Update: Advisory Board for the Office of Equity and Diversity

Meeting on Feb. 12, 2010

Advisory Board for the Office of Equity and Diversity

NEWS:

- SEED program has received the Outstanding Social Justice Collaboration Award! CONGRATULATIONS!
- SEED is the Seeking Education Excellence and Diversity program in campus.
- Categories of race, and ethnicity have slightly changed with more focus on Hispanic vs. non Hispanic groups (I am not sure what this meant and need to follow up for the exact details). All UW employees will be asked to identify themselves regarding to the new category.

Advisory Board Activities:

- The Advisory Board for the Office of Equity and Diversity has prepared a report of the activities of different diversity groups around the campus. The report has been ready for more than a year, but for different reasons it has not reached the senate yet. This is the first item in the group's agenda to be completed.

- The board is trying to define a new agenda for the coming years:
- This advisory board will not solicit information from different diversity groups on campus directly anymore. This will be done on an annual basis by the OED office.
- We will invite different leaders to tell us about what they are doing regarding diversity on campus (possibly including the chancellor). This will inform us of what is going on, and also facilitate the conversation between different campus sections working on the diversity issue (if we can have meetings that different groups attend at the same time).
- We have to create an annual report for the Advisory Board which is due in June.

Other updates:

OED and the Advisory Board have attended a meeting hosted by Damon Williams, Vice Provost for Diversity & Climate on December 2th. Some of the issues that his office is focusing on are as follows:

- To have a centralized entity (such as a Web site) that gathers information from different diversity groups so that we know their issues and can help solve them.
- Faculty are not required to attend the harassment training which is an issue.

Fatemah Panahi, Advisory Board for the Office of Equity and Diversity

NatUp and Segregated Fees for Capital Building Projects

What Do You Think?

Tonight the ASM Shared Governance committee continued our discussion of the use of segregated fees in capital building projects. I'd like to thank NatUp for the extremely insightful presentation and thought-provoking conversation.

Many students do not have a comprehensive understanding of segregated fees or the effect increases due to capital building projects will have on the amount of money they pay every semester.

So...
What do you know and think about NatUp and other capital building projects?

Please add your comments and continue the discussion by clicking the comments link on the bottom right corner of this post. I encourage everyone to voice your opinions respectfully and limit discussion to seg fees relating to capital building projects.

Here are a few links for more information and to spur conversation:
http://www.natup2010.com/
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2010/02/01/natup_plan_too_short.php
http://badgerherald.com/news/2010/02/17/student_group_says_n.php


Official ballot language from SEC Chair Noah Pearce:
Natatorium Renovation/Expansion Project
The student organization Nat Up and the Division of Recreational Sports are initiating efforts to renovate and expand the Natatorium Recreation Facility, which was built in 1964. Previous student assessments and consultant reports have suggested the need to upgrade and enlarge campus recreation facilities to better meet demand, which has increased 50% since 2000-01. Student input has been and will continue to be vital to the planning and design process. The renovation and expansion, intended to be completed in the fall of 2014, may include:
• Cardio exercise space possibly up to seven times larger than current area
• Weight training space possibly up to three times larger than current area
• Renovation of the pool and aquatic area
• New locker rooms
• A multipurpose indoor turf field
• New basketball courts and indoor track
• Additional multipurpose rooms for group exercise and student organization use
• A “greener”, more efficient facility
• A fully accessible facility (ramps, elevators, restrooms, activity spaces and equipment)

This project will be funded by multiple sources:

Recreational Sports Program Revenue
• Debt service payments from 2011 – 2013 will be funded by Recreational Sports program revenue and will not impact student segregated fees.

Student Segregated Fees:
• In the Fall Semester of 2013, student segregated fees will increase by a maximum of $54.19 per semester specifically for the purpose of satisfying the debt repayment for the new facility.

• This amount will not increase further over the 30 year repayment period but is in addition to the segregated fee currently collected for Recreational Sports operational expenses. Any future increases to operational expenses must be approved by the Student Service Finance Committee through the annual budget process.

Segregated fee may be reduced depending on private donations as well as state and campus support.

I support the segregated fee increase to help fund the proposal:
YES ___NO ___

SGC Committee Minutes

Draft minutes from the February 18 meeting are online at http://www.asm.wisc.edu/shared-governance-minutes-2009-10-2.html. Please send any corrections to Andrew by Wednesday.

Health Care Advisory Committee - 20 Feb 2010

The counseling director search went well

• 50 applicants made initial screening for counseling

  • Good candidates; done by phone interview

  • All had health experience, kind of want psychiatry exp.; definitely want leadership exp.

    • Undergrad in international finance, GED ---health?

• Mental health is one of the biggest health concerns

  • several models; community health services

  • Want a more integrated mental & clinical services

H1N1 has not really reemerged

• are able to keep up with demand at the moment, as long as there is not another pandemic strike

• Midterms make things get weird

• Outbreak of mumps in new york; hope it doesn't migrate north

Insurance rates are increasing

• cost of healthcare is increasing countrywide

Student survey of the students for what UHS does:

• Mostly good

• They want the lab and xrays should be free, Committee opposite

• Cutting prevention staff? Alcohol makes it complicated

• No real agreement, submitted 6% increase to the chancellor

  • board of regents in May for hearing- waiting for approval

• Background knowledge could drastically change the outcome of the survey

• Possibly have the survey sponsored by the survey center; not UHS

Make an ASM open form to discuss UHS and other programs

• Conversational for costs, values, needs, wants

Have certain public-policy classes to discuss the issue.

Programs Committee- School of Education

The Programs Committee for the School of Education met Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 at 12:30pm. There were five course proposals and one program change on the agenda, and all were approved after discussion.

Three new art classes were proposed and approved pending minor changes to the syllabi. Art 629: 3D Digital Studio III will complete a sequence of three courses in 3D animation. Art 660: Art & Technology has been proposed in the past, but turned down due to the existence of a similar course in the dance program. With that course no longer being taught, Art 660 was approved. Art 700: Intro to Graduate Studies in Art has been a required seminar for all art graduate students in the past, and now has an official course name. This changes the Art MFA requirements in a small way, so this program change was also approved.

One PE Activity Program course was changed in a minor way. 212: Basic Scuba I was changed from two credits to one credit to accommodate the requirements in the official Scuba certification program which now requires less time in the pool.

Lastly, a course in the Rehab Psychology and Special Education program was changed. Course 610: Multicultural Issues in Special Education was changed to course 710. The standards of the course were thought of to be more appropriate for graduate level students. A lower level course (300 or 400 level) with similar but more appropriate material for undergrads is in the process of being created.

The next meeting for this committee will be March 19th.