As for the concerns that Arabella describes, I’d like to weigh in as chair of SRC.

Both the SRC and President’s Staff are aware that there is more work to do on the so-called “not to do” lists. Vice Presidents and Deans need to speak frankly with managers and supervisors about prioritizing their workloads and backing away from less important tasks/functions, especially if there are fewer staff members to do the work. However, we also know that these conversations cannot take place in a vacuum since–as Sue points out–what one dept does or doesn’t do affects other areas at the College. VPs/Deans need to speak to each other about their respective missions and vet their “not to do lists” with one another. To help move these discussions along, SRC is circulating a questionnaire for VPs and managers to complete, which asks all depts to describe what they are not doing, or doing differently, in the context of current staffing resources. It also asks depts to explain the process they used to revise their work practices, if they have made changes. The surveys are due at the end of August, and SRC will devote much of its energy in the early fall to reviewing them, so that VPs/Deans can use the info to follow up with managers and department heads and clarify expectations.

The survey is also designed to follow up on the staffing analysis of last summer and the voluntary separation programs. We need to see exactly where we are with regard to staffing and, as we said we would at several open meetings in the last couple years, develop processes for moving staff from one part of the College to another. This is challenging work, but with the ERP/VSP departures winding down, this is a good time to move forward with it, and SRC will be focusing on this project in the fall. The ideal FTE count of 850 (mentioned above), which the SRC recommended last fall, is not set in stone, as some areas may grow to meet institutional needs (for instance, revenue-generating programs like Study Abroad). But we feel it is a reasonable benchmark to keep in front of us since the larger economic pressures that brought us to this point are not likely to go away (plus, our plans for resolving projected budget deficits assume this reduced FTE count), and, as the president has reminded us many times, the three sources of revenue the College counts on each year for its budget–comp fee, endowment income, and gifts–will be constrained for the foreseeable future, no matter how much the economy recovers.

Finally, with the help of Human Resources, SRC is developing a proposal that addresses the way in which we grant salary increases. The proposal will include several options and will be vetted with members of the Wage and Salary Committee, and then presented to the staff as a whole for discussion.

I, and my administrative colleagues, welcome and invite specific questions both about my response here and any other issues out there.

I also want to point out that these are not all “my” comments. I posted them because I’m a Co-Secretary and I took the notes at the meeting. While I certainly agree that all the points are areas of concern, I didn’t come up with them myself – they came from all the members of Staff Council.

Thank you for reading and for posting!