings, but not clear it needs to be enshrined in FA procedure

b. During years in which there is a scheduled Delegate Assembly, an additional Faculty Council meeting will be scheduled for the primary purpose of considering and endorsing Delegate Assembly resolutions.

Rationale:

Constitution and Operating Procedures Committee recommends striking references to specific meeting locations as Faculty Council continues to meet remotely to facilitate greater participation.

Added language is suggested in response to May 2022 Faculty Council action directing the Committee to propose language “for the FA operating procedures that would require FA Council to meet twice in February in a year in which a Delegate Assembly is scheduled.”

COM Motion: Moved to approve. seconded. failed

2. Motion: First reading of proposed changes to Chapter VII of the FA Operating Procedures:

B. Resident Faculty Vice President

  1. Attend monthly Faculty Council meetings.
  2. Meet with Administration in pre Meet and Confer to set Meet and Confer agenda.
  3. Attend monthly Meet and Confer with Administration.
  4. Meet with heads of other bargaining units as appropriate.
  5. Substitute for FA president at local and statewide meetings as needed.
  6. Respond to inquiries from resident faculty as needed.

C. Community Faculty Vice President

  1. Convene meetings of the community faculty caucus, either electronically or in person.
  2. Attend monthly Faculty Council meetings.
  3. Attend monthly Meet and Confer with Administration.
  4. Attend and present at community faculty orientation.
  5. Respond to inquiries from community faculty as needed.
  6. Meet with Administration in pre Meet and Confer to set Meet and Confer agenda. 
  7. Meet with heads of other bargaining units as appropriate.

Rationale: Added language is suggested in response to May 2022 Faculty Council action directing the Constitution and Operating Procedures Committees to propose language to “update the duties for the Metro FA VP’s in the OP in ways that create parity of power and representation, and reflect the current practices.”

COS IFO Motions: Support.  Seconded; PASSES

CF Caucus Motion: Moved. seconded. passed

        COM: Motion to support B6. Seconded. Passed

        COM: Motion to separate C6 and C7. Seconded. Passed

        COM: Motion to support C7. Seconded. Passed

        COM: Motion to support C6. Seconded. Failed

3. Motion: That the Executive Committee assemble a list of primary duties of the FA Website Coordinator so that the Constitution and Operating Procedures Committee may draft language for the position for inclusion in Chapter VII, Duties of Officers.

COS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CLA IFO MOTION TO APPROVE: That the Executive Committee assemble a list of primary duties of the FA Website Coordinator so that the Constitution and Operating Procedures Committee may draft language for the position for inclusion in Chapter VII, Duties of Officers. Second. Carries.

        COM: Motion to approve. Seconded. Passed

4. Motion: First reading of proposed changes to Chapter V (Officers and Staff) and Chapter VI (Officer Elections and Terms of Office) of the FA Operating Procedures:

Chapter V, Section B (“The Executive Committee”):

c. Appointments to the Negotiating Team, and the State IFO Board, and the position of Website Coordinator will be pursuant to the FA Operating Procedures. [See Chapter VI]

Chapter VI:

I. Website Coordinator

The Website Coordinator shall be appointed by Faculty Council in April of odd-numbered years to a two (2) year term. The Executive Committee will prepare a call for candidates to all faculty members and shall publish it in the IFO packet no later than February and monthly until the April Faculty Council meeting. The FA president shall also send the call to all faculty via email at least twice. The FA president shall be tasked with gathering candidate names. Faculty Council shall appoint the Website Coordinator at its April meeting.

Rationale: To define an appointment process for the position of FA Website Coordinator, which in April 2022 was added to our FA constitution as an ex-officio, non-voting member of the Executive Committee.

COS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

COM: Motion to approve. Seconded. Passed

CLA Motion: First reading of proposed changes to Chapter V (Officers and Staff) and Chapter VI (Officer Elections and Terms of Office) of the FA Operating Procedures:

CNHS: Supports

  1. Motions about this year’s FA budget:
  1. Seeking amendments or motions for approval of the Draft 2022-23 FA Budget.  For reference, see the proposed budget here and last year’s budget here

The changes from the previous year’s budget are as follows:

  1. Slightly increased allocation from Statewide IFO
  2. Budget for organizing and events has been combined across CF organizing, RF organizing and events/meetings.
  3. Budget for IFO Equity and Diversity Committee and for the four caucuses are equal to last year’s total allocation but delineated between the committee and the caucuses.
  4. Compensation for CF serving in FA leadership roles is lower because compensation this year will go only to the CF vice president.
  5. The proposed budget leaves a surplus of $2,205.        

We have approximately $10,000 in carryover from the previous year’s budget, which is typical of our FA spending year to year.

COS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CCSPA Motion: We approve the Draft 2022-23 FA Budget. Seconded. Motion Carries.

WEC Motion: Equity Caucus budgets be increased from $250 to $1000 for each caucus. Moved. Second. Carries.

CF caucus: Point of clarification: Is there a process to ensure that funds are allocated equitably among RF and CF activities? Who will make funding decisions and how?  

CLA MOTION to amend the proposed budget to separate out the budgets 2 to 1 for CF and RF organizing not to combine (b). Second. Carries.

rationale: appropriate/considerate for CF to have their own separate funding and have the space they need to discuss and use monies; rationale was likely not to disadvantage CF originally – good to be clear about it; CF consistently structurally in a difficult position to defend interests so effects could be detrimental.

COM Motion: Approve the budget as presented. Moved. Seconded. Withdrawn.

 

COM Motion: Double the size of the Equity Caucus budgets from $250 to $500. Moved. Seconded. Passed.

 

COM Motion: Approve the budget as presented WITH the doubling of the size of the Equity Caucus budgets from $250 to $500. Seconded. Passed.

  1. Seeking volunteers to constitute a working group to develop a proposal to operationalize the following Special Projects motion from March 2022 FA Council:
  1. From Exec: Create an “emergency fund” to support IFO members financially in emergency situations (e.g., payroll errors, immigration barriers, loss of job, death in family) consistent with IFO operating procedures. Moved. Seconded. Approved.

  1. Motion:  Following identification of at least three volunteers, FA Council approves creation of a work group to develop a budget, identify criteria, rules and limits for distribution of funds, and serve as an administering body for the 2022-23 academic year.

Rationale:  This is needed to operationalize a motion that was passed this past spring, but it should be clear that there are volunteers who are willing to undertake this work before we approve the creation of this body.

Note:  Both the 2021-22 approved budget and the 2022-23 proposed budget include $2000 for special projects.

CCSPA Motion: We support motion labeled IV.H.2b, but, striking “and serve as an  administering body.” Seconded. Motion Carries. Rationale: We feel strongly that there needs  to be a separate design of the emergency funds process from the distribution of these funds.

CLA Motion: Following identification of at least three volunteers, FA Council approves creation of a work group to develop a budget, identify criteria, rules and limits for distribution of funds, and serve as an administering body for the 2022-23 academic year. seconded. passed

CLA MOTION to approve with the idea that this language is already in place (in other campuses) so this would not be a heavy service lift; language is legally structured in what we can/can’t fund.’

CLA MOTION to have exec handle this [special projects workgroup] rather than make a committee of 3 volunteers to handle this special project. Moved. Second.

Rationale: why wouldn’t exec do this rather than only 3 people who decide to come forward; this is done by exec at other colleges (Mankato; Moorhead; Winona); if we can delegate it to a body that’s already overseeing it then we should do that; there was no language at council last year about who would administer;

Motion to Table until October. Second. Carries.

LIB. MOTION. That any process created for an emergency fund for faculty be vetted and approved by Faculty Council and be written into the FA operating procedures. PASSED.

Rationale: Recording such a process in operating procedures ensures ability to find process later. It is also important for clarity, consistency, and transparency.

                        COM: Noted

CNHS: Supports

  1. Motion:  FA Council approves a budget of $500 to operationalize the Special Projects motion from March 2022 FA Council stating, “Hire an external parliamentarian to assess the use of Robert’s Rules and opportunities to use the rules more effectively and efficiently as an FA and IFO FA Executive is charged with making the arrangements.”

Rationale:  Our FA Council meetings routinely run over time and spend disproportionate amounts of time on agenda items that appear early in the agenda.  Recommendations of an outside parliamentarian could help us operate more efficiently and equitably.  Also, the general concept was approved by FA Council and this operationalizes something we already agreed to do.

Note:  Both the 2021-22 approved budget and the 2022-23 proposed budget include $2000 for special projects.

COS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CCSPA supports a one-time expense to improve meeting procedures with a consultant,  either a parliamentarian or a new approach. Seconded. Motion Carries. Rationale: We expect that the person hired would address all formats in which meetings might be held.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CF Caucus Motion: Moved. seconded. passed

CLA Motion: Moved. seconded. passed

LIB MOTION. Library supports the $500 budgeted for a parliamentarian consultant. PASSED

COM: Noted

CNHS: Supports.

CNHS supports that training for new IFO leaders and education should be ongoing. Why are we not looking at other methods for running meetings? We also recommend that the parliamentarian suggest methods to reduce bias or inequities in using Robert’s Rules. If this requires two different individuals, then it should be considered

  1. Motion:  FA Council grants to the Executive Committee the authority to make expenditures of up to $400 consistent with specific expense categories from the approved 2022-23 budget without seeking the explicit approval of the Council.

Rationale:  This will facilitate and expedite expenditures in pursuit of the interests of our faculty association.  We have routinely failed to spend our budget.

COS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CCSPA Motion: Support as stated. Seconded. Motion Carries.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CF Caucus Motion: Moved. seconded. passed

CLA Motion: Motion to approve. Seconded. Failed

Rationale: they could make multiple expenditures of up to 400 EACH – is this 400 the total or that each expenditure could be up to 400 this has to be clarified; the budget should be approved by everyone; “failing to spend our budget” could be 10K that exec gets to decide on their own; need exact articulation of activities and be bound by this; the way it is written is unlimited expenditures for a broad vague goal; we’re dealing with items already in an approved budget, it would simplify the way an organization could operate; they could report on their expenditures as accountability; budget line items are already in the OP this seems to go beyond what exists; seems redundant or new (redundant is OK, new is not

LIB MOTION: Library supports Exec.’s request, with the assumption that this is $400/year, not per item, and with the expectation that Exec. will report out to Council those expenses in the next month’s packet after they occur. PASSED Moved. Second. Carries.

COM: Noted

CNHS: Supports. As long as a method for communicating expenditures back to council is in place

  1. Motion: That constitution and operating procedures committee clarifies the circumstances under which faculty may be appointed to terms exceeding one year on committees or councils.

Rationale: There has been some confusion as to whether or not our union operating procedures allow 2 year terms for university committees and councils. This confusion is based upon the motions pasted below from council in May 2021 citing our operating procedures (relevant sections also pasted below).

COS IFO MOTION: Support; Seconded; PASSES Moved. Second. Carries.

LIB MOTION: Library supports the motion that the Constitution and Operating Procedures committee clarifies appointment terms, and proposes that faculty appointments to university councils align with their terms of service. PASSED.

Rationale: Due to the training required for some committees, and the benefit of institutional knowledge and continuity for much committee/council work, we support appointments to multi-year terms. Faculty reps may always be removed by Council, and faculty are always free to resign from a term.

WEC Motion: ​​Support the University councils/committees/task forces two year terms to assist with continuity and historical knowledge. (people can resign)

Moved. Seconded.

COM Motion = support IFO FA Constitution & Operating Procedures Committee in clarifying the circumstances under which faculty may be appointed to terms exceeding one year on committees or councils.” Moved. Seconded. Passed.

 

Council minutes May 2021 VII F:

Technology Committee/UTAC: Per the IFO committee structure, IFO Tech committee members are also the faculty members who sit on UTAC. The co-chair of UTAC, Steve Reed, requests that IFO Tech membership be a multi-year appointment to reduce turnover on the council each year. Current IFO committee members agree with this request.

 

Action Item: Council needs to decide whether or not to honor this administration request.  Doing so would violate our operating procedures (see Chapter 9, Section C, subdivision 1c) which clearly states that committee members are chosen in the fall for the upcoming academic year (with the exception of the Standing List of Volunteers).

 

CCSPA: This violates our IFO operating procedures, so we do not support. Moved. Seconded. Passed.

 

CIS: Support the IT Technology Committee recommendation of multi-year appointment (a 2-year commitment can be helpful.)

 

CLA New Motion [from the floor]: Previous year IFO-tech committee members attend the first and second meetings of UTAC of the new academic year until the new IFO tech committee membership is finalized.

 

CNHS Sense of the Body: Supports honoring the request.

 

LIB: Supports.

The relevant portions of operating procedures are pasted here:

IX, 1. C

  1. Composition of standing committees and selection of members
  1. The Executive Committee shall call for nominations to standing committees at the start of each fall semester. Academic units shall meet the first week of fall semester duty days to populate standing committees according to the membership outlined in this chapter. The Faculty Council shall meet the second week of fall semester duty days to make all appointments to standing committees, with the exception of the Standing List of Volunteers. Members shall be appointed to the Standing List of Volunteers in the spring semester prior to the next academic year.

        It should be noted the following can be found in the next section:

  1. Terms of office for standing committees
  1. Terms of office for standing committees shall be one academic year, unless otherwise indicated herein or determined by Faculty Council.
  2. Committee members may serve multiple terms on standing committees. Faculty are encouraged to develop an expertise in an area and apply for reappointment each year.

It should also be noted that statewide IFO positions are often 2-3 years to ensure consistency.

CLA MOTION (from August): All University Council and Committee appointments should be a one-year term not two years. This affirms a decision already made by Council in Spring 2021

COS IFO Motion: Not Support.; Seconded; PASSES

Rationale: Multi-year commitments are necessary for the efficient function of some committee (e.g., HSRB).

COM Motion: Moved. Seconded. Failed.

         Evidence of a decision by Council in 2021 could not be found.

  1. Carryover Motions From Previous Governance Cycles (MAY):

CLA New Motion (May council packet IX 6): Direct the FA Constitution and Operating Procedures Committee to draft a proposal for the FA operating procedures that would require Metro delegates to Delegate Assembly to vote for the resolutions that are approved by the FA council when attending Delegate Assembly as representatives of our FA. Moved. Seconded.

 

Point of order: This item must be considered at the college/unit as a new motion to be presented in the September 2022 governance cycle. Note: August governance cycle is devoted to volunteering for IFO FA and University councils, committees, task forces, etc.

Result: Item will be included in the September 2022 packet.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

COS IFO  MOTION: Not Support.; Seconded; PASSES

Rationale: This is not enforceable, and DA is a deliberative body, where debate can cause positions to change. Moved. Second.

Motion to table until October. Second. Carries.

CF Caucus Motion: Moved. seconded. passed

COM motion: Moved. Seconded. Failed

CNHS Supports

LIB MOTION: Library strongly opposes. PASSED.

Rationale: This requirement would be against the deliberative spirit and process of Delegate Assembly.

  1. New Business-- Motions from Unit Meetings

A. Use of Bookings software:

  1. CCSPA Motion: CCSPA adamantly opposes synced shared calendars. Seconded. Motion Carries.

Note from the FA president: The use of this software arose from the advising audit that happened a few years ago. Administration has stated that their intention is to reduce student barriers to scheduling appointments by avoiding back and forth in email. For this software to work, it needs access to your outlook calendar. I have stated that we need outlook calendar training.

COS has already started using bookings. If you would like to see what the student interface looks like, here is my link: ​​ https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/COSAdvising@MinnState.edu/bookings/s/T0zgrUM1CEiB0Br8y-E7GQ2

Bookings times are limited to my office hours (inputted by OAS staff). If I have an appointment or meeting on my calendar, it adjusts accordingly.

COS IFO MOTION: Not Support [the opposition of using synced shared calendars].; Seconded; PASSES

Rationale: Generally speaking, COS faculty have enjoyed using Bookings and find that it is very student friendly. Moved. Seconded. Fails.

Motion: Call the question. Seconded. Carries.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CF Caucus: Request for information: What are the requirements for sharing calendars (e.g., number of appointments, length of appointments, full versus partial access to calendars, RF versus CF requirements). Would software training be offered?

CLA Motion: Move to approve. Second. Passed

Rationale: seems like it’s making things more efficient but not sure this is serving our students because sometimes they have questions that don’t require a meeting and can be dealt in another way, you end up having to have one meeting to figure out what you’re going to address; it’s about time slotting without actually knowing how much time they need first; it creates more problems than it solves unless you have someone very carefully figuring this out before you meet with people who would already need to be highly trained in advising; there are Deans that will use this for tracking and time spent as some kind of reporting performance measurement assessment this will be misleading; too much software management and much more complex than problems it solves. Many of us use other calendars.

LIB MOTION: Library opposes the CCSPA motion. PASSED.

Rationale: Access to us by our students is important.

COM Motion: Faculty support Bookings software and with no synching to shared calendars, but faculty should have control over their pages and updating their availability as needed. Moved. Seconded. Passed. Moved. Seconded. WITHDRAWN.

CNHS Motion: Use of Bookings software should be optional, not mandatory for faculty. PASSED Moved. Seconded. Carries.

Rationale: CNHS supports any tool that makes student ability to connect with faculty easier. “Bookings” seems like a student-centered tool in which the user (faculty) is able to set restrictions on what a student or other use may see. A faculty member may choose to use “Bookings” therefore sharing certain aspects of their calendar. We also ask clarification from IFO Council if administration is able to make the use of such software “mandatory” as we have heard from some staff and administrators.

B. Convocation

  1. CCSPA Motion: CCSPA requests that future convocation topics/themes (including title) be more efficiently communicated to all faculty, prior to faculty going off-contract in May. This communication should occur before the decision on convocation topics/themes has been made. Seconded. Motion Carries. Moved. Seconded. Carries.

COS IFO MOTION: Not Support.; Seconded; PASSES

Sense of the body: At sign-up, it would be good for the Convocation schedule to be final.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CLA IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

LIB MOTION: Library opposes CCSPA motion about convocation topics. PASSED.

Rationale: It is Admin’s prerogative to establish themes for its convocations and to communicate its priorities for the year.

COM IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

  1. CCSPA Motion: CCSPA repudiates the requirement, irrespective of content, for faculty to participate in convocation events and campus-wide trainings, without first following the process of shared governance. Seconded. Motion Carries. Moved. Seconded. Carries.

COS IFO MOTION: Not Support.; Seconded; PASSES

Rationale: Questioning this policy could lead to stricter interpretations than are now understood.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CLA IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

Rationale: No collaboration with CFD meant reduced onboarding; incumbent on admin to make these attractive, requirement shouldn’t be necessary; inconsiderate of summer faculty pressures with overlap; troubling that the president came to our college meeting and repeated much of the content from the “required” meeting; even more troubling was the email we received parading attendance at the meeting – the need to state how many people showed up at a required meeting was disturbing; admin needs to prove progress and that’s simply numbers (attendance, etc.); these additional meetings conflicted with and undermined our efforts to be responsive to advisees at a critical time in the semester.

LIB MOTION: That administration reconsider requiring attendance at live events, especially since we teach most of our students asynchronously online. Live events are not inclusive. PASSED.

COM IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CNHS: Supports

C. Accessibility

  1. LIB Motion: In the spirit of this year's university theme of "Radical Inclusivity," the FA encourages administration to provide tablets, styluses, and high-quality microphones to all faculty who request them to support highly accessible online courses and university meetings. PASSED Moved. Seconded. Carries.

COS IFO MOTION: Not Support.; Seconded; PASSES

Rationale: We are in a substantial budget deficit, and not all employees may wish these materials.

Note: Perhaps have IT materials available for check-out. We do support having these materials available to those who want them

CLA Motion: Move to approve. Seconded. Passes.

The type of tablet/stylus, etc., is limited by administration (this could relate to the LIB motion); it’s also true that if admin provides these then 19B could not be used for these items; could we argue that these are kind of travel funds (zoom is required/travel now)—we do have this right in 19B to get a tablet but that depends in part on admin not providing them as part of routine equipment; this is an admin. responsibility under Equity 2030 to provide.

LIB supports these motions.

Rationale: One of the Convocation Passport sessions discussed technologies that enhance accessibility in online environments. These technologies are not routinely provided to faculty by IT.  Admin has also resisted or restricted use of 19B funds to purchase some of the technologies mentioned that can enhance accessibility.

                CNHS: Does not support.

The FA encourages the administration to provide tools to all employees to support highly accessible online courses and university meetings. A minimum technology bundle should be offered from which a faculty may choose the tools they need.”

CNHS suggests that a “minimum technology bundle” be developed that allows faculty to choose what they need.

  1. LIB Motion: Ask Admin to liberalize the interpretation of use of 19B funds so that faculty may purchase technology to assist with equity, inclusivity, and accessibility, such as tablets, styluses, and high-quality microphones.  PASSED

COS IFO Sense of the body : 19B funds should not have to be used for essential technology for teaching, etc.

CIS IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CLA Motion to ammend: Unless and until administration provides these technologies as routine equipment, liberalize the interpretation of use of 19B funds so that faculty may purchase technology chosen by the faculty member to assist with equity, inclusivity, and accessibility, such as tablets, styluses, and high-quality microphones.  PASSED Moved. Seconded.

Motion to table until after next Meet & Confer. Seconded. Carries.

Rationale: We may put faculty in the position of buying tech that IT may not be ready to support; faculty use software now that IT doesn’t support – it would be better if they did support it but IT can’t support every kind of need we have. IT can recommend which items are supported, but faculty need to have the space to choose what we need to teach.

        LIB supports this motion

        

CNHS supports this motion

ADJOURNED 12:10PM

D. Syllabus Template Consistency

  1. LIB Motion:  That the Faculty Issues Committee reviews the Provost’s 8-15-2022 email syllabus information, and the D2L syllabus template, to find ways to simplify and ensure consistency in syllabus guideline information. PASSED

COS IFO MOTION: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

CIS IFO Motion: Support. with the suggestion that Faculty Issues work together with DLIP; Seconded; PASSES

CLA IFO Motion: Approve. Seconded. Passes

Rationale: It’s muddying the process; poor communication overall; could there be a syllabus management system? Intellectual property – think about working to order what’s included in syllabi; should DLIP work with faculty issues on this—DLIP can’t avoid taking this on

LIB supports this motion

COM IFO Motion: Support.; Seconded; PASSES

E. Suggested changes in committee structure

  1. CF Caucus Motion: Administration should add 2 CF to the Equity by Design Team.

                        COS IFO MOTION: Support; Seconded; PASSES

                        CF Caucus Motion: Moved. seconded. passed

                        CLA IFO Motion: Moved. seconded passes.

                        LIB Motion: Noted. This motion needs a rationale

  1. motions submitted for the october packet (for discussion only for context and clarity if there is time)
  1. CCSPA Motion (RE V E Office survey) : We request that administration designate private room(s) that can be  checked out on the main campus for faculty from other campuses, since COL has taken over  the small rooms in the library. Seconded. Motion Carries. Rational: Currently, if you need a  private space when you’re on the main campus, for a meeting with a student or a zoom, the  ones that had been available were no longer available, and the community faculty room is  not private, as it can be used by multiple people at once.

  1. CFC Motion 1: CFC moves to continue to “officially” require 2 department chairs in the CF workgroup but encourages the workgroup co-chairs to request additional participation as needed.

  1. CFC Motion 2: CFC moves to request that colleges include their cf faculty in all communication regarding unit meetings, especially invitations to their monthly meetings.

  1. CFC Motion 3: CFC moves to request that administration provides data on the number of cf-taught classes that were cancelled in fall 2022.

  1. CLA NEW MOTION: No item shall be accepted to the Metro IFO packet unless it contains information delineating 1) Provenance (e.g., individual, IFO committee, college IFO, university council, etc. “Provenance” shall provide a specific point person and their specific role. 2) Rationale: explaining what the motion is to colleagues who may be entirely unfamiliar with the issue. 3) History: if the motion is a follow-up, development of, or reference to earlier packets' decisions, the appropriate historical packet item will be explicitly linked with the new item.
  2. LIB MOTION (RE travel policy): That administration provide live and on-demand training for current travel and reimbursement processes. PASSED.
  3. LIB MOTION: The FA requests clarity about which parts of these travel and reimbursement processes are mandatory, and which are opt-in. PASSED.

  1. Referrals to Committees from previous governance cycles
  1. Reminder To Faculty Issues (From May VII 2)
  1. CCSPA Motion (Apr): we would like to see the pdp and pdr deadlines moved to early fall semester. moved. seconded.
  2. Motion to Amend: pdps due in spring and pdrs to the end of the 1st week of duty days in the fall semester
  3. Motion: table until fall 2022 and IFO FA faculty issues committee (FIC) considers the issue. moved. seconded. passed.

  1. Reminder to calendar committee (from May X 2c)
  1. In March, the IFO presented a motion at M&C indicating that we support aligning our summer calendar with community colleges. Last month, the provost provided a response that was in our April packet. We did not respond to that memo. However, there are implications to our academic calendar which are detailed in her memo, which I have reattached here. Action item: please provide a response to the provost’s memo indicating whether or not we support a change in the calendar for summer ’23.

 

Two motions were present in the May minutes:

Motion from the floor: Do not support changing the summer AY23 schedule

Rationale: because alignment would shorten the summer too much – 12 weeks is too short. moved. seconded. failed.

CLA (May): support moving to a 12-week summer session to align our calendar with community colleges. moved. seconded. passed.

  1. Information Items
  1. PDG Deadline September 9th: https://mnscu.sharepoint.com/teams/METRO-MyMetroState-Team/Employee%20Dashboard%20Library/Faculty%20Library/Faculty%20Personnel%20Matters/PDG%20Application%20%20FY23.pdf
  2. D2L issues:
  1. Some of you experienced a mismatch between the section of your course in the catalog and the section on D2L. A new product that interfaces between scheduling and D2L was used and as changes in the schedule occurred they were not reflected in D2L. This issue will be fixed for future semesters. If you notice that your course section is incorrect please email Travis.Morgan@metrostate.edu.

As a clarification while this issue impacted the section identity on D2L, the students were appropriately enrolled. Originally it was thought that students were being assigned to different sections as well, but further investigation showed this was not the case.

  1. In addition, there are two  issues with instructor enrollment. 1) If an instructor was changed the original instructor has not yet been dropped from the course in some cases. 2) To create courses the D2L team uses a fake instructor and the new product is having problems dropping them as well. This is also an artifact of this new software. The online learning team is working on it and hopes to have it resolved soon.

  1. Parking Declaration Notice: On 8/23 you received an email from Metro Building Services entitled ‘Parking Declaration Notice’.

The email provides a link that does not take you to the form. Here is a more direct link which you would use to enroll in parking, cancel your payroll deduction, or declare that you do not plan to use the parking facilities.

https://services.metrostate.edu/TDClient/1839/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=34310

  1. Click on the dark blue box labeled Parking Declaration Form in the upper righthand corner.
  2. The Employee Parking Enrollment form will appear
  3. Fill out the form to enroll in parking or to declare that you are not going to use parking facilities.
  4. Note: At the top of the form there is a link to cancel existing payroll deductions.

  1. Faculty Personnel Matters: The faculty personnel matters document is a source of many important dates (for example, PDP, PDR, and tenure related due dates). These dates have been added to the calendar on the MetrostateFA website.

The faculty personnel matters for 2022-2023 can be found here

In addition, to find this document:

  1. Go to My.Metro log in
  2. On the left side bar there is a section ‘for faculty’
  3. Click ‘faculty downloads’ in the for ‘faculty section’
  4. It is under faculty library

  1. A note from the Grievance Committee:

Greetings colleagues,

 

Your grievance committee members are:

 

Beltrand, Barbara, Convener/Chair

College of Management (COM)

Filner, Matt

College of Liberal Arts (CLA)

Haley, Nadine#

Faculty of Color Caucus (FOCC)

Harley, Cindy (IFO FA President) #

College of Science (COS)

Matthews, Mark

College of Liberal Arts (CLA)

Mosher, Andrea #

College of Liberal Arts (CLA) (CF)

Robinson, James A #

College of Liberal Arts (CLA)

Starr, Gary E

College of Community and Public Affairs (CCSPA)

 # Completion of grievance officer training, sponsored by statewide IFO legal staff, is pending.

   Actual filing of grievances must be done by someone who has completed the training.

   Meeting participation and preliminary work to file a grievance is in the scope of all members of the committee.

 

Our IFO FA Grievance Officer (GO) meetings are scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on the 2nd Wednesdays of the month for the Fall 2022 semester. We may continue that pattern for the Spring of 2023.

 

Please let all your colleagues (IFO members and non-members) know that the IFO represents the entire faculty; we all benefit from the compensation and “work rules” provisions of our contract! Your grievance officers stand ready to listen and help when the contract is violated.

  1. A reminder from the May packet (VII 5 b) The Faculty Issues Committee (FIC) developed an optional Department Policy and Procedure Agreements template that can be used for making decisions about how to fulfill departmental obligations and keep an accessible record of those decisions for departmental use. This document is not required. It is intended as a helpful guide for developing departmental policies and procedures. The tool was developed to address the motion below from IFO Council. [Motion: requests that the note: “Department Governance--a message from the Grievance Committee” be sent to the Faculty Issues Committee and the Grievance Committee to better define the parameters of the contract and give suggestions for a wide variety of ways a Department could meet the contractual obligations, as Departments do an​d can fulfill these obligations in different ways.]

 

The goal was to define the parameters of the contract and help departments determine how they would like to meet the contractual obligations by answering some questions listed on the template. FIC did not create a wide variety of ways the department could meet contractual obligations, but we did suggest that department chairs could contact other department chairs for examples.

 

COM (May): noted.

 

LIB (May): noted.

Update: After receiving a question from a member, I consulted with the IFO legal team about the language in their template regarding department meeting frequency. As it stands there is no specific contractual requirement that a department should meet ‘regularly’ or to meet at all. As such, language in this particular row has been changed to reflect that meeting is a suggestion not an obligation. See:

1) the attached tracked changes document showing the row in question struck through  

2) a cleaned up copy with the deletion accepted. 

Despite this change, we thank the FIC for their work on this important document.

  1. Faculty (resident and community) have a faculty page. Here is a link to learn how to edit the information presented on that page:

https://services.metrostate.edu/TDClient/1839/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=99317

Note: as some information is auto populated from HR (ex degree) you may need to confer with HR about certain changes.

  1. The university is currently facing a $6.4million deficit. For our $87million budget this can lead to a dire situation. If you would like to learn more make sure to read these documents from financial forums held over the summer.  https://my.metrostate.edu/article/314746

More information can be found here: https://my.metrostate.edu/financial-management

I will continue to supply updates as they are available.

  1. Please see the following from the July 13th metro moment. There have been substantial changes to the travel and reimbursement process. Make sure you know these before planning on any travel:

        Here is a document summarizing the changes

Actual travel documents are located here:

https://my.metrostate.edu/financial-management look in the column on the

left labeled ‘commonly used documents’ or alternatively click downloads

  1. Retirement workshops from Dick Kaspari are available by appointment here: https://www.ifo.org/ifo-retirement-consultations

More information can be found here 

  1. IFO FA Calendar – 2022-23

Available on the Metro FA Website under “Metro FA Info/Calendar”. You can download this calendar and integrate it with your own if you choose

  1. Website: We have been updating the website. metrostatefa.org.  

You can now download our calendar, learn more about ways to serve, and we have new ways of uploading meeting minutes.

Comments, suggestions, and submissions are welcome. Send to Lesli Blair at Lesli.Blair@gmail.com

  1. IFO FA Announcements:

  1. Important Dates-- see also https://www.metrostatefa.org/calendars

DEADLINES PER THE FACULTY PERSONNEL MATTERS (FPM) DOCUMENT

All of the above deadlines are early in the fall 2022 semester. there are many more deadlines; make friends with the FPM!!

Social Media & IFO website:

Archives of Minutes

  1. The Meet & Confer minutes are prepared by Administration and can be found as follows:
  1. College IFO minutes archived at: www.metrostatefa.org/MetroFAInfo/Minutes  
  2. IFO Committee minutes archived at www.metrostatefa.org/MetroFAInfo/Committees 
  3. Approved Statewide Board & Executive Committee minutes: https://bit.ly/IFOMinutes

Council Meeting Rules and Information

  1. Our IFO FA Council meetings are open to our IFO FA members. Voting members are determined by appointment by our respective colleges and caucuses.
  2. Attendance will be compiled by Exec to ensure meeting efficiency.  We will not be doing formal introductions.
  3. We will always follow Robert’s Rules of Order and the FA Operating Procedures.
  4. Zoom rules and etiquette:
  1. Please mute upon entry and stay muted until you are called on to speak.  If you have a point of order or other permissible reason, you may interrupt the speaking order with the words “point of order.”
  2. Please use the “raise hand” feature of Zoom to participate in discussion.  The Executive committee will do our best to maintain an accurate speaking order.
  3. Feel free to add a question to the chat.  
  4. Respectful commentary welcome in chat or through the speaking order
  5. Voting will be verbal unless there is a contested result. If so, we will vote via the Zoom poll feature.
  1. Our IFO FA Executive Team will share screen to allow all participants to follow the agenda easily.  The IFO FA Secretary will be taking minutes off line for your review after the meeting.

Council Bingo

Click this link to get your own bingo board: https://bingobaker.com#e07ab38139bf30df

General      Action Items      Motions     Information Items       Old Business      Appendix      Fun Stuff    

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