NOVEMBER 18, 2006 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

NEA HIGHER EDUCATION DIRECTOR’S REPORT

NEA Higher Education Director Sally Pestana reported that members of the UHPA Board of Directors were provided news and information about NEA’s higher education website.

Directors were encouraged to attend the NEA Higher Education Conference that is scheduled for March 2-4, 2007 at the Hilton San Diego Resort on Mission Bay.  The NCHE and Leadership Day meetings usually precede the conference.  Director Ruth Horie plans to raise the amendment to the NEA By-Laws concerning the higher education Board seat at the March meeting.  She has been working with NCHE President Kathy Sproles on this issue.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Mary Tiles reported that more interest has been expressed on the tenure issue for foreign faculty members.

She attended the Hawaii State AFL-CIO Executive Committee meeting, which included a wrap-up discussion of the general election outcome and presentations.  Of particular interest, President Tiles was impressed with the presentation of the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center (HHOC).  The Hawaii HomeOwnership Center is designed to help people organize their financial affairs so that they may be able to own a home.  HHOC has many resources that would assist first time home owners.  President Tiles will discuss with the Directors their interest in inviting HHOC to a future Board meeting for a conversation.

President Tiles attended the 2006 Career and Technical Education Conference at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel.  Dr. Willard Daggett, President of the International Center for Leadership in Education, was the keynote speaker.  The meeting was well attended by business leaders, community college administrators and faculty, the UH-Manoa staff, and participants from the Department of Education.  UH President David McClain spoke about the need for remediation of Hawaii students enrolling in the UH, frequently in Math and English.  Dr. Daggett expressed the view that today’s children are different because they have grown up using information technology.  Because this technology is changing all the time, faculty will need to think of new ways to teach.  He emphasized the need for a focus on applied skills for workforce training.

President Tiles again participated in the Board of Regents’ meeting that was held at Maui Community College.  The Regents approved UH-West Oahu going forward with enrollment of lower division freshmen and sophomore students despite prior agreements with Leeward CC that first and second year students would not be enrolled until UHWO had a permanent campus.  Space will be rented at Kapolei for these new classes.  UHWO also received approval from the Regents for a Baccalaureate for Applied Science degree.  Under this program, students would begin study at a community college for two years and then finish a liberal arts BA program at UH-West Oahu.

UH President McClain informed the Regents of a proposed UH system level administrative reorganization.   Prior to the Regents approving this change, the proposal would be subject to consultation with UHPA under the collective bargaining law. President McClain presented an outline to the Regents and indicated he would like to have this done before the WASC returns to Hawaii.  UHPA has not yet received a copy of the proposal or a briefing on the concept being presented.

UHPA recently received a proposal to add a new administrative position under the Office of the Vice President for Academic Planning and Policy.  The new office would oversee the P-20 partnership with the Department of Education.  The University has received legislative funding for three positions to staff this office.  One position will be a transfer of the Honolulu CC-K-12 partnership office to the UH system’s office.  UHPA has been requested to respond by November 29.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Executive Director J. N. Musto reported that UHPA continues to work on the ongoing grievance relating to a number of disciplinary and termination cases.

The Executive Committee met with Attorneys Jeff Piper and T. Anthony Gill to discuss the state’s non-profit laws and the impact on UHPA’s Articles of Incorporation, Constitution and By-Laws.  The results of that meeting will be reported by the Executive Committee.  Directors were informed that UHPA has engaged Attorney Piper, who specializes in Hawaii not-for-profit corporate law, to review all our governance documents and make recommendations.

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Associate Executive Director John Radcliffe reported that UHPA successfully supported election of the vast majority of candidates in the recent general election.  The House and Senate committee chairs organizations were shared with Directors.  Representative Calvin Say will be Speaker of the House and Senator Colleen Hanabusa will be the President of the Senate.

He announced that UH Day at the State Capitol is scheduled for January 19, 2007.  UHPA will again participate in this event in cooperation with the UH.

Over the last two months, Associate Executive Director Radcliffe, who is a Trustee for the Employer-Union Trust Fund (EUTF), has spent considerable time reviewing the various insurance plans for public employees.  He reported that there should be more choices in coverage, better insurance plans benefits, and premium rates should go down significantly and possibly include three premium rates for single, two-party, and full family coverage.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Treasurer Ming-Bao Yue informed Directors the changes that have been made to the September and October financial reports.  UHPA has a surplus at the end of the October fiscal period.  Directors passed a motion to receive the financial report for the fiscal periods ending September 30 and October 31, 2006 and to refer them to the Finance Committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

Directors were informed that UHPA’s Constitution and By-Laws are not in compliance with the Hawaii’s current not-for-profit law.  There needs to be much thought and reflection on what we would like done; therefore, changes will not be made right away.  Directors were asked to review and respond to Attorney Piper’s initial report.  If UHPA remains as a not-for-profit corporation, changes will need to be made to comply with the law.  If UHPA wishes to operate its governance as it has been, then it would need to dissolve its corporation status and reapply to become an unincorporated association.  Such a decision would be subject to approval by the UHPA membership.

The University of Hawaii will be celebrating its 100^th year in 2007.  KITV will air information about the UH throughout the year and a major sponsor for the centennial campaign is the UH Federal Credit Union.  After some discussion, Directors passed a motion to invest $38,250 in one of the sponsorships of the UH Centennial that will be televised by KITV in 2007.

The Executive Committee reported answers to the questions raised by Director Jerry Comcowich last month raising allegations of a conflict of interest with respect to Associate Executive Director John Radcliffe’s outside employment.  These questions were raised by Director Comcowich last spring, and the Personnel Committee chair reviewed the charges and found that Associate Executive Director Radcliffe was in compliance with UHPA’s policy governing the outside employment of UHPA staff. The current allegation that Associate Executive Director Radcliffe stood to gain personal remuneration had the development contract for UH West O’ahu’s contract gone to UniDev was investigated by the Executive Committee and found to be false. The Executive Committee found that there had been no breach of trust to UHPA (as charged by Director Comcowich) by Associate Executive Director Radcliffe.  Moreover, the Executive Committee was of the opinion that his effectiveness as a lobbyist for UHPA and the broad interests of its members had never been greater, given the record of the last legislative session, recent state elections, and Associate Executive Director’s Radcliffe work as a Trustee on the EUTF (the state health care fund).  It did find that Associate Executive Director Radcliffe signed a contract with UniDev in December 2005 (well after the UH-West O’ahu bid was settled).  That contract resulted in legislation that would be helpful to UH as well as other non-profits wishing to develop workforce housing.  Given the concerns about faculty housing, this represents a coincidence of interests between UHPA and another client rather than a conflict.

Director Comcowich then moved that the answers to his five questions be given to him in writing by the Executive Committee.  After discussing the issue, the Directors defeated the motion.

APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE CHAIRS & MEMBERS

Directors unanimously passed a motion to confirm the appointment of Mark Rognstad (UH-Manoa) as a member of the Collective Bargaining Committee.

Directors unanimously passed a motion to confirm the appointments of Robert Paull (UH-Manoa), L. Thomas Ramsey (UH-Manoa), Lynn Wilkens (UH-Manoa), and Dennis Vanairsdale (Kapiolani CC) as members of the Finance Committee.

FACULTY HOUSING

A motion regarding faculty housing was made but later withdrawn after the Board of Directors discussed the matter.  Directors passed a motion to refer the issue to the Executive Committee to do research and to obtain documents from the administration on faculty housing.

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