Staff Council Corner - February 2000
President's Cabinet Feedback on University Calendar
Donna Bourke, as Chair of Staff Council, met with President's Cabinet to discuss the concerns that staff have regarding the reduction in the number of holidays off at Christmas time for the next two years. While PC did not reconsider their original decision, they gave her significant feedback.
This decision to reduce the number of holidays from 10 to 8 days was NOT made lightly. PC was aware that staff, in general, would not be happy because this IS important to staff, but made the decision based on several factors. The factors included:
The Board of Regents must approve the holiday schedule, and it is highly unlikely they would approve of us not coming back to work until later than the first few days of January. No office (public or private) is closed for that length of time into the new year. This could force the Board or the Legislature to begin to closely monitor SWT's use of energy conservation days, and possibly cause SWT to lose the privilege that we have in using those days, especially during Spring Break.
The concern that this is calendar driven is accurate, but it is being driven by an initiative that the University feels is a tremendous service to students. As students are the driving force, we must consider how the mini-session fits into the calendar picture by both regulations and how the calendar physically falls. Spring is the most concentrated registration, since the majority of students wait to register AFTER Christmas. We register more students during that last week before classes in the Spring, than at any other "late" registration period.
Last, but certainly not least, the report from Dr. Smallwood (Team Report: Five Working Days Prior to Spring Semester Classes) was misinterpreted. The fact that processes in Admission could not be incorporated into a 5 day preparation period was not the driving factor in the team's decision. It's the fact that many offices are integrated within the process and Admissions is just the START of the process. IF something were to happen at the start, then the entire process would break down.
Staff Council would like to remind staff that this decision was made for a two year period, and that it will be reviewed in Spring 2001. Let's all continue to work together and see what other improvements can be made so that in the future, we may regain the 10 day holiday break on a permanent basis.
Donna Bourke, as Chair of Staff Council, met with President's Cabinet to discuss the concerns that staff have regarding the reduction in the number of holidays off at Christmas time for the next two years. While PC did not reconsider their original decision, they gave her significant feedback.
This decision to reduce the number of holidays from 10 to 8 days was NOT made lightly. PC was aware that staff, in general, would not be happy because this IS important to staff, but made the decision based on several factors. The factors included:
The Board of Regents must approve the holiday schedule, and it is highly unlikely they would approve of us not coming back to work until later than the first few days of January. No office (public or private) is closed for that length of time into the new year. This could force the Board or the Legislature to begin to closely monitor SWT's use of energy conservation days, and possibly cause SWT to lose the privilege that we have in using those days, especially during Spring Break.
The concern that this is calendar driven is accurate, but it is being driven by an initiative that the University feels is a tremendous service to students. As students are the driving force, we must consider how the mini-session fits into the calendar picture by both regulations and how the calendar physically falls. Spring is the most concentrated registration, since the majority of students wait to register AFTER Christmas. We register more students during that last week before classes in the Spring, than at any other "late" registration period.
Last, but certainly not least, the report from Dr. Smallwood (Team Report: Five Working Days Prior to Spring Semester Classes) was misinterpreted. The fact that processes in Admission could not be incorporated into a 5 day preparation period was not the driving factor in the team's decision. It's the fact that many offices are integrated within the process and Admissions is just the START of the process. IF something were to happen at the start, then the entire process would break down.
Staff Council would like to remind staff that this decision was made for a two year period, and that it will be reviewed in Spring 2001. Let's all continue to work together and see what other improvements can be made so that in the future, we may regain the 10 day holiday break on a permanent basis.