Retirees Rights and Benefits FY2013
Committee Details:
Committee: Retirees Rights and Benefits
Committee Category: Standing Committees of the University Senate
Fiscal Year: 2013
Committee Description—
Retirees Rights and Benefits: This committee works to promote communication with retirees, support their participation in the life of the university, inform retirees of their rights, and otherwise improve the experience of retirees both as an acknowledgment of valued service and as an important asset for the university.
Members—
Chair: John Younger, Women, Gender & Sexuality Stds, (2013)
James Lichtenberg, Education Administration, (2013)
Robert Harrington, Psych & Research in Education, (2015)
Robert Brown, Emeritus, Mathematics, Retired Faculty (2013)
Liz Phillips, Public Safety Office, Unclassified staff (2015)
Jeanette Johnson, Retired Unclassified staff, (2015)
(Replaced Anne Eversole, beginning Spring 2013 )
Ruthie Hatfield, ruthie@ku.edu, Psych/Rsch in Education, University Support Staff, (2013)
Bev Mater, Retired University Support Staff, bevmater@gmail.com (2013)
John Mullens, jmullens@ku.edu, President of Endacott Society (or designee)
Ex officio, non-voting: Mary Lee Hummert, Vice Provost
Charges—
Approved by SenEx: 5/29/2012
Approved by University Senate: 9/13/2012
- For further information or to schedule a meeting with SenEx to discuss charges or the committee’s work, contact SenEx chair Chris Crandall at Crandall@ku.edu.
- Please send minutes of each meeting to University Governance, at govern@ku.edu, for posting to the Governance web site.
- Please send recommendations for changes to the University Senate Code, the University Senate Rules and Regulations, and the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations as early in the academic year as possible. Because of the waiting periods involved in changes to these documents, recommendations proposed after spring break may remain pending the following fall semester.
- Please send a report of the committee’s actions on each of the charges, as well as any recommendations the committee wishes to make concerning charges or membership for the following academic year, to University Governance, at govern@ku.edu. Please include the names of committee members and submit the report by April 1, 2013. If the committee still expects to conduct business after April 1, please submit a report by April 1 and later submit any addenda that may be appropriate.
Standing charges:
- Promote all appropriate means of communication with retirees, with special emphasis on seeking information from them about their needs and concerns.
- Consult the Department of Human Resources/Equal Opportunity and the Office of the Provost on the maintenance of an up-to-date contact list for retirees. (ongoing)
- Consult with SenEx about views and concerns related to retirees.
- Seek feedback from retirees and University offices about the Retirees Handbook and work with staff to ensure that it remains current. (ongoing)
Specific charges:
- Work directly with staff from HR to expand that office’s “Exit Survey” to include questions specifically related to retirees’ concerns. Report recommendations or actions to SenEx by 02/1/13.
- Identify recently suspended retiree benefits.
- Prepare presentation to University Senate on these recent changes, with the goal of guiding University Senate action on these matters.
Meeting Minutes—
Minutes, December 3, 2:00-3:30 pm, in the Conference Room of the Public Safety Office of KU
Present: Robert Brown, Ann Eversole, Grant Goodman, Robert Harrington, Ruthie Hatfield, Mary Lee Hummert, Bev Mater, John Mullens, Linda Mullens, Liz Phillips, John Younger
Charge to the Committee
- "Promote all appropriate means of communication with retirees, with special emphasis on seeking information from them about their needs and concerns." The chair of the RBRC should meet with Endacott once/semester.
- "Consult the Department of Human Resources/Equal Opportunity and the Office of the Provost on the maintenance of an up-to-date contact list for retirees." (ongoing)
- "Consult with SenEx about views and concerns related to retirees."
- "Seek feedback from retirees and University offices about the Retirees Handbook and work with staff to ensure that it remains current." The chair of the RBRC encourages Endacott members submit updates to John & Linda Mullens.
Specific charges:
1. "Work directly with staff from HR/EO to expand that office’s 'Exit Survey' to include questions specifically related to retirees’ concerns. Report recommendations or actions to SenEx by 02/1/13."
2. "Identify recently suspended retiree benefits": Lied & Athletic tickets, parking
3. "Prepare presentation to University Senate on these recent changes, with the goal of guiding University Senate action on these matters."
Reports
Report of the Senate RBR Committee, 8 May 2012, rehearsed the recent history of “suspended” retiree benefits.
(a) Lied Center tickets — was 2 tickets; Budig changed it to 1 ticket
(b) also University Theater, 1 ticket
(c) parking privileges — bus system is free with retirees card, but it only goes to Bailey handicapped parking is frequently not available
(d) athletic tickets presumably to save KU money (Provost's Office indicated some $490,000) updated retiree handbook uses the word “suspend” (not “end” or “terminate”) — such language suggests that these benefits will, at some point, be reinstated.
JY met with the Endacott Society (7 Nov, 10:30-11:00 am) discussed privileges revoked and responses announced his intention to meet with the Provost
meeting scheduled with the Provost, 29 Jan, 3:00-3:30
Contact information
Chair: John Younger, Classics (2013) jyounger@ku.edu
James Lichtenberg, Education Administration, (2013) jlicht@ku.edu
Robert Harrington, Psych & Research in Education, (2015), rgharrin@ku.edu
Robert Brown, Emeritus, Mathematics, Retired Faculty (2013) rbrown@ku.edu
Liz Phillips, Public Safety Office, Unclassified staff (2015) lphillips@ku.edu
Retired Unclassified staff (2015) aeversole@ku.edu — to be replaced by Jeannette Johnson <jjohnson@ku.edu>, Spring 2013
Ruthie Hatfield, ruthie@ku.edu, Psych/Rsch in Education, University Support Staff, (2013), ruthie@ku.edu
Bev Mater, Retired University Support Staff, bevmater@gmail.com (2013)
John Mullens, jmullens@ku.edu, Co-President, Endacott Society
Linda Mullens, lmullens@ku.edu, Co-President, Endacott Society
Grant Goodman, plim@ku.edu, Designee, Endacott Society
Ex officio, non-voting: Mary Lee Hummert, Vice Provost, mlhummert@ku.edu
New Business: next committee meetings in Public Safety, 2-3:30 pm: 26 February, 2-3:30 pm in Public Safety