Tracy Greene | ESU Bulletin

Greene leaving ESU to serve at South Dakota State

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 31 May 2012 22:13
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Greene

Tracy Greene, Emporia State’s General Counsel since 2005 and Records Custodian since spring 2011, will leave ESU in June to take on a new position as University Counsel for South Dakota State University. Her appointment, effective June 22, is pending approval from the South Dakota Board of Regents.

“My time and experiences at Emporia State University, a top-notch comprehensive regional university, are indescribably valuable and will always be dear to me,” Greene said in a prepared statement released by ESU earlier today. “Given SDSU’s proven reputation as a premiere teaching and research university, I am eager to embrace this exciting new professional opportunity.”

Greene will be the institution’s first university counsel, a position which was created to support the university’s growth in research activity, contracts and agreements and licensing, according to SDSU’s website. Greene will also work with several departments in a variety of areas including employment matters, public records and risk management.

With an enrollment of nearly 13,000 students, SDSU, a Division I university, is the largest institution in South Dakota. It is a land-grant university with eight colleges.

The Bulletin

Faculty debate legality of administrator evaluation bill

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 21 April 2011 12:56
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Past President of the Faculty Senate Carol Russel joins the debate regarding the administration evaluations Tuesday afternoon in Visser Hall. Jon Coffey/ The Bulletin

The Faculty Senate bill regarding administrator evaluations, which was passed in February and sent to Emporia State President Michael Lane for approval, was the focus of an ethical and legal debate at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday in Visser Hall.

“Legal counsel has advised us that a summary of the evaluation results should not be made available to the faculty without that evaluated administrator’s written consent,” said Paul Luebbers, chair of campus governance for Faculty Senate.

Recently, Tes Mehring, provost and vice president of academic affairs, allowed the results of her own evaluation to appear on Faculty Senate’s website.

But Joella Merhof, president of Faculty Senate, said Tracy Greene, general counsel and records custodian for ESU, felt that the bill was in violation of Kansas employment law because it could potentially make public certain personnel records, which are confidential.

Other senators argued that a proposed amendment to the bill was not consistent with the Kansas Open Records Act, since some information in administrator evaluations are not considered personnel records and should hence be open to the public.

An amendment was passed that stated, “The appointing administrator should provide the Faculty a summary of the review (excluding confidential personnel information as consistent with the Kansas Open Records Act), including a statement of actions taken as a result of the review.”

The amended bill is up again for Lane’s review and approval.

Sheryl Lidzy, chair of faculty affairs, said Lane did not sign the recently passed intellectual property bill because the bill’s definition of intellectual property is not consistent with the Kansas Board of Regents’ definition, among other reason.

But three other bills passed unanimously along with one resolution at the meeting. The first bill modified the final examination policy in accordance with the recent changes to the academic calendar. The second outlines requirement for satisfactory academic progress for financial aid, good scholastic standing, scholastic probation, required withdrawal and re-admittance after withdrawal.

A third bill passed “to bring current policies for students who need developmental courses in line with current practice.”

Currently, all shared leave requests by ESU employees are processed by the Kansas State Shared Leave Committee. The senate passed a resolution, 13-7, that would re-establish a shared leave committee on campus.

“The previous shared leave committee on campus had a lot of bias,” said Dwight Moore, chair of academic affairs for Faculty Senate. “There were apparently considerable biases in that committee both for some people and against other people. My understanding is the reason we don’t have a shared leave committee on campus is because of that bias.”

But Giovanna Follo, senator and associate professor of sociology, said a shared leave committee needs to be established on campus.

“The initial reason it was taken away was purely for convenience – they did not have enough of these cases here on campus,” Follo said. “But at the same time, when it goes to the state, these concepts are so broadly interpreted that the interpretation lacks.”

The next Faculty Senate meeting is at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3 in Visser Hall 330.

Kenzie Templeton

President’s kitchen makeover: $22,854

Written by Kenzie Templeton
Thursday, 10 February 2011 15:45
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The final floor plans for the new kitchen at the presidential residence. Courtesy of Dennis Mohling.

With a grand total of 1,020 man hours and $22,854 spent on materials and appliances, the kitchen remodel project for Emporia State’s presidential residence, which has been in the works since April 2009, was completed two days before last Thanksgiving.

The administration said the remodel provides Sodexo catering staff space to prepare and serve food for events hosted at the residence at 1522 Highland St.

“If you’re going to serve a meal for 25 or 30 people, you’re going to need a lot of space,” said Dennis Mohling, director of facilities administration and construction.

Michael Lane, president of ESU, said the old kitchen was not practical for the catering staff since they were unable to even stand in the kitchen all at the same time. Most of the food preparation was done in the Memorial Union and then transported to the presidential residence, which diminished the quality of food being served, he said.

“Now the Sodexo staff can do the entire meal or the entire reception, whatever we’re doing – they can prepare it all there, so things come out of the kitchen piping hot as opposed to having (to) come out of a warmer,” Lane said.

Lane said that Sodexo, the company that handles of all ESU’s dining services, originally offered to make a $10,000 contribution for the remodel.

Lane said that since Sodexo’s contract with the university had changed, they opted to withdraw the offer. Lane then decided to contribute the money in lieu of Sodexo’s contribution, but the company eventually decided they wanted to “participate in the remodeling of the kitchen,” he said.

Sodexo gave the money as a “gift” to the ESU Foundation. The donation was ultimately used for the remodel project in what Lane calls a “pass through.”

A response dated Nov. 29, 2010, from Judy Anderson, then records custodian for ESU, to an Open Records request by The Bulletin, included Sodexo as a $10,000 funding source for the project, but a correction to this response the next day listed Lane as the funding source. Lane, however, said his contribution proved unnecessary.

Lane cited the accumulation of funds for house maintenance over the last three and a half years as another funding source for the project. About $5,600 is designated each fiscal year for household upkeep like broken windows and roof repairs, and much of that is carried over into the next year’s fund.

Mohling has been employed at ESU for about 30 years and, during this time, has worked on several projects at the presidential residence. He said in comparison to other campuses in Kansas, this remodel had been “necessary for a long time.”

Mohling said that every six months he and his colleagues take a tour of one of the campuses in the state.

“Last fall we had our meeting at Wichita State, and we happened to have it at the president’s house and their new eating and kitchen facility… is just miraculous compared to ours,” Mohling said. “Even our new one is nothing compared to what they have.”

From January 2008 to June 2009, 19 state funded events costing $5,228 total were held at the president’s home with 198 total guests. This information came in a response on Jan. 26 from Tracy Greene, general counsel and records custodian for ESU, to an Open Record request by The Bulletin. Events for 2010 were not provided in these documents.

Other events are funded by different means, which include the president’s guest account, the president’s own personal finances or through the ESU Foundation. Lane said that the guest account is part of a contract with Sodexo, which is available for the university to use as needed, but if it is not used, it “goes away.”

“It’s not real money,” he said.

Lane said that state funds are not intended to be used for events held for associates of ESU. For instance, the university tries not use state funds for commencements or fundraising events.

According to Greene’s Open Records response, from January 2008 to November 2010, 28 non-state funded events costing $9,761 total, for 674 guests, were held at the president’s home.

Some of the new appliances purchased for the kitchen include a Samsung 29 cubic foot French door style refrigerator purchased from a Lowe’s in Kansas City, Mo., for $2,024; a thermador and hood blower costing $1,308; a Viking gas range top stove costing $3,859; and a Frigidaire microwave costing $259, all purchased from Metro Appliances in Wichita.

Lane said the Sodexo catering staff worked directly with those involved in the project to determine what types of appliances were to be purchased.

About the new stove, Lane said, “It’s a commercial range top. It’s not something you’d find in your parents’ home or my home for that matter – it’s strong and heavy and it’s really made to produce a higher volume of food. It’s certainly not something I would have put in my personal residence.”

Mohling said he tries to be economically conscious in all campus projects, and the kitchen remodel was no exception. Instead of tearing out the whole floor in the kitchen to install a new one, Mohling was able to track down the same tile (although it had been discontinued) as the ceramic floor tile that was installed in 1998. The workers only had to patch the areas that needed tiles.

The workers were also able to reuse some cabinets by re-installing them in different locations.

Mohling said the remodel was not unique in overall cost from any other sort of kitchen remodel that might be done in a private home. The university did not have to reimburse workers for man hours because the project was considered to be part of standard campus maintenance.

“If more money had been available, I think it would have been nice to make it even somewhat bigger,” Mohling said.

About rumors that the project was completed but had to be redone to some extent, Mohling said a wall that would have been about the width of a standard doorway was in the process of being installed (metals studs were in place), but the decision was made to omit this addition.

Lane said it is the university’s obligation to be able to entertain donors, celebrate student and faculty accomplishments and build alumni relations, and this was not possible with the old kitchen. He said those opposed to the remodel had probably never seen the old kitchen.

“It’s awfully hard to make that judgment if you’ve never been there, but this is a state asset just like all the classroom buildings that we also spend money on and we have to be responsible for ensuring that it is functional for its purposes,” Lane said. “This is going to provide us an opportunity to provide good food service to prospective donors.”

Lane lives at the presidential residence free of charge under his contract with the university.

Kenzie Templeton

Senate sidesteps sunshine issue

Written by Kelsey Ryan
Thursday, 17 April 2008 23:16
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Whether or not the Faculty Senate violated state law when it voted by secret ballot and then destroyed the ballots April 1 is still being debated. University officials have either denied or sidestepped the issue, but a spokesman for the state press association says the senate is clearly subject to state sunshine laws.

President Michael Lane declined to comment on the secret ballot, citing “pending possible legal issues.” Senate President Harvey Foyle said during Tuesday’s meeting that he does not believe the group is subject to the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

At another point in the meeting, however, he appeared unsure.

“I actually have no knowledge of whether we’re under the Kansas Open Meetings Act,” Foyle said. “I don’t believe we are, simply because it’s never come up, it’s never been dealt with. The one small element I know in the Kansas Open Meetings Act says no secret ballots. We have secret ballots in our constitution. And I functioned clearly as best I could with the others.”

Mike Merriam, a lawyer for the Kansas Press Association, disagreed.

“That’s not much of a reason,” Merriam said during a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t be; they are a subordinate group of a public agency — the university. I know of no reason why they would not be under KOMA.”

The senate operates under a parliamentary handbook first published in 1876 known as “Robert’s Rules of Order.” When asked if “Robert’s” trump Kansas law, Merriam said no.

“Robert’s Rules does not have the force of law,” Merriam said. “It’s just an organizational tool that people may or may not employ as they see fit. The law, though, is binding. They do have to abide by the Kansas Open Meeting Act; they don’t have to abide by Robert’s Rules.”

The secret ballot was rescinded at Tuesday’s meeting and a roll-call vote was taken instead. Foyle said the senate rescinded the vote to honor Lane’s request for transparency, and not under pressure from any outside group, an apparent reference to The Bulletin.

One senator, however, questioned the legality of the secret ballot.

“It is my understanding, my reading, of the Kansas Open Meetings Act, under Kansas Statute, that secret ballots are not allowed,” said John Dougherty, internal auditor and director of governmental relations, during Tuesday’s meeting.

In response, Foyle said he relies on Lane for information about KOMA.

“I believe that we are not under the Kansas Open Meetings Act,” Foyle said. “Otherwise, this would not be this way. Also, I have sought clarification of that particular issue. That’s not the issue before us. We’re not going to get into a debate about that. I’m seeking clarification of that to find out whether we are or are not. There has been, in my opinion, misinformation on that subject in a variety of places and that’s why we’re seeking clarification. Before anybody asks who we are seeking clarification of, I’m seeking clarification from President Lane, who seeks clarification from those who give him, who he gets information from.”

Lane, however, said he was relying on the Faculty Senate for answers.

“What I’m doing right now is waiting to see what the faculty senate does at their meeting this afternoon,” Lane said. He also said he wasn’t planning to issue a statement regarding whether the Faculty Senate is subject to KOMA or the Kansas Open Records Act.

“In our meeting with Mark Goodman,” Lane said, “we told him the manner in which we would be dealing with the situation and we didn’t say we’d be issuing a statement.”

Last week, Lyon County Prosecutor John Marcus Goodman said he expected the university to issue a statement.

“I have requested informally that the university state its position on whether they believe the Faculty Senate to be an open meeting or not,” Goodman said. “I’ve spoken with the university and they have an acceptable solution. I’m going to let the president’s office issue a statement.”

Tracy Greene, university counsel, said Wednesday that she had been too busy since April 1 to grant an interview with The Bulletin. She also declined to respond to a question about whether the Faculty Senate is subject to KOMA or KORA.

“At this point in time, I’m not aware of any pending legal action,” Greene said. “I don’t have any further comments.”

Neither Greene nor Lane attend Faculty Senate meetings unless they are invited. By policy, according to Foyle, the meetings are open to the public. He also said, however, that secret ballots are provided for in the senate’s constitution.

Kelsey Ryan/Bulletin

EURO INSULT: KILTS ARE FOR GIRLS; They’re branded womenswear.(News)

Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) November 10, 2003 Byline: By AMY DEVINE EUROCRATS have ruled that the kilt is “womenswear”.

Spaniard Pedro Solbes, an EU commissioner, insists our national dress should be listed asa skirt on official forms.

And kiltmakers could be fined up to pounds 1000 if they don’t comply.

There was a furious reaction from kilt wearers last night. Movie legend Sir Sean Connery said: “If this is the case, I have been wearing a woman’s skirt for more than 45 years now.

“I own several and I find them very comfortable.

“Joking apart, I am very proud to wear a kilt. It is certainly not womenswear. It is an important part of Scots tradition and also smart evening wear.” The EU forms insult hundreds of thousands of Scots worldwide who wear their kilts with pride as well as Hollywood heroes such as Vin Diesel, Samuel L Jackson and Braveheart star Mel Gibson. site last night movie

51st State star Jackson said: “When I finally got the kilt and stood in front of the mirror looking at myself, it looked very cool.

“All of a sudden I had this whole sort of gladiator thing going on.” The controversy is down to EU government agency Eurostat, overseen by Solbes, member for economics and monetary affairs.

His department collates information from 15 member states to drawup business trends for the EU.

Scots kiltmaking king Patrick McGroarty is standing firm and refusing to complete the offending document unless it is amended to include Scotland’s national dress.

Patrick, 53, is the director of Caledonian Highland Dress Manufacturers, who made kilts for hit BBC series Monarch Of The Glen.

The Perthshire firm also supply kilts to expat customers in places like Vietnam and Nigeria.

Yesterday, dad-of-three Patrick hit back at the bureaucrats responsible for branding kiltwearing Scotsmen transvestites.

Patrick received the questionnaire after his company were chosen at random for a survey.

The UK version of the form was sent out on Eurostat’s behalf by the Office of National Statistics but there was no section for kilts.

Patrick said: “I phoned up and told them that they had made a very offensive mistake. They toldme just to fill in the number of kilts I had sold in the space they had provided for women’s skirts.

“But we don’t make skirts and if they wanted figures from a women’s apparel company, they should have gone to one. This makes no sense at all. The kilt is an internationally renowned tradition, so I don’t know how this was allowed to happen.

“It would be interesting to find out what proud kilt-wearing Scots would think of these people saying that they wear ladies’ skirts.” Patrick, who runs two workshopsand has 11 staff at his Abernethy site, was told there was no suitable category for his tartan creations and if he didn’t return the form, he would face the consequences.

He said: “My book-keeper noticed a line which said I would be fined up to pounds 1000 if it wasn’t returned.

“If they change the wording of the form I will gladly send it back, but not until then.

“This is ludicrous. The form I was sent was cheeky and insulting.

“To call one of Scotland’s most famous traditions a skirt is justdegrading and they should rectify this mistake immediately.

“They are ignorant to our traditions and background.” Scotland’s Minister for Culture and Tourism, Frank McAveety, wore the kilt on an official visit to Hollywood this month.

He said: “If Vin Diesel can wear a kilt and not feel any less of a man, that is good enough for me and should be for the rest of Europe.” An insider from Monarch Of The Glen insisted there was no gender confusion among fans of screen hunk Hamish Clark, whosecharacter Duncan wears Highland dress. this web site last night movie

She said: “Given the response we have from female fans, it’s clear they understand better than Euro chiefs that kilts are not for ladies.” Howie Nicholsby, of Edinburgh’s Geoffrey (Tailor) Kiltmakers, said: “Vin and Samuel would both recognise these comments for what they are. They know the differences between a kilt and a skirt.” Brussels bureaucrats have been behind a number of other barmy rulings in recent years.

They tried to ban number plates with saltires, the Lion Rampant or the letters SCO, but were forced into a retreat by a Record campaign.

Danish MEP Helle Thorning Schmidt wanted to ban bagpipes because they were too loud. He changed his mind after calls from dozens of angry Record readers.

Eurocrats even ruled bananas could only be slightly curved.

CAPTIONS:

ARE EU CALLING US A BUNCH OF GIRLS EWAN McGREGOR His only worry about the kilt on screen was “low camera angles”.

ROBBIE WILLIAMS Let him entertain you … after tartan up his image for Scotland SAMUEL L JACKSON The world’s most laid-back actor shows it’s cool to wear tartan VIN DIESEL The movie macho man gave the kilt x Xx appeal with his black leather number at the MTV awards in Leith last week MEL GIBSON You can take his life … but you’ll never take his kilt off RORY McCANN The porridge ad star has sowed a few wild oats with his kilt HAMISH CLARK Monarch of the Glen star’s kilt made him an “eligible bachelor” CAPTION(S):

MACHO MAN: Sean Connery defends our national dress; KILTY MAN: Eurocrat Pedro Solbes; YOU’VE SCOT TO BE JOKING: Sean Connery and kilt-maker Patrick McGroarty have slammed the ruling on the EU form, inset

Secret ballot may have broken state law

Written by Kelsey Ryan
Thursday, 03 April 2008 23:19
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The Faculty Senate may have violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act when it voted by secret ballot on Tuesday to change the university’s General Education requirements.

The ballots were destroyed after the 17-10 vote was tallied.

“If the faculty senate is acting as an advisory board, by giving recommendations to an executive, then their actions should be subject to the open meetings law and the open records law,” said Adam Goldstein, an attorney advocate for the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. “If they resort to a secret ballot, and then destroy the ballots, one or both of the following would seem to be true: they have violated the open records law by shredding the ballots, or they have violated the open meetings law by conducting a secret ballot in the first place. In any case, it certainly frustrates the purpose of the open government laws to attempt to circumvent public knowledge of votes, and someone’s arbitrary rules of conduct are a poor replacement for the law.”

The senate voted to suspend its own constitution for the duration of the meeting to allow the secret ballot.

Kevin Coulson, associate professor of business administration and education, made a motion for the secret ballot. But Harvey Foyle, professor of instructional design and technology and president of the Faculty Senate, later said he had already been thinking about using a secret ballot.

“I’d been announcing we were going to be doing a secret ballot and then I found out that our constitution does not allow a secret ballot– that’s what our parliamentarian informed me of,” Foyle said. “And so they, apart from me, they brought up the motion of a secret ballot. I had already planted that, that’s the way I wanted to do it…He [Kevin Coulson] did what he did to make it appropriate.”

The Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) says that all public bodies and subdivisions “shall be open to the public and no binding action by such bodies shall be by secret ballot.”

The Senate voted 24-4 in favor of the secret ballot. The names of the four who voted against were not recorded in the senate minutes.

“We maintain the number of votes, pros, cons, abstentions,” said Amy Sage Webb, associate professor of English and first vice-president of the senate. “We don’t keep a tally of who voted. That’s not the way the senate is working. It’s not against the rules to do it one way or another.”

When asked if the senators believed they were under the jurisdiction of the KOMA and if they had discussed the Act, Webb replied yes.

“Kansas Open Meetings Law is something that we are always aware of by posting our agendas in advance so that people can know what’s on the agenda,” Webb said. “We post our meetings on the web and anybody can come to the senate. We feel that this is the way we are in compliance.”

At the time of the meeting, Gary Holcomb, associate professor of English, expressed concern over a having a secret ballot. Later, Holcomb said in an email “It was just a question about a point of order. I’ll probably ask the president about it. But it’s not an issue.”

Coulson said he did not consider the ballots used during the meeting as secretive.

“It’s not a secret,” Coulson said. “It’s a clearly allowed procedure…The idea came out in Senate Executive Committee. The concern was there was a minority group on campus pressuring the people to vote in the minority group’s interest to the disadvantage of everybody else on campus. To avoid that pressure… I came up with the idea.”

Coulson did not identify the minority groups.

“Any body that operates under a legislative body is usually under Robert’s Rules of Order in addition to the bylaws of their organization,” Coulson said.

Although Robert’s Rules of Order may apply to the senate, so might the Kansas Open Meetings Act said a representative of a state press group.

“They may choose to follow the Robert’s Rules of Order, but those don’t trump the Kansas Open Meetings Act statute,” said Mike Merriam, attorney for the Kansas Press Association.

The Bulletin contacted the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and was referred to the Lyon County prosecutor. John Marcus Goodman, the county prosecutor, said he planned on calling the attorney general’s office on Thursday to request more information.

“As to a Faculty Senate, I cannot find an opinion on point,” said Goodman. “It doesn’t mean it is not subject to it, but it also doesn’t mean it is subject to it either.”

Foyle did not know if the Faculty Senate was governed by KOMA. He did say, however, that all meetings were open by policy.

According to Foyle, the ballots were destroyed. When questioned about whether there was proof of the voting count, Foyle replied that the three people who observed the ballots were his proof. He also did not know if the Faculty Senate was governed by the Kansas Open Records Act.

“Under the rule and regulations of the Kansas Board of Regents which is governed by the State of Kansas, we follow the law and the regulations and the rules,” Foyle said. “Whatever those are, we follow them. If we violated them, we have to follow them.”

Foyle said he would need to ask the university lawyer if the senate was under KOMA. He also stated that the president and vice presidents of the university should also know if the senate was under KOMA.

University Counsel Tracy Greene declined an interview.

Through an assistant, Greene said she would only speak to The Bulletin if both the previous Faculty Senate president and a current member of the senate were spoken to first. It is the general policy of The Bulletin to not negotiate conditions for interviews.

“If we are in violation, which I can’t say we are…we will definitely re-hold the vote that’s to be in compliance,” Foyle said. “If we’re not in violation, then we won’t do anything different. If we are covered by the Open Meetings Act, this is not stated in our constitution, and I will ask our Faculty Senate Executive to draft a bill sometime to amend the constitution so it’s clearly stated there, so there’s no misunderstanding.”

Kelsey Ryan/Bulletin

Secret ballot may have broken state law

Written by Kelsey Ryan
Thursday, 03 April 2008 21:49
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