March 12, 2007

Professor Gardner convened the ninth SPBC meeting of 2006-07 at 2:30 pm. She reported that President Wilson would be joining the group at 3.  The Committee approved for distribution the notes from its March 1, 2007, meeting.

Professor Gardner asked the Committee for comments on a revised draft of potential capital campaign priorities, focusing the conversation on omissions or desirable clarifications.  The group suggested several improvements to the draft and asked Professor Gardner to update it so that it would be suitable for circulation among the campus community after Spring Break.  Members reminded themselves that we are still in the early stages of identifying campaign priorities.  The immediate objective is for the SPBC to incorporate feedback from the campus into another draft list that President Wilson will offer for Board of Trustees' consideration at its May 10-12 retreat.  Following the Board retreat, the Development staff will test a more refined list of campaign priorities for feasibility with donors, and further discussion will occur on campus, probably early in the Fall 2007 semester.

President Wilson joined the meeting and turned the group's attention to the second agenda item for the day — discussion of the process by which the draft list should be distributed and reviewed by faculty, staff, students, and some alumni.  The group agreed on an initial informational meeting to which all faculty, staff, and students would be invited, ideally the week after Spring Break.  This informational meeting would then be followed by opportunities for constituent groups to discuss the draft and suggest improvements at separately scheduled meetings and fora.  The SPBC will then consider the collective feedback it receives and make appropriate revisions to the draft list in late April.

Finally, the President asked the group to return to its discussion of salary policy for the last few minutes of the meeting.  He outlined his objectives in proposing that we attempt to institute a merit-pay system for non-exempt staff this year: fairness, transparency, meaningful performance evaluation, and incentives for excellent performance.  He noted, however, that feedback from the Staff Council and others had suggested that some affected staff members are concerned about whether it is possible to implement a system that meets these criteria without more time for reflection and deliberation. SPBC members noted that providing appropriate compensation and incentives to employees is specifically identified as desirable under the Human Resource goal in the Strategic Plan.  There are also benefits that accrue to both staff members and the University from systematic performance reviews, even in the absence of a merit system.  Committee members further noted both the potential benefits and pitfalls of merit systems and acknowledged that there are a variety of merit-pay models that might be worth exploring further.  The President thanked the Committee for its thoughtful analysis and stated that he would give further consideration to these issues in the coming weeks.

Distributed to all faculty and staff: April 9, 2007