April 30, 2001 – 10:00 A.M.
(unapproved)
Dixon Conference Center –
Ballroom A
Ellyn Hix, Chair, called
the meeting to order. Assembly members
present were: John Asmuth, Dennis
Block, Stacey Bozeman, Amy Douglas, Ralph Foster, Kathy Harmon, Ellyn Hix,
Harriette Huggins, Kathryn Jarvis, Greg Lund, Larry Moore, Ed People, Miriam
Brown Pepinsky, Kevin Robinson, Linda Sayers, Janine Slick, Mary Lou Smith,
Martha Taylor, Kim Trupp, and Teresa Vest.
Review and Approval of
Prior Minutes. The minutes from the March 5, 2001,
Assembly meeting were reviewed. Kim
Trupp moved that the minutes be approved.
Janine Slick seconded the motion.
The minutes were approved.
Speaker, Dr. Walker: Ellyn Hix
introduced Dr. William Walker, Interim President of Auburn University. Dr. Walker provided an up-date on the issues
confronting the University, stating that in the past eight weeks the issues
were still the same, but with some significant developments. Dr. Walker reported that tax revenues are
lower than expected, which has resulted in proration of the current year’s
budget and a budget reduction for the coming year. Though the joint efforts of the four-year colleges, universities,
and the legislators, a three percent budget reduction for next year has been
negotiated; however, the governor has held up this legislation. The problem of
proration has remained unresolved and now the governor is holding up this
agreement on next year’s budget hostage over the proration issue. Through court
cases and attempts at making the entire state aware of the effects proration on
higher education, the universities are fighting back.
Dr. Walker, also, addressed
the issue of shared governance. Since
many groups have expressed their lack of confidence in the Board of Trustees,
Dr. Walker has worked to resolve the issue of shared governance through open
communication, and is taking steps to address each segment of the issue.
Joe Ed People expressed his
appreciation for the stand Dr. Walker has taken for higher education during
these difficult times.
Speaker, Sherrie
Fulford: Ellyn Hix introduced Sherri Fulford from the Office
of Governmental Affairs. Ms. Fulford
explained the function of the Office of Governmental Affairs, and discussed
some of the current issues and legislation that they were working on. The floor was then opened for questions.
Question: Is there any possibility on Constitutional
Reform being on anyone’s agenda in the near future?
Fulford: There are a few bills on the floor now that
address one or two articles, but Constitutional Reform will mean tax reform. It will be difficult to get any action with
redistricting going on and with an election year coming up.
Question: Is there anything specific going on with the
property tax to address the education situation?
Fulford: Several bills are going on, but they keep
being cut down at the local district level.
Question: How long do you expect the court case
[concerning proration] to be drawn out?
Fulford: We expect something this week.
Question: I have lived under several state
governments. All these people can see
that there are unfair things going on.
Why cannot the legislators see that something unfair is going on here?
Fulford: It has to do with the fact that a large
percentage of the legislators have been teachers, principles and others
associated with K-12.
Question: I thought Governor Wallace set up the Junior
Colleges. Has their mission
changed? They appear to have become
feeder schools. How do we compare with
other states as to the number of institutions we have, and can we not do
something with Junior Colleges like not accepting their students?
Fulford: We have the Articulation Act in this state,
which requires that we work with the Junior Colleges to come up with a group of
courses that would be automatically transferred. They are trying to become the freshmen and sophomore years.
Question: I know that there
are a number of questionable entities paid out of the ETF [Educational Trust
Fund]. How loosely defined is the use
of these funds.
Fulford: Very loosely, except that it is suppose to
be for educational purposes. There is a
current bill in the legislator that is addressing this. It would change the law to those who get any
money from the trust fund, it can only be spent for educational purposes, not
operations, and you will have to document that.
Committee Reports: For the
Nominations and Elections Committee, Michael Miller reported that they have
been working mainly on two issues. The
first was to find a way to have appropriate representation from each
vice-president group. This will require
some changes in the AP Assembly’s constitution. This committee has been looking at the parts of the constitution
that effect representation and elections.
They will submit recommended changes to the Executive Committee, and
eventually to the entire Assembly.
Secondly, they will be sending out interest surveys and making
nominations for next year’s officers.
Melissa Long reported that
the Professional Development has been seeking to get approval for the AP
Consulting Policy that has been being utilized since 1995 as a draft
policy. This committee is also looking
and evaluating courses for training employees.
Mary Anne Taylor-Simms
reported that the Welfare Committee has been studying the value of a leave bank
vs. our current salary continuation.
The committee found that most schools have a leave bank, but do not have
salary continuation. The committee
decided that our current salary continuation program is superior over a leave
bank program, and that it would not be advisable to pursue a leave bank at this
time.
The Welfare Committee did
feel that we need a way to get information on current benefits out to Assembly
members. They have someone on the
committee to do this through the A U Report.
Suggestions on other ways to get this information out would be welcomed.
The Grievance Committee
presented no report.
Adjournment. The motion
to adjourn was made by Harriette Huggins and seconded by Greg Lund.
Respectively submitted
Kathy Harmon