College Council Update: November 21

The College Council met on November 11, 2014, bringing updates from Faculty Senate, Staff Council, Administration, SGA, and Deans & Provost offices.

This month’s meeting was being video recorded by Alex, a media production student, for his final project.  All present consented to the recording.

Proposals for consideration

  • Re-considering the naming of Champlain College’s “Town Hall” event, given the historical and cultural significance of the traditional Vermont Town Hall meeting.  After discussion, the general consensus was to keep the name, but to have some clarification of the mission and goals of the College’s version of the meeting.
  • Motion put forward by guests Robin Collins and other students to approve a resolution to implement a public awareness campaign against car and bus idling on campus.  This campaign will be informational only, with no enforcement power at this time.  After a round of questions, the resolution was approved unanimously.

committe Updates

  • Sustain Champlain: A student visit to the Northeast Eco-Rep Symposium at Tufts University was a great success, with many other schools attending.  Champlain College students are doing work at an equal or higher level than anyone else.
  • Transportation committee: New Transportation Coordinator Nic Anderson started Monday (11/17/2014); transition with Carl Riden is going well.  Reminder to fill out CATMA employee survey sent out via earlier email; it closes the first week of December.
  • Ad-Hoc Committee on Google: First meeting took place Nov 7.  There was a general discussion of goals, as well as how best to promote Google apps for students, staff and faculty.

SGA

  • Student forum held on Nov 17, focusing on student feedback.  Senate voted to meet weekly.  Spring elections committee forming.
  • A draft was read of an SGA public statement concerning a serious conduct incident, discussing its resolution and next steps.  Concerns were raised by the Council about the decision to make a public statement, as well as privacy issues.  President Laackman suggested emphasizing in the statement the deliberate process that led to the incident resolution.  A decision was made to move the conversation about the draft to a more private forum for consideration.

Staff Council

  • Met on Nov 12.  The mystery guest group was the Event Center, followed by a Q&A session with SGA President Dylan Cullen.  There was an overview of Benefits and Enrollment by HROD, followed by committee updates.
  • Staff Welfare: Working on annual goals, including Modern Think Survey results.  A new employee FAQ is also coming soon.
  • Professional Development: Staff is encouraged to take advantage of KnowledgeWave all-day training sessions for Microsoft Office products.  More info on the Dare U website.
  • Networking and Recreation: 1st Annual Mardi Gras Winter Carnival Event will take place Tuesday, Feb 17!

Other Notices

  • Praise of the new David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry – all were invited to the November roundtable on November 21.
  • President Laackman visited the Dublin and Montreal campuses – those campuses would like to find a way to be more involved in home campus meetings (streaming video?  etc.)