The
Regular session – October 13, 2008 – 3:30 p.m. – Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail: facsen@ou.edu web site:
http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Cecelia Brown, Chair.
PRESENT: Ahmed,
Apanasov, Asojo, Atiquzzaman, Basic, Bass, D. Bemben, M. Bemben, Blank,
Bradshaw, Brown, Buckley, Clark, Conlon, Croft, Eodice, Forman, Graham, Grasse,
Hawthorne, Horn, Kent, Kershen, Knapp, Lifschitz, Livesey, McDonald, Miller, Morrissey,
Moses, Muraleetharan, Rogers, Russell, Sadler, Schmidt, Strauss, Tan, Vehik, Verma,
Vitt, Weaver, Wyckoff
Provost's office representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Bondy, Cook
ABSENT: Brule,
Franklin, Greene, Milton, Rambo, Reeder, Riggs, Striz, Trafalis
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
2008-09 Campus Departmental Review Panel
New senators
Bedlam blood drive
Benefits
Election, councils/committees/boards
Senate Chair's Report:
Search, Natural History Museum director
Expanded grading scale
Bicycle plan (draft)
Issues for 2008-09
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of September 8, 2008 was approved.
The following faculty will
serve on the 2008-09 Campus Departmental Review Panel: Dan O'Hair (Communication), Julie
Miller-Cribbs (Social Work), Jim Martin (Educational Psychology), Bill McManus
(Construction Science), Tim Davidson (Human Relations), and Mike Richman
(Meteorology). The panel also will
include associate deans Kelly Damphousse (Arts & Sciences) and Debra Engel
(Library) and Graduate Council representative Peter Barker (History of
Science). The units to be reviewed are
Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering & Environmental
Science, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical & Computer
Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Petroleum & Geological Engineering,
Bioengineering, and Library & Information Studies.
Prof. Pramode Verma
(Electrical & Computer Engineering-Tulsa) was elected to the Faculty Senate
to complete the 2006-09 term of Sridhar Radhakrishnan (Computer Science),
representing the College of Engineering.
Prof. Ramadan Ahmed (Petroleum & Geological Engineering) was elected
to the Faculty Senate to complete the 2007-10 term of Jeff Callard (Petroleum
& Geological Engineering), representing the College of Earth & Energy.
The OU/OSU Bedlam blood drive
will take place on Friday, November 21, and Monday, November 24. The
Mr. Julius Hilburn, Human
Resources director, gave an update on benefits issues. A process was started in December 2007 to examine
the medical and dental options. After a
competitive bid process, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) was selected
to provide the primary medical option for all three campuses. In
Mr. Hilburn reported that the
long-term disability premium will be reduced about 20 percent and the enrollment
will be open, that is, employees can enroll without evidence of insurability
unless an individual had applied before and was turned down. Another vision option has been offered with
more benefits but at a higher cost. Our
employee assistance program, which provides counseling or referrals for a
variety of issues, is expanding. The annual
benefits enrollment is November 4-16. The
Human Resources web site details the changes and the enrollment process. Employee meetings will be held on October 14
and October 27 at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. so that employees can ask questions
and interact with the new vendors. The benefits
guide will be sent to everyone this week.
New insurance cards will be distributed before the end of the year. The effective date for the new benefits is
January 1, 2009. BCBSOK will work with
employees who have issues with transition of care, such as those who are in the
middle of chemotherapy or a pregnancy. Current
benefits will expire December 31. Since
enrollment can be done online, the deadline for enrolling, November 16, is on a
Sunday.
As Mr. Hilburn mentioned
earlier, the premiums for retiree medical insurance have gone up significantly,
as they have for the last several years.
That is one of the reasons we are taking a close and thorough look at
the retiree medical program. A committee
has been focusing on the medical benefits provided for retirees and is close to
issuing a preliminary report of findings.
The report is expected to generate a healthy campus discussion. A lot of factors are causing this to be a very
significant issue. The cost of health
care is growing rapidly and even more so for older people. At OU we have a significant number of
employees who are becoming eligible for retiree medical. In 2009, public agencies will have to disclose
their retirement benefit obligation.
That number is around $600 million for OU. As an organization, we have to make sure we
can sustain a retiree medical program that is valuable for employees but
affordable for the university. In 2008
we will spend about $6 million for retiree medical costs. It could turn into $28 million in 10
years. OU’s plan tends to be more
generous than what others offer. This
year 9 percent of our employees meet the age and service requirements to retire. By 2018, 39 percent of our employees will be
eligible to retire. The committee is
made up of 16 faculty and staff from all three campuses, so there are lots of
perspectives. Some guiding principles were
agreed to by the committee: 1) No
recommendation should motivate people to retire earlier than planned. The benefit will be based on when the
individual meets eligibility requirements.
2) Length of OU service should more directly influence the value of the retiree
medical benefit, i.e., some combination of age and service should make a
difference in what the university contributes toward the cost. 3) Changes should be phased in gradually to
avoid drastic differences. People who
are closest to retiring have the least amount of time to adapt to change, so
the biggest changes should be out in the future. The committee will issue a preliminary report
that will go to all university employees.
Employees will be given a way to submit comments, and meetings will be
held to give people a chance to ask questions.
Ultimately a report will go to President Boren, who will decide which
recommendations will be submitted to the regents.
Mr. Hilburn’s final update
concerned the management of OU’s defined contribution plans. The IRS has issued some new regulations that
will require the public sector to tighten up the administration of retirement
plans, 403(b) plans in particular, as of January 2009. The university will need to know what is in
the plans and what they charge participants and will need to take over
responsibility for the management of those plans. President Boren appointed a committee of
people with financial expertise to monitor the performance as well as the
administration of the defined contribution plans. The Chair is Chris Kuwitzky, chief financial
officer for the Norman campus; other members include Terry Henson, CFO for the
HSC campus, Business dean Ken Evans, OU Foundation director Guy Patton, and Mr.
Hilburn. The committee is looking at the
options available to our employees and how we can provide plans with good
value. A consultant will help with the
process of looking at the existing plan structure and making sure we are in
compliance with the new regulations. We
have issued an RFP for an investment manager to serve as a record keeper for
the University. Under our current arrangement,
for each individual fund, the relationship is with the participant, not the
University. Having a single record
keeper has a lot of potential benefits for our employees, for example, a
consolidated statement, options with the lowest fees, and a provision for
hardship withdrawals and loans. The way
our plans have been offered is common in higher education, but other universities
are starting to take a more proactive role.
Universities are trying to consolidate programs so they make more sense
and are managed more effectively and so they can educate participants about the
choices. The committee will communicate to
the campus as it gets further into the review.
No change is expected until July 2009 at the earliest.
Provost Mergler asked how
much the record keeper would cost the institution. Mr. Hilburn said the RFP had asked for the
fees to be broken out so the costs were transparent. In most plans the fees are built in. Currently, we have hundreds of investment options. The goal is to try to come up with a menu of
options and provide information about what it actually costs the participant. Provost Mergler asked whether the projected
number of people who could retire considered new hires. Mr. Hilburn replied that the projection was
for the current employee group that would meet OU’s retirement eligibility. It builds in some assumptions about people
leaving before they become eligible.
Before 2008, employees could qualify for OU retirement with as little as
10 years of service and age 62.
Prof. Muraleetharan asked
whether the number of options for defined contribution plans was expected to go
down. Mr. Hilburn responded that one
possibility would be different tiers of options based on the ability and
willingness of participants to get actively involved. One group of investments could be managed by
a company that focuses on projected retirement date. Another tier might be based on style and risk
categories. For the sophisticated
investors, there probably would be a third tier that would have lots of other
options. A significant number of our
employees are confused about all of the different choices and do not do anything. About 30 percent are defaulted into a money
market fund. The University is sensitive
to the fact that one company is not likely to able to do everything. The objective is to provide a lot of choices
as well as information about returns, fees, and performance.
Prof. Livesey asked if the
University could negotiate with vendors to reduce the fee they are charging and
use some of the savings to support the record keeper. Mr. Hilburn said that is part of the evaluation
and negotiation. The ability to do
business with us should generate some revenue to help offset the cost of the
plan. Our business is important to these
companies. The value of our defined
contribution plan assets was over a billion dollars a couple of months
ago. We will try to leverage that to get
the lowest fees for our participants as well as for the University.
Prof. Vitt commented that
using length of OU service for retiree benefits might constrain our ability to
attract senior scholars and could almost be viewed as age discrimination in
hiring. Mr. Hilburn said the benefits
would not focus entirely on age; it likely would be a combination of age and service. The committee recognizes that we still have
to attract and retain faculty and staff.
A competing issue is that some individuals, especially staff, meet the
25-year service requirement while they are still in their forties; the
University pays 100 percent of their retiree medical from that point on. People who retire closer to age 65 are less
expensive for the University to insure because they are eligible for
Medicare. The committee is considering a
matrix that looks at length of service and the age a person leaves the
University. There is no perfect
answer.
Prof. Miller asked how the
$1500 benefit for smoking cessation would work.
Mr. Hilburn said $500 a year will be provided for a whole series of
smoking cessation aids, including hypnosis and acupuncture, recognizing that it
may take multiple attempts to quit. BCBSOK
will track that expense separately.
Referring to the percentage of
current employees who will be eligible to retire within the next ten years, Prof. Hawthorne asked whether a
similar chart beginning in 1998 would have been significantly different, i.e.,
whether current employees are eligible to come up for retirement more quickly
(in larger percentages) than in the past.
Mr. Hilburn said they had looked
at historical retirement patterns, but he was not sure about the
percentage. The cost of providing
medical for retirees is growing much faster than for active employees. Retiree medical premiums went up 14 percent
versus 0 percent for active employees.
Over time, the trajectory of cost increases has been higher for retirees
than actives.
When asked about out-of-pocket
increases, Mr. Hilburn answered that the plan design for BCBSOK is essentially
the same as for
Mr. Hilburn said he looked
forward to discussing the retiree medical report with the senate in November or
December. [Note: Mr. Hilburn’s slides are available from the
Senate office.]
The Faculty Senate approved
the Committee on Committees’ nominations to fill vacancies on university and
campus councils, committees and boards (attached).
“In
mid-June I sent an email to University of Iowa Faculty Senate President,
Professor Michael O'Hara, on behalf of the OU Faculty Senate expressing our
concern and sympathy in recovering from the terrible flooding their campus
experienced. He sent back a very
positive reply thanking us for our concern and support and acknowledged that
although it will be difficult and take time, the faculty is optimistic that the
campus will be fully functional again.”
“In
July, Ellen Censky, former director of the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History,
left the museum to take a position closer to her family. Since the position holds faculty status,
Provost Mergler requested members of the Faculty Senate to be involved in the
hiring of the new director. Being
summer, I invited officers from this year’s and last year’s Executive Committee
to meet with the candidate on July 15. A letter summarizing their impressions
and suggestions was sent to the Provost.
Michael A. Mares began serving as the museum director
September 1.”
“Some
old business that several of you have asked about is the status of the +/-
grading system that passed the senate last year. I spoke with Provost Mergler and learned that
it was not well received by the Regents; therefore, it is on hold for now. However, the new student system, Banner, does
allow for recording +/- grades. Therefore,
if you enter your grades in the new system this way, data will be collected
without the +/- showing on students’ transcripts. It will give a way to monitor the influence
of the +/- on students, and maybe we can bring it back up.” Prof. Miller asked why the regents are
against the expanded grading system.
Provost Mergler said the regents are concerned that students at the
higher end of the grade scale who are pursuing graduate and professional schools
would be disadvantaged. Prof. Miller
asked if they considered using an A+. Provost
Mergler responded that A+ is silent in the proposal. Her impression is the regents are concerned
about the students who might be disadvantaged by having an A-. Prof. Brown noted that the report, which is on
the Faculty Senate web page, was very extensive and addressed all of those
issues.
“Last week, Kim Mish,
Professor of Civil Engineering & Environmental Science and a member of the
OU Bicycle Committee, met with the Executive Committee to tell us about a Bike
Plan he has drafted for OU (see http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/,
“Current Issues”). The plan is still
very much a draft, and some of the ideas, like closing off the south oval to
traffic, are not likely to happen, but it is a good time to share the plan and
begin to get feedback. Prof. Mish
welcomes faculty input. He has been
working with the bicycle committee and vice president for Executive and Administrative
Affairs Nick Hathaway.”
A list of issues and concerns,
not in any priority order, submitted by the senators was distributed at the
meeting (attached). The Senate Executive Committee will work through
them and would appreciate additional ideas and feedback.
The meeting adjourned at 4:32
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10, 2008, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
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Paula Conlon, Faculty Secretary