Williams College Office of Human Resources > Staff Advisory Council
Staff Council Meeting Minutes
June 24, 2009, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., Paresky 220
In attendance: Colleen Bethoney, David J. Boyer, Lisa Briggs, Gail Burda, Dawn Dellea, Jenny Dewar, Maggie Driscoll, Mark Kimball, Kristan Renish, Teresa Waryjasz, Martha Tetrault, ex officio, Danielle Gonzalez, ex officio
Absent: Erwin Bernhart, Gisela Demant, Madeleine DeMarsico, Lynn Taft
Agenda
- Updates and general information:
- Udder News
- Diversity training
- Performance development workgroup
- Solicitation policy – review of Williams policy and others
- Other agenda items - new business?
Business
- Updates and general information:
- Distributed for comment and input the first edition of Udder News. Future issues will have a section for news from Staff Council.
- Update on progress on diversity training - number of people trained to date, feedback on the program from those who have attended; general impressions have been positive; there was a desire expressed for some form of evaluation. This has been implemented as a form, but another suggested vehicle might be the use of a tool like "survey monkey" to solicit feedback.
- A working group of staff have been pulled together to review the College's current performance evaluation process and develop a broader, more holistic approach. The group will be submitting its proposal to President's staff and will also be creating opportunities for input in the form of focus groups. Staff Council can play an important role as this process and the outreach is developed. Members of the workgroup: Mike Reed, Diana Prideaux-Brune, Jean Thorndike, Pat Malanga, Karen Ryan, Chris Abayasinghe, Pam Besnard, and Martha Tetrault.
- The College's solicitation practices have come up for discussion in large part sparked by the distribution of personal fliers, most recently sales of homes. The Council talked about Central Office Services role in both printing and distribution. What are the policies governing solicitation and how are they administered. The current policy is:
SOLICITATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF LITERATURE POLICY
The College believes that its commitment to a diverse educational environment must be balanced with reasonable concerns over safety and order. There, the College reserves the right to deny access to the campus by individuals who are not members of the college community. The College further believes that a staff member's desire to support a political, social or charitable cause or fundraising appeal should not influence or be influenced by the employment relationship. Consequently, the College does not permit staff members to solicit co-workers while either is working. In exceptional circumstances the college may grant charity groups permission to solicit or distribute literature to employees pursuant to an on-campus fundraising campaign. The College supports and encourages its employees to contribute to these campaigns; however, all contributions are purely voluntary.
Questions regarding administering this policy arose related to school events, girl scout cookies, cosmetic sales, etc. Would we completely do away with these practices and if not why not, and what are the pros and cons. How does this relate to an outside vendor or group who might want to solicit on the Williams campus?
A larger document was also shared with the Council prepared some years ago by the College's legal counsel as a point of comparison and more legally defensible.
Central Offices Services operation was a large part of the discussion; what they do related to this, what they are empowered to say no to, and how are these things being distributed. People's time is taken to both deliver and put in office mail boxes, College time is taken in the printing and use of equipment. We agreed to invite Diana Prideaux-Brune to the meeting in July to shed some light on this.
Next meeting
Date & Location:
- Wednesday, July 15, 2009 – Paresky, Room 220
Agenda:
- Central Office Services – Diana Prideaux-Brune, invited guest
Reported by L. Taft
