Meeting Minutes: Regents Administrative Committee on Student Affairs (RACSA)
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia
March 11-12, 2004
The Regents Administrative Committee on Student Affairs met on March 11 and 12, 2004, at the University Center of Valdosta State University. Twenty-two University System institutions were represented on one or both days. The business session scheduled for Friday, March 12, was preceded by an informational session on Thursday afternoon followed by a reception and dinner at the beautiful home of VSU President and Mrs. Ronald M. Zaccari.
RACSA was convened at 1:00 P.M. on Thursday, March 11, by Dr. Melanie McClellan, RACSA Chair and VPSA of State University of West Georgia. Dr. Kurt Keppler welcomed the group to Valdosta State University, introduced members of his staff, and outlined some of the upcoming opportunities. Following his remarks, Dr. Keppler was congratulated for his election as president-elect of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). He thanked the group and noted that Georgia has a rich history of leadership in NASPA, ACPA, SACSA, and other professional organizations.
Chair Melanie McClellan distributed copies of charts of reporting responsibilities for student affairs officers throughout the system. She noted that this report reflects wide variations of functional responsibilities for chief student affairs officers in the system. She agreed to keep this updated, and she asked to be notified of corrections or additions.
Following an introduction by Floyd College VPSA Penny Willis, Sherrill Ballenger addressed the group on disabilities services and GA AHEAD, the Georgia Association on Higher Education and Disability. The group was formerly known as the Georgia Association of Disability Service Providers in Higher Education. She reported on the advantages that national affiliation had offered for linking professionals and supporting access, and she outlined the organization's goals and services, many of which are described at www.ga-ahead.org . The association has members from University System of Georgia and DTAE institutions as well as independent colleges. She noted that Floyd College's proximity to the Georgia School for the Deaf increased the number of students needing services through Floyd College. She reported that the evaluation award presented by the organization rotates among the state's five service regions. The GA AHEAD Spring Conference is slated for Athens on March 24-26, 2004.
Dr. McClellan thanked Dr. Wills and Ms. Ballenger for the presentation, and stressed the need for a system-wide response for dealing with the extraordinary costs associated with providing services to students with documented disabilities.
Ms. Tonya Lam, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Services, reported to RACSA on some items of interest from the System Office. She noted that Dr. Dan Papp and Dr. Frank Butler regretted that they were unable to attend RACSA. They are both involved in budget hearings for the institutions and matters related to the legislative session. Dr. Papp related the possibility of further budget cuts. State fiscal leaders are watching economic indicators closely.
Likely reductions in funding are anticipated for a number of special initiatives, including PREP.
State legislative proposals related to the HOPE scholarship program continue to command attention. It presently looks as though book and fee allocations will remain unchanged unless lottery revenues fail, and eligibility and renewal requirements may be altered. The Fall Student Advisory Council attendees heard a presentation by ABAC president Mike Volmer on this issue. Sen. Bill Hamrick of Carrollton, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, has spoken to SGA leaders.
Ms. Lam announced action taken related to residency requirements. This affects HOPE eligibility as well.
P.S.O. is likely to be funded for this term, but FY 2005 is questionable.
Ms. Lam noted the legislative resolution encouraging University System institutions to be cooperative in meeting the state's need for poll workers.
The summer meeting for RACSA and RACAA will be in Atlanta July 12 and 13, 2004. Possible discussion items include the panel report on Greater Expectations found at the Association of American Colleges and Universities site www.greaterexpectations.org .
Dr. Papp expressed his appreciation for the individuals who had responded to requests for information on how student affairs positions had been affected by the budget reductions.
The Academic Calendar Committee had proposed changing the 75 class day requirement but retaining the 750 minute requirement. An important distinction for this group was the difference between class weeks and calendar weeks.
Ms. Lam announced actions from the February Board of Regents meeting that included changes in the admissions policy and the military fee waiver. She distributed a handout on immunization, which included a sample form. This relates to policy 408.02.
Ms. Lam related ongoing discussions with the Department of Education related to whether federal sources will pay for Regents Test Remediation.
The Multi-Institutional Functionality Project (M.I.F.), designed to ease the administration of students enrolled in more than one institution during a term, is moving forward. Full implementation is expected by Fall 2005. A handout was distributed. Efforts are also underway to achieve national standards for electronic data transfer.
In March the Board of Regents received a report from the IT Committee. The task force recommended that BANNER hosting be used as a way of helping with web services security. Personnel shortages present problems for many institutions.
Ms. Lam reminded the group of the Best Practices Competition in academic affairs, student affairs, fiscal affairs, and information technology.
Vice Presidents John Colson, Judy Johnson, and John McElveen gave a positive report on students' participation in a Day at the Capitol. Approximately 100 students attended this day in Atlanta to promote civic engagement.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 P.M., with Dr. Keppler announcing arrangements for transportation to President and Mrs. Zaccari's home. Senior members of the VSU leadership team and student affairs staff members were present for the delightful reception and dinner.
Chair Melanie McClellan called the meeting to order at 8:30 A.M. Friday March 12, in the Magnolia Room of the University Center. She thanked Dr. Keppler and the VSU staff for the arrangements. She circulated a book for the group to inscribe in honor of the retirement this Spring of Dr. Earl Bagley of Columbus State University.
Following a motion by Dr. Tim Goodman and a second by Dr. Judy Bryant the minutes of the November 2003 RACSA meeting at Georgia Tech were approved as distributed.
The RACSA members divided into sectors to discuss concerns for the RACSA leadership for next year. Chair McClellan will compile these reports and distribute them. Several common themes were discussed after the group reassembled. One item of concern is the uncertainty related to the appointment of an Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
Members expressed concern about the lack of resources to enable the critical incident response teams that had been discussed at earlier meetings. The cost for training the trainers and maintaining the program is in the range of $50,000 initially and $5,000 per annually. RACSA recommends that the counseling directors group seek funds to enable implementation. RACSA supports the concept, and supports the group in its effort to convince the System office of the advantages of the program. Dr. Tom Walters suggested that counseling directors explore professional development opportunities to develop expertise and share resources.
Resolution on a Reporting Mechanism for Disability Support Services: Following a motion by Dr. Penny Wills and a second by Ms. Lynn McCraney, RACSA voted unanimously to request and recommend that disability services report through RACSA. It was noted that disability support services report to student affairs officers at a majority of the University System of Georgia campuses, and this reporting mechanism would be beneficial.
RACSA discussed the merits of a University System Advisory Committee on Disability Services. A motion by Dr. Tom Walter and Dr. Penny Wills was offered and later withdrawn. Dr. McClellan appointed Dr. Dick Vallandingham and Dr. Penny Wills to explore this topic and to prepare a recommendation for RACSA's consideration. Among the discussion items were the importance of collaboratively sharing resources, the need to identify existing expertise within the system, and the financial costs these services require of our campuses.
Dr. Bruce Harshbarger discussed the difficulty in providing an optional student health insurance plan for the students of Georgia College and State University, and he inquired about the interest in taking a system-wide approach to this. Dr. Michael Miller described the plan they offer at the Medical College of Georgia, which has a hard waiver and is similar to a PPO. Ms. Lam noted that at the January presidents' meeting Dr. Betty Segal had expressed a need for health insurance for graduate students. Dr. Miller agreed to send an inquiry out to RACSA.
Dr. Miller announced that Dr. Randy Butterball is retiring from the Medical College of Georgia. The members offered congratulations on his retirement.
Following discussion, RACSA agreed that counseling directors need to seek new funding sources for the critical incident teams. Federal Homeland Security funds were mentioned as one resource. Secondly, members agreed that support for this effort should come from System Office.
Discussion among the members revealed a consensus it is advantageous for RACSA to hold its Fall meeting in the Atlanta area.
After a short break, members shared information related to enrollment management planning.
The meeting adjourned at noon.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Cottingham
Secretary, Vice Chair
RACSA