Annual meeting with the Chancellor & Provost
10:00am Monday, September 27, 2004
Present: Little, Simpson, Beer, Crandell, Donegan, Flannery, , Wheland, Smith ??
Staff Climate Survey
Professor Donegan noted that this year AFW will be addressing the climate issues for women staff. Provost Simpson agreed to sign the letter and send it out from his office.
Professor Donegan stated that the second goal for AFW would be to have Focus Groups on campus to look at the climate issues of women faculty & staff. We will have the faculty focus groups this Fall 2004 and conduct the staff focus group this Winter 2005. The Chancellor and the Provost both agreed to fund these focus groups so we could provide refreshments.
II. Recommendation #1: 5 year Academic Climate follow up survey.
Chancellor: Climate issues are of great importance to him. It allows the campus to work well & efficiently and helps us get a better handle on things. Chancellor said that he respects the AFW and appreciates our work. UMD will do the Academic Climate again in 2007.
RECOMMEDATION #2: Publicize zero tolerance policy.
AFW: ask the Chancellor to send out more statements from his office expressing a zero tolerance policy on campus. Perhaps a zero tolerance letter can be sent out as an annual statement from now on. Ask what the New Faculty Orientation consists of, is more than just a brochure on sexual harassment given.
RECOMMEDATION #3: Regular training for managers.
Chancellor: For those positions of Power there is some follow-up like for Senior Offices & Deans.
RECOMMEDATION #4: Centralize record keeping.
Chancellor: Is in favor, as is Eric Bolling, to give a more public notice however because this is a small campus we would have to carry forward a person neutral reporting system.
Provost: suggested his concern that it would not take long for someone to figure out who on campus reported the issue. May have the Reporter print that a report was made and one can refer to the web site.
Chancellor: Will ask Eric Bolling to work with AFW & the AA campus to come up with a person neutral way to provide these statistics. Says that he will work with this.
RECOMMEDATION #5: Identify units on campus with good climate.
Chancellor: Should not come from Senior Offices but from peers. He does not want it to single out good departments. He and the Provost always give examples about units on campus that are exceeding.
RECOMMEDATIONS #6: Recruit women faculty.
Provost: They try to get a diverse pool as possible but the pool itself is not so diverse. Engineering has been trying to get Doctoral degrees more.
RECOMMEDATIONS #7: Education opportunities.
Chancellor: WRC guide is Great! This is really an excellent start and should have been available sooner. WRC is doing a whole bunch of things for this campus.
Provost: a little concern about the student sexual harassment statement in the guide.
Suzanne Baker: stated that she had taken everything directly as it was off those web site.
Chancellor: Leadership does exist. He talks and communicates to the campus through various groups on campus like AFW, Staff Senate, etc. However he is not happy that he is somewhat limited.
Provost: WRC really is recognized. Showing the campus has made progress.
Chancellor: new/better ways to show leadership does exist. He sends out 1-2 page emails from the Chancellor’s Desk.
AFW: ask that perhaps after Chancellor Chats? held on campus that the Chancellor can write up/email high points of what was discussed. This would help those on campus who are not aware know what is happening.
Other issues in regards to Staff Development that Laura Beer brought up:
The issue that not all units/depts on campus allow their staff members the opportunity to attend conferences & trainings for personal development and or enrichment purposes. Some units allow their staff to attend while others don’t.
Chancellor: says that he will take the personal development point up with Jeff Evans in HR.
Provost: agreed with the Chancellor.
In closing remarks from the Chancellor:
Ask if we, AFW, may be suggesting a Stone Wall Administration. He doesn’t totally agree with our progress report. He said he is unhappy with the report.
Said that climate issues have to do with gender, race & power too. For as with recommendation #3 regarding training, Jeff Evans is working on training supervisors. And said that he and Eric Bolling reviewed the web base Sexual Harassment Training and it is underway to see if this will be made mandatory.