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Virginia Tech
Governance Minutes ArchiveNovember 13, 1990
University Committee on Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action November 13, 1990 Present Susan Asselin, Robin Ball, Alan Bayer, Virgil Cook, Mona Edwards, Doris Evans, Muriel Flynn, Laurie Good, Jane Harrison, Melissa Holland, Michele Holmes, Patricia Hyer, Joan Kalnitsky-Alif, Noreen Klein (for Janine Hiller), Cornel Morton, Harry Pence, Nancy Simmons, Wayne Speer, Judy Schwab Absent: Allison Ballew, Randy Grayson, Doretha Butler, Mark Flora, Deborah Ho, Dawn Maxey, Pat Morris, Dennis Jones, Michael Lambur, Kathy Lewis, Linda Woodard, Glenn Valentine Cornel Morton called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. 1. ADOPTION OF AGENDA The agenda was adopted as distributed. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes from the meeting of October 10, 1990 were approved with a minor revision. 3. ANNOUNCEMENTS o Dr. Morton noted the upcoming "Breakfast With. . ." program on De- cember 12th, featuring Forrest D. Toms from the Institute of Multi- cultural Education and Training at Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina. Dr. Morton also announced that Dr. Jacqueline Fleming will be the January speaker for the "Breakfast With. . ." program on the 24th. She will be addressing the academic success of black college students at predominantly white college campuses. Dr. Morton then informed the Committee that he hopes to schedule a presenter who will address the area of sex equity during February's breakfast program. 4. NEW BUSINESS a. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS SUBCOMMITTEE ON WOMEN Dr. Morton relayed a message from Dr. Hyer who indicated her inter- est in relinquishing the position of chair. SUBCOMMITTEE ON DISABILITY CONCERNS Dr. Cook highlighted several aspects of the "Breakfast With. . ." program earlier that day, which featured Dr. William Scales, Direc- tor of Disabled Student Services at the University of Maryland. In part, Dr. Scales focused on the development and utilization of a comprehensive set of informational guidelines that have been made available to faculty who work with students with disabilities; he left several such pamphlets with Mr. Speer. Dr. Cook also reported that Dr. Scales and his colleagues had established a "commission" on disability concerns with a direct line to the president's of- fice. Dr. Cook singled out these aspects of the presentation be- cause they parallel the projects that the subcommittee is thinking of initiating. Mr. Speer then compared the budget of the Disabled Student Services Office at Maryland to that at Virginia Tech. The University of Maryland serves the needs of approximately 300 disa- bled students with an annual budget of $268,000 per year. In com- parison, Mr. Speer's annual budget of $4500 is expected to cover the needs of 106 students. Mr. Speer noted that the comparatively larger Maryland budget reflects a stronger state legislative com- mitment to services for students with disabilities. He also men- tioned that Maryland's budget for these services is spread among fewer colleges and universities than in Virginia, thus contributing to the difference. Mr. Speer then recalled the priorities that Dr. Scales listed for disabled students. In particular, Dr. Scales strongly advocated the installation of more elevators, a shuttle service for students with disabilities, and automatic door-openers. 5. OTHER BUSINESS a. REPORT FROM SUBCOMMITTEE ON EO/AA COMMITTEE STRUCTURE Dr. Morton suggested that this issue be brought to closure at the December 11 meeting. Committee members were again asked to care- fully consider the proposed new EO/AA Committee structure so that it can be discussed next month. b. DRAFT OF UNIVERSITY PLANNING DOCUMENT 1991-96 Dr. Morton initiated discussion of the editorial recommendations made by the ad-hoc group assembled last month to examine the docu- ment. Several additional editorial changes were made to the draft and it was approved for submission to Philip Sheldon. c. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GRANTS PROGRAM Dr. Morton requested that the Committee examine the draft and offer their editorial recommendations. The major revisions included: 1) changing "handicapped" to "persons with disabilities"; 2) extend- ing the deadline for submission of fall semester proposals to Janu- ary 14th; and 3) changing the wording of the amount of the grants to "grants of up to 2,500." Once the editorial changes are made, the proposal will be copied and distributed campus-wide (especially to the special interest groups). The program, to be managed by the Office of EO/AA, will also be advertised in the SPECTRUM and in the COLLEGIATE TIMES. Discussion then focused on the evaluation proc- ess. It was agreed that the preliminary 5-member review committee would be made up of the chairs of each of the subcommittees, one person from the Office of EO/AA, and one person from the Office of the Provost -- preferably Dr. Hyer. The Committee also discussed the source of funds for this and subsequent years. It was tenta- tively agreed that the total amount of $15,000 for 1990-91 would be split between the Office of the Provost and the Office of EO/AA. d. CUSTODIAL LEAVE POLICY Ms. Joan Kalnitsky-Alif expressed her belief that the revised cus- todial leave policy unfairly discriminates against the custodians at Virginia Tech. Ms. Robin Ball provided some background for the policy that permits each department to establish its own discipli- nary procedures for unscheduled leave. She concluded that the pol- icy reflects an attempt to prevent the abuse of sick/annual leave. Ms. Kalnitsky-Alif maintained that, even with a written doctor's excuse, custodial workers are still "penalized" for unscheduled sick leave. Dr. Morton reminded the committee that this issue had been addressed last year because of the equity issues involved, but added that even with some revisions to the policy, it remains vul- nerable to review. Dr. Morton added that Mr. Wyatt Sasser had been very helpful in the past in dealing with this issue and he felt that he would be willing to discuss it again. Dr. Morton asked Committee members interested in pursuing this issue to identify themselves to him, in order that a meeting might be scheduled with Mr. Sasser. The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Laurie S. Good Executive Secretary
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