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UVI Senate Meeting Minutes T213 (STT) and EVC 807 (STX) Friday, October 12, 2012 MEMBERS PRESENT David Hall Noreen Michael Nancy Morgan Haldane Davies Camille McKayle Tina Koopmans Maria Fleming Shirley Lake-King Dayle Barry Raquel Santiago-Silver Kevin Dixon Bernard Castillo Paul Jobsis Frank Mills MEMBERS ABSENT/EXCUSED Patricia Harkins-Pierre Judith Edwin Leslyn Tonge Daniella Henry Cherise Burton Dionne Jackson Kimberlee Smith OTHERS PRESENT Dannica Thomas I. CALL TO ORDER Senator Morgan called the meeting of the Senate to order at 12:22pm on Friday, October 12, 2012. II. ROLL CALL A quorum was established. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There will be an electronic approval of the May 18, 2012 Senate minutes. The September 21, 2012 Senate minutes will be approved at the next scheduled meeting on November 16, 2012 once a quorum is established. IV. REPORTS a. Revised Human Resources Policy Manual President Hall sent the HR Policy manual to the Faculty and Staff Council Chairs for further review and feedback. Senators discussed waiving the bi-laws to vote electronically on the revised HR Policy Manual and evaluation form via email. An extension was provided to the faculty and staff constituent groups to ensure that each group has sufficient time to submit feedback. By October 27, the staff council will submit feedback to Senator Santiago-Silver; however, the faculty has requested additional time and will vote by November 7. The revised HR Policy manual responses are due to the Office of the President by November 1. Thereafter, Senator Hall will schedule the executive committee meeting accordingly. Senator Barry shared his concern about individuals not having sufficient time to review and provide feedback on the revised HR Policy manual. Senator Hall reassured senators that the constituent groups will have sufficient time to respond since the document remains the same with minor changes. Reasonable and acceptable feedback will be considered. The updated version of the HR Policy manual will be sent to the University community when finalized. Senator Davies provided details about the bi-laws in regards to establishing a quorum and motions. Senator Barry made a motion to waive the bi-laws to vote electronically on the revised HR Policy manual and evaluation form. The motion was seconded by Senator Jobsis. The motion carried unanimously, and as such, an electronic vote will be accepted on matters of the revised staff evaluation form and HR policy manual. The final document will be presented to the Finance and Budget Committee upon approval of the Senate. Thereafter, the document will be presented to the full Board for review and approval. Senators Morgan and Fleming expressed the importance of all senators involvement in the entire process of the HR Policy manual. Senator Davies made clarification that Senator Barry has made a provision to waive the bi-laws and not amend them. b. Revised Evaluation Form At the beginning of each year, the Presidential Advisory Committee is tasked with identifying and addressing issues and challenges on both campuses. The committee meets monthly. The staff evaluation form was one of the main issues presented to the Committee, and as such, staff participated in a voluntary survey. Staff responded unfavorably on the said survey, which urged the Presidential Advisory Committee to task the subcommittee, TPAC, to revise the current staff evaluation form. Constituents expressed inconsistencies with the current evaluation form. The categories on the evaluation form have changed. Senator Hall urged all managers and supervisors to ensure that all employees are included in the objective process moving forward. The revised evaluation form does not affect Faculty members, and as such, the faculty senators will provide feedback and vote in their senator capacity. The document will not be presented to the faculty constituency group. Senator Jobsis shared his concern about employees being evaluated by supervisors on different islands. For example, some employees stationed on the St. Thomas campus are currently being evaluated by their supervisors stationed on the St. Croix campus. Senator Hall emphasized that all employees must be evaluated based on their performance in their current positions. Senator Raquel Silver has agreed to summarize and submit feedback to Senator Hall by October 16. Senator Hall agreed to present final version to the Senate by October 19. All senators present agreed to submit an electronic vote for the revised evaluation form by October 26. Senators that do not vote will be recorded as abstained votes. Thereafter, a report will be compiled to present at a staff forum that will be scheduled accordingly. Tentatively on November 1, UVI will implement the revised evaluation form. Senator Hall thanked all committee members for conducting the proper research to develop a revised evaluation form. Senator Hall stated that TPAC suggested 360 degrees evaluations for staff. Currently, fifty (50) employees participate in the 360 degrees evaluation process, which include all cabinet members; however, only thirty-one (31) managers/supervisors have expressed interest to participate, while only thirteen (13) submitted the required information. For the 360 degree evaluation, the scores for each of the seven management values are recorded; however, a collective score is derived for each category, which is accessible to all direct reports. For the first time, Senator Hall will have the ability to compare the average score of cabinet members to the number of employees who volunteered to participate in the 360 degree evaluation process. Senator Hall agreed to share with senators the 360 degree evaluation instrument for cabinet members and managers/supervisors, if interested. V. OLD BUSINESS Acceptable Use Policy Senator Barry made a motion made to approve the Acceptable Use Policy. It was seconded by Senator Fleming. Senator Dixon abstained from voting. The motion carried unanimously. Senator Koopmans thanked all senators. VI. OTHER BUSINESS Senator Morgan announced that Senator Scott-Elliot has resigned from the Senate, consistent with her resignation from UVI and relocation to the United States, and as such, the Senate now has 11 elected members. Senator Barry requested that the monthly senate meetings be moved from the 3rd Friday of each month to a more convenient date and time for better chances to establish a quorum. Senator Michael stated that a quorum was established on October 12, which was the second Friday of the month. Senator Jobsis agreed to send out a poll to senators to get consensus on future dates for upcoming senate meetings. VII. NEXT MEETING The next Senate meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 16, 2012 at 1pm. VIII. ADJOURNMENT Senator Barry made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Senator Jobsis seconded the motion. Chair Morgan adjourned the meeting at approximately 2pm.