Staff Assembly Meeting Minutes
October 7, 2003

Members Attending:  Chris Arreguin, Ruben Ayala, McLeod Baker, Lois Biege, Gay Boydston, Jonathan Brown, Emily Burgwyn, Alice Carter, Randy Cobb, Carlene Coover, Brad Davis, Dan Dehart, Kay Edmondson, Craig Elders, Marilyn Eudaly, Roger Fisher, Ervey Garcia, Rebecca Glass, Mesina Gray, David Grebel, Nancy Grieser, Josh Harmon, Dorothy Holland, John Householder, Pam Hughes, Mary Kaszynski, Joe Laster, Tommy Love, Debbie Mar, Valeria McDougle, Amy McDurham, Kevin O’Connell, Gabriel Perez, Tara Pope, Barbara Savak, Donna Shepherd, Emily Sullivan, Tracy Syler-Doctson, Darron Turner, Robert Vann, Shawn Wagner, Esco Weatherspoon, Paula Work, David Yale, and Richard Yantis.

 

Guests:  Chancellor Victor Boschini, Vice Chancellor Carol Campbell, Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources John Weis, and Skiff reporter Megan Youker.

 

Members Absent:  Ross Bailey, Karen Baker, John Butler, Jackie Callanan, Nancy Carter, Rocio Garcia, Julie Graver, Sharon Hudson, Mary Lane, Maria Leyva, Melinda Rubenkoenig, DeVonna Tinney, Hao Tran, and Juan Varela.

 

Welcome:  The meeting was called to order at 3:33 p.m. by chair David Grebel.

 

Minutes:  The September minutes were approved as submitted.

 

Announcements:   Staff members are encouraged to participate in Reading Frogs.  For more information or to sign up, contact Mary Lane at ext. 7663 or m.lane@tcu.edu.

 

Josh Harmon announced that the new-and-improved portal, my.tcu.edu, will be introduced on Oct. 20.

 

David Grebel serves on the committee searching for the new Provost.  The committee has begun gathering information and establishing criteria for the search.

 

Presentation:  Carol Campbell, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, told the Staff Assembly about the operating budget.  Revenue was $225 million in 2002-03, and $230 million is projected for 2003-04.  Most of the increase in operating revenue is from increases in student tuition.  TCU is still inexpensive compared to its peers, so there is room for increasing tuition.  However, recent increases have been steep and there is concern about how much tuition can continue to be raised.

 

There will be significant pressure on the budget in upcoming years because earnings from the endowment are down.  A percentage of the endowment contributes to TCU’s operating revenue.  The figure is calculated based on a trailing 12-quarter average.  In the past the endowment was usually stable or up, which increased the amount contributed to the budget.  But the endowment peaked in spring 2000, so recent quarterly averages have been down.  It is anticipated that there will be $5 million less from the endowment to support the 2004-05 budget than in 2003-04, although that figure is tentative because only 10 of the 12 quarters are yet known.

 

The expenditures in the budget have been categorized according to TCU’s level of control: 

In other words, TCU has decision-making ability about how to spend a small part of the budget.

 

Several questions were raised about employee benefits.  Campbell recognized Staff Assembly members’ concerns about eliminating the benefit to allow dependents to attend other schools, and she will forward these concerns to the administration.  Chancellor Boschini reminded the Staff Assembly that we must always remember the long-term picture and do what is beneficial for TCU.  He mentioned that he and Campbell are both very concerned with expenses throughout the university and are not targeting employee benefits only.

 

Committee Reports:  Darron Turner, chair of the Policy Review Committee, presented some figures about the tuition benefit program:

 

The committee felt that many dependents who did not meet TCU admissions standards as freshmen would benefit from attending a community college, so they proposed the following resolution:

 

We recommend that Staff Assembly support the recommendations of the RIB Committee and that the following change be recommended: Students who do not gain admission to TCU are eligible to receive tuition benefits to attend Tarrant County College for up to two years, but they must reapply annually to TCU for admission.

 

Randy Cobb recommended amending the motion to read that students may attend Tarrant County College or their local community college and that they may (rather than must) reapply to TCU.  The amendment passed.

 

Bob Vann recommended amending the motion to eliminate Tarrant County College from the resolution and state only that the dependents could attend their local community college.  The amendment failed.

 

As amended, the resolution considered by the Staff Assembly read:

 

We recommend that the Staff Assembly support the recommendation of the RIB Committee and that the following benefit be recommended: Students who do not gain admission to TCU are eligible to receive tuition benefits to attend Tarrant County College or their local community college for up to two years, but they may reapply annually to TCU for admission.

 

The resolution passed and will be forwarded to the administration.

 

Roger Fisher pointed out that the Retirement, Insurance and Benefits Committee, a university committee, amended their resolution to encourage TCU to pay for tuition at a local community college and stated that dependents may apply rather than must apply to TCU.

 

It was clarified from the previous meeting that dependents may participate in the Tuition Exchange Program regardless of if they are admitted to TCU.  The Tuition Exchange Program is not affected by the proposed change in benefits.

 

David Grebel reported that the priorities suggested at the September meeting were for the Staff Assembly to work on issues related to wages and benefits.  More information will be forthcoming.

 

New Business:  Joe Laster asked about the Staff Assembly’s budget.  David Grebel will share the budget with Staff Assembly members.

 

Several members throughout the meeting asked about other ways in which costs were being cut.  They felt that letting employees know that benefits was not the only area being cut would help “lessen the pain.”  They also want to know how employees can share cost-cutting ideas with the administration.  Carlene Coover pointed out that there is a form on the Staff Assembly website http://www.staffassembly.tcu.edu/comments.htm to submit suggestions.  Employees who want to remain anonymous may submit suggestions to David Grebel, who will forward them anonymously.  Carol Campbell said that a program is being developed to help employees forward suggestions, but in the meantime to send suggestions through the Staff Assembly website or through Grebel.

 

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 4:47 p.m.

Return to Minutes Index