Lauryn Kindle introduced this month’s speaker: Liz Candido – Campus Chaplain

• Liz is available as a resource to everyone on campus (of all faiths or no faith): students, staff and faculty
• Harry Potter and the Sacred Text is a meeting every Monday from 11:00 – 11:45 a.m. that is open for anyone to attend.
• Everyone is invited to make a confidential appointment with Liz. Please see the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life for appointment information.

Then Lauryn gave and/or introduced committee updates:

• Winter Clothing Service Project – ended Friday, November 17, 2017. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
• Support Staff Holiday Party – December 8, 2017 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. in Hicks Banquet Hall. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
• At our January support staff meeting, President Jorge Gonzalez will join us. Please try to attend.
• Benefits Review Group – gave 2 options for making benefits more equitable to President’s Staff. Jennifer DiGiuseppe said the committee feels good about both options and they are very similar. Renee Boelcke said President’s Staff hopes to have a decision by the end of the calendar year.
• Community Council – Frankie Hand gave a summary of the past two meetings. President Gonzalez reviewed the college’s financial and institutional goals.
• Strategic Planning Committee – Lauryn Kindle gave the update. She said the group is developing new visuals to represent the plan. Community was the most emphasized theme.

Joe Brogger, from Burnham and Flower, gave a brief talk about how Burnham and Flower can help K employees.

• Burnham and Flower is an insurance company. They act as an intermediary for K to get the college the best possible deals for our health, dental and life insurance.
• They are available to answer any benefit questions we might have and assist us as needed to resolve any issues pertaining to our insurance coverage. They can assist with billing questions, Explanation of Benefit questions and any questions regarding what is covered and what is not.
• They are located in downtown Kalamazoo at 315 S. Kalamazoo Mall. They have walk-in hours where you can get help without an appointment every Thursday from 2 – 4pm.
• K’s contact person is Terri Austin. Her phone number is 269.341.4827 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Her email is: taustin@bfgroup.com. If she is unavailable, contact Jeanette Meyer at 269.341.9744 or jmeyer@bfgroup.com.
• Burnham and Flower will be available at the Health Fair this Friday to answer questions.

Lauryn Kindle announced the details of the Winter Clothing Drive service project:

• Support Staff is collecting new or very gently used coats, snow pants and boots in kids sizes from small (size 4/5) to XL (size 16/18)
• Collection boxes are in Mandelle, Dow, Dewing, Light Fine Arts and Hicks from October 23 – November 17th.
• All clothing collected will be given to Communities in Schools and they will distribute them to Kalamazoo Public School students. Our contact, Emily Kobza ‘06 is a K grad.
• Please consider asking your department to contribute to this effort.

Community Council Update

Kelly Esper and Frankie Hand are the new Support Staff Advisory Committee reps on the council.

Strategic Planning Update

You can continue to send your thoughts or suggestions to Lauryn Kindle. Work is ongoing by the committee including holding update meetings with all campus constituencies.

Benefits Review Group

Jennifer DiGiuseppe and Deia Sportel gave an update on their work to bring equity between support staff and administrative staff benefits. They said positive progress is being made and the changes will be announced by Thanksgiving.

Featured speakers were Kacey Cook, Assistant Director, and Susmitha Daggubati, Program Associate, from the Mary Jane Stryker Center for Civic Engagement.

Students have the opportunity to participate in service learning through:

• Courses offered at K (service learning is embedded in the curriculum)
• Federal Work Study
• Co-curricular programs –volunteer opportunities
• Summer internships offered through the CCPD

These programs encourage a critical approach to civic engagement, including an understanding of the causes of the situation and by emphasizing that service is a reciprocal relationship; all are working towards a common goal.

Over 100 students are involved each week in service learning opportunities. They are also required to attend an orientation and to participate in structured reflections.

The goals of the Center for Civic Engagement are to:

• Create a more sustainable world
• Connect to broader issues
• Build relationships
• Offer career opportunities

It may be possible to collaborate with the center in doing our Support Staff/Administrative Staff service projects.

Additional business included:

Announcement about the upcoming Green Dot training to be held March 21-24. The training addresses violence prevention on campus.

Meetings will be moved to 10:00 beginning in April with the hope to accommodate more people and increase attendance.

The joint staff book drive has been moved to March 17 in Dewing Commons.

This event will be in lieu of our regular March Support Staff meeting.

Four nominations were submitted to Human Resources for a Support Staff representative to the BRG –Alex Teal, Deia Sportel, Jennifer DiGiuseppe and Mickey Smith.

Respectfully Submitted,Jennifer Clarke-Kinsey, Co-Secretary

Speakers

Alisha Siebers, our United Way representative, shared her personal experiences with homeless people as a young adult with limited funds. She realized there were many people exactly like her and when we unite together, our limited funds add up to substantial ones and we are able to accomplish great things such as the Kalamazoo College community does.

• United Way teams with 70 agencies bringing people together, identifying the root causes of the problems such as treating housing issues first so as to keep people in a safe home, then treating the other problems (meals, social workers, addiction recovery, job training).
• United Way also mobilizes volunteers, helps companies who would like to be involved in a project (building, tutoring, book drive, etc.)
• United Way also has a 211 phone number that is staffed 24/7 that anyone in need can call at any time to be connected to help.

Ann Jenks from the Advancement Office, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations spoke about grants. Ann participated in ERAC/CE training. Ann encouraged supervisors of students to let their students know of the training opportunities from Joan Hawxhurst.

• Ann spoke about the “Reading Together” pilot project for K College community and anyone interested could sign up or contact Ann. Her thoughts are on staff meeting 4X a year in the cafeteria to read and discuss a book. Six have signed up so far. Ann will email the dates for lunch meetings. The first book being read is “Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Quality Beyond Black and White” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who will be visiting Kalamazoo in March to help the Kalamazoo Public Library kick off the 15th year of the “Reading Together” program. He will be speaking at Miller Auditorium on March 14th. This event is free and open to the public. Ann would like to keep the conversation going on campus and with other books that would be helpful in fostering that communication. She is purchasing copies of the book so let her know if you need one.

Update on November 30th Joint Service Project with Administrative Staff

• Spirit Fridays initiative will be forwarded to Community Council
• Book drive for 3/24, 10:00 a.m. more info coming soon, collecting books for school age children, wrapping them and writing a note. More information will follow.
• DOGL service project including students and employees idea going to Community Council. People are excited about digging back into the roots of the 1980’s DOGL service-oriented projects. More information coming soon.

All Campus Gathering Reminder– Wednesday, January 25th, in Dalton Theatre at 11:00 a.m.

The next meeting will be held on Friday, February 10th at 9:00 a.m. in the Recital Hall/Light Fine Arts Building.

MEETING ADJOURNED.

Welcome-Rachel Fedewa, President

An Information Sheet on the new Fitness & Wellness Center was shared from Jennifer Bailey, Fitness and Wellness Director.

Fair Labor Standards Act Update

As members may recall, Support staff have been asking for clearer communication and proper channels in communicating with President’s staff. Committee members were reached out to by a member of the President’s Staff and asked if we would like to meet with one of them on a regular basis. Support Staff Committee members met with Provost Mickey McDonald and Human Resources Director Renee Boelcke on September 28. Mickey and Renee gave an update on the FLSA progress and the review with the benefits consultant. (Mickey has offered to attend every other meeting with the Committee members in the future to facilitate open communication and to be our liaison with the President’s staff).

Per Mickey and Renee, to be in compliance with the new FLSA overtime rule changes that go into effect on December 1, 2016, one of two things was done for the affected 38 Administrative Staff employees: 1) They were moved up to the minimum threshold of $47,476/year or 2) They were reclassified as overtime eligible & will keep the benefits that they had.

Benefits Review Update

Renee and Mickey informed us that the benefits consultant review and timeline was extended. The consultant is looking at local areas, job descriptions, and other GLCA schools with a report expected in January 2017 along with an implementation plan. The Committee members asked if the Support Staff Recommendations and Feedback Non-Medical Benefits document and survey had been shared with the consultants. It had not so we asked if it could be and Renee has since then forwarded it to consultants. It was stated by Mickey and Renee that the HLC infractions, as far as the disparity in the benefits, was not a driving force, that the student experience is looked at more. The Committee encouraged Mickey and Renee to, not only look at the comparable benefits, but to see the human side of it and be leaders in practicing what we advertise, namely, being socially just, which is our mission. A large sector of employees feel this way and it would be appreciated if this is addressed.

Support staff asked the Committee to share with Mickey that our benefits be compared with WMU benefits. All Support staff were encouraged to talk to faculty and supervisors about the differences in our benefits.The more people that we can educate and reach the upper level of voices, the more people will back our effort and our voices will have another way of being heard. Many Support staff feel that faculty have no idea about these differences. Please keep the conversation going and on the radar.

Other News

Community Council has new representatives—Laura Livingstone-McNelis committed to a three year term and Jennifer Clarke-Kinsey to a two year term. There are a lot of new faces on the council and there seems to be good energy. President Gonzalez is receptive, involved and interested in knowing what’s occurring on campus.

Speaker Input
Please let us know what speakers you would be interested in hearing from. On our current list is:

• Arcus Center of Social Justice Leadership
• Center for Career and Professional Development
• Kate Worster-branding and logos
• Brian Dietz-student government
• Margaret Wiedenhoeft, CIP Acting Director-Study Abroad
• Tim Young, Director of Security – Shots Fired training video
• Professional Development opportunities (such as they recently did for students on MS Excel).

Please email or contact us with any other ideas you may have for speakers.

Homecoming

Homecoming is this weekend and there are many events to attend. There is also a 5K on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. starting at Hoben Hall, looping around the neighborhood, watch for the giant clock!

The next meeting will be held on Friday, November 11 at 9:00 a.m. in Olmsted.

MEETING ADJOURNED.

Introductions and Welcome-Rachel Fedewa, President

New and returning committee members were introduced:

• Rachel Fedewa: President
• Vice President/Treasurer: Laura Livingstone-McNelis
• Co-Secretaries: Jennifer Clark-Kinsey and Amy Leu
• Lauryn Kindle
• Martin Nolan
• April VanLester-Thuma (through 10/31/16 )

Announcements

• United Way Campaign kicking off October 13
• Homecoming and 5K Run, looking for volunteers
• New President, Jorge Gonzalez will have an All Campus Gathering on Monday, August 19th
• K Fest name changed to Student Involvement Fair
• Comment cards in the back of the room for any comments or suggestions. You can also email the SSAC Committee members.

Arcus Center for Social Justice-Jax Gardner and Morgan Mahdavi

• Jax and Morgan shared information on the With/Out – ¿Borders? Conference scheduled for October 21 and October 22, 2016. The deadline is September 15 to register. Volunteers for 3-4 hour shifts are needed. This is a big event and free t-shirts will be provided for all volunteers. What does the world we want to live in look like with a fully just society? The format will be speakers, break-out sessions engaging in conversations, special lunches. There is a one-man play on Saturday: “Emergency”. Please go on-line and check out the Schedule of Events which will be posted soon on the Arcus website. You can also sign up for Arcus weekly email blasts.
• There is a Social Justice Leadership Fund available for staff to apply for a conference or training. Money from the Center is available to all. There is a list of conferences to check out so please contact Mia or Morgan with your interests.
• Arcus provides education, programs, events and workshops to the public that are free and usually held after work hours, 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. for anyone to attend.
• Staff fellowships are available. There is a list of past fellowships attended and a list of conferences in different areas. Please contact Morgan or Jax at Arcus. Mia vets the staff applications.
• 2nd Annual Diaper Fund Drive—collection boxes in Hicks and Arcus. Watch for a Hornet Hive announcement

The next meeting will be held on Friday, October 14, 2016 in Dewing 103.

MEETING ADJOURNED

Update on Non-Medical Benefits

• The Support Staff Advisory Committee gave an update on the non-medical benefits review status. The Support Staff survey results were shared which showed overwhelming support for the Recommendations and Feedback Non-Medical Benefits document to be shared with new President Jorge Gonzalez when he arrives on campus.
• Discussions ensued on exempt vs. non-exempt status, the new FLSA guidelines (deadline of December 2016) and how we are at a pivotal point. With the recent budget cuts noted, how we can continue moving forward and present our document in a positive light was discussed.
• HLC noted in their 2012 visit on campus the differences in non-medical benefits between salaried and hourly employees and HLC will be revisiting in 2017. The current divide in non-medical benefits has still not been addressed. We are hopeful that with the new FLSA guidelines to go into effect in the near future, our document has been presented at the appropriate time when the College will be taking a closer look at how this affects everyone and their next steps which may be raising salaries above the FLSA cap or making the affected employees hourly with the same benefits that Support Staff currently received, perhaps creating another layer of benefits.
• The Support Staff Advisory Committee, at the request of the majority of the Support Staff, will move forward with sharing the Recommendations and Feedback Non-Medical Benefits document with President Gonzalez.

The next meeting will be held on Friday, September 9, 2016 in Olmsted.

Announcements– Joisan Decker DeHaan-President

• Nominations–A nomination email will be sent out. Three SSAC members will be cycling off. Please consider nominating someone or yourself if you are interested in being on the committee.
• Jane Hoynville is looking for interested people who would like to help in the College garden one time during lunch or one time after work in exchange for free vegetables.

Joan Hawxhurst–Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development

• Joan spoke about the task forces that looked at elements that weren’t addressed after K in preparing students for after they leave college life. One recommendation was to professionalize students on campus, create standardization and a structure. CCPD is at the stage of gathering information and plan to launch it next year.
• Things discussed by the group and areas of concern of SSAC members were: training of supervisors who are in charge of student workers, HR’s training of student workers before they come to us, interviewing process, students reporting to work on time, students not showing up when scheduled to work, proper phone etiquette skills, respect, professionalism, lack of communication, signing an employment contract, signing a Confidentiality Form, improvement on written skills (thank you letters), business writing, networking, etc . Joan said she would be interested in seeing what forms we have created and what our procedures are now to help implement a standardized procedure for all. Please email Joan any other thoughts and concerns you would like to share.

Jim VanSweden–Director of College Communications

• Jim graciously shared his time and insight with Support Staff regarding the W-2 Phishing Scam and the release of employee’s confidential information. He apologized for the incident occurring and for not being an expert on this topic but shared what he and his wife had done after this occurred. Some of the Support Staff had experienced their respective divisional meetings with a business office representative and the area VP; for others those meetings hadn’t occurred. Support Staff had a great deal of anxiety and concern about the College’s response to the matter, and confusion about what their responses should be. The group acknowledged and understood the shared responsibility (of the College and themselves) in responding to the incident, but they questioned whether the College had met the obligations of its share of that responsibility. Specific key points that members of the group shared were:
• Public information suggests that in the case of breached social security numbers (as opposed to credit card information) that the standard of protection covered by the institution responsible for the breach is seven years as opposed to two years. Apart from the gap (seven years instead of two), concern was voiced that the College might be unaware (or ignoring) the actual standard.
• There was confusion about the meaning of the College’s notification of the breach to TIAA-CREFF and Priority Health. What exactly does that mean, and is follow-up required on the part of employees? For example, one person noted that TIAA-CREFF suggested that individuals temporarily disable online access to their TIAA-CREFF accounts. Many had not heard of the possibility of social security numbers being used in medical insurance fraud and what steps we (College and individuals) should take to minimize such risks.
• A desire for a comprehensive (yet simplified) step-by-step, risk reduction process suggested by the experts (the Business Office, attorneys, and identity theft vendors) for employees to follow. The feeling was that the College may be deferring this work to its vendors when it should be shouldering the creation and dissemination of this list itself. This information also could include a bibliography of vetted and reliable resources (FTC website, et. al.).
• A desire for a general employee meeting to follow the divisional meetings. While grateful for the divisional meetings, the general consensus was twofold–one: questions arise after the adjournment of the divisional meeting; and two: there would be benefit from hearing questions/concerns from a larger group of affected employees. People felt a general employee meeting would be a very beneficial “step two” in the process of information sharing.
• The question of, long term, who will be the person at the College to contact with questions and concerns.
• Some persons expressed deep concerns about paying out of pocket for continued credit monitoring (All Clear) after the two-year period. It was shared that the two-year period is specified in the College’s insurance coverage, but some asked if our ID protection service could be upgraded to include active long term protection for those affected by the breach.
• The question arose regarding measures to prevent breaches in the future. For example, will there be policy modifications or mandatory training for some or all employees? People want to feel more confident about the unlikelihood of a recurrence.

The next meeting will be held on Friday, June 10th, 2016.

MEETING ADJOURNED.