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Governance Minutes ArchiveFebruary 16, 1994
Date: February 16, 1994 UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION MINUTES FEBRUARY 16, 1994 Present: E. Holford, E. Braaten, C. Burger, C. Eggleston, M. Flynn, L. Graham, R. Hayman, K. Heidbreder, J. Hiller, G. Holtzman, P. Hyer, L. D. Moore, B. Pendergrass, R. Purdy, V. Reilly, L. Roy, J. Snell, R. Stith, V. Tran, B. Whitlock, T. Fairbanks, T. Dillaha. CALL TO ORDER: Dr. Holford called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was adopted as presented. ADOPTION OF MINUTES: Minutes for the December 9, 1993 meeting were approved with minor corrections. UPDATE FROM THE CHAIR: Dr. Holford commented on the restructuring efforts in the College of Education and the proposed reductions in force. She strongly encourages the University to retain its primary charge as a keeper of intellectual thought and place a lesser emphasis on the aspect of the University as a business. Also, Dr. Holford charged Kay Heidbreder to review any reductions in force to ensure that women and other minorities are not disproportionately affected. Secondly, as Dr. Holford will be involved with this restructuring, she will have less time to devote to the Committee. She asked members if they wished to assign someone else as Chair; they declined. Therefore, because of time constraints, she authorized subcommittees to meet more often than once a month; to divide into subgroups during the first hour of the two remaining Committee meetings; and to establish at least one goal, attainable by semeter's end or able to be carried over to 1994-95. INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS: Terry Fairbanks, a student in Industrial and Systems Engineering, has replaced Karen Tarnoff as Graduate Student Assembly representative. His userid is FAIRB; telephone 953-0492 or extension 1-9084. Muriel Flynn introduced Colleen Porter, Personnel Practices Analyst, who may occasionally serve as his substitute. DISCUSSION OF EO/AA OFFICE'S MINORITY NEWSLETTER: Ms. Heidbreder reported that the University's Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Caucus has requested that the scope of the MINORITY NEWSLETTER be expanded to include all groups covered under the EO/AA statement and not strictly concern itself with ethnic issues. The Committee agreed that such changes would be in keeping with its goal of practicing diversity within the University community and should be made effective with the Fall 1994 newsletter. Dr. Roy recommended that, as a matter of propriety, the Black Caucus be notified of the proposed change. In addition, the Committee suggested renaming the newsletter to reflect this broadened format. Possible names include: the EO/AA OFFICE NEWSLETTER, APPRECIATION OF DIFFERENCES, or the DIVERSITY NEWSLETTER. Ms. Heidbreder encourages members to submit other alternatives. DISCUSSION OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AWARDS: A voluntary selection committee was established to review and make final nominations from all applications received. This committee, composed of Barbara Pendergrass, Leslie Graham and Virginia Reilly, will present their recommendations at the March EO/AA meeting. A method of presenting the awards will also be discussed. DISCUSSION OF INCENTIVE GRANTS PROGRAM: Dr. Hyer announced that calls for grant proposals are being accepted through April 8th. She is asking members to volunteer for the five-member Review Committee. The obligation involves one review meeting of approximately three hours length to meet within ten days after the April 8th deadline. Dr. Hyer also distributed copies of a study funded through the Incentive Program, entitled "Defining Barriers to Advancement for Women Faculty at Virginia Tech," by Laurie Desiderato, Ph.D. REPORTS FROM SUBCOMMITTEES: o POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE: Dr. Hyer distributed their proposed revisions to the University's sexual harassment policy. They recommend that a statement proscribing consensual relationships be added to the ethics section of the Faculty Handbook. Their second proposition is the inclusion of line management into the policy, i.e., that management should be aware of, and will be held accountable for, instances of sexual harassment. Ms. Heidbreder said this is the current direction of the law and that such responsibility is good not only for policy reasons, but also for legal reasons. Some members expressed the opinion that the terms "position of authority" and "manager" as used in the revision are too vague and should be more specifically defined to include the several possible relationships characterized by an imbalance in power. The subcommittee will work to further refine the sexual harassment policy. o DIVERSITY SUBCOMMITTEE: Dr. Roy distributed reports outlining strategies for improving diversity within the Colleges of Engineering and Veterinary Medicine. Her subcommittee is attempting to collect similar project materials from other colleges and offices in order to track diversity activities. They intend to set up a campus-wide computer network and present a workshop this spring concerning the application process for external grants. Dr. Roy stated that many colleges and departments haven't developed diversity initiatives. Dr. Moore said that while college administrators are aware of diversity mandates, faculty members aren't always informed of these discussions. He proposed that a group of three or four EO/AA Committee members be available to meet with interested faculty and departments. Dr. Reilly asked the subcommittee to keep the disabled in mind as a constituent group when monitoring diversity projects or developing workshops. o RETENTION TASK FORCE: Dr. Purdy stated that this subcommittee will focus on retaining minority faculty, staff and graduate students and will utilize the pool of data already collected by the University. Mr. Flynn suggested that workshops to train supervisors in sensitivity to diversity issues be resumed as a means to stem the high turnover rate. A second interest of the subcommittee is why minority undergraduate students don't utilize the services and opportunities already in existence. o MONITORING SUBCOMMITTEE: Dr. Holford said the group was unable to meet. However, at this time she reiterated the directions for the other subcommittees: she stressed the importance of continued work on the sexual harassment policy; that the goal of establishing an intra-university network for discussion of diversity is a worthy one; that, pending a more strenuous mandate from University administration on diversity, a grants workshop and three to four-member group to meet with different departments are good methods of implementing policy. OTHER BUSINESS: Richard Hayman mentioned that some housekeeping staff are upset at being classified as essential personnel, which requires their working in inclement weather when other personnel are exempt. He stated they feel they have an EO/AA grievance based on classism. Ms. Heidbreder responded that the complaint is a departmental management or personnel issue and that the EO/AA Office doesn't have authority to intervene. The matter was tabled for possible later discussion. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m. NEXT MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1994 SUBCOMMITTEES WILL MEET FROM 2:00 - 3:00 P.M., IN THE FOLLOWING CEC ROOMS: POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE - EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE ROOM; RETENTION TASK FORCE - COMMITTEE ROOM; DIVERSITY SUBCOMMITTEE AND MONITORING SUBCOMMITTEE IN CONFERENCE ROOM G, WHICH WILL BE DIVIDED TO ACCOMMODATE BOTH. THE GROUP WILL RECONVENE AS A WHOLE FROM 3:00 - 4:00 P.M. IN THE EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE ROOM.
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