The Employee Forum issued a formal thank you to all the employees who helped the University cope with the snow and ice that coated the campus last month.
The forum resolution praised employees who "went beyond the call of duty" during the storms.
Forum delegates first considered adopting several resolutions directed to employees in specific divisions or units. But the delegates quickly determined there were many people to thank.
"There were many people involved in keeping the University going and only a few of them are mentioned here," said Burke Riggsbee (physical plant).
George Sharp (laboratory animal medicine) made a motion that the forum adopt one broad resolution. Adopting resolutions aimed at individual units meant running the risk of leaving someone out, he said.
Vice Chancellor Elson Floyd also thanked employees during his presentation to the forum.
"I wanted you to know that we appreciate very much the extra effort and commitment that all of you have shown during these treacherous times," Floyd said.
Adverse weather policy
Floyd told the forum he had been working to find ways to communicate better the University's status in winter storms.
Some employees have said they were confused about how the state adverse weather policy applied in the situation when the University closed Jan. 12 due to an ice storm. The policy requires that employees who miss work time because of adverse weather take leave or make up the time within one year.
Floyd said administrators were working on a system that would include the use of codes that could be included in notifications to the media to describe the University's status.
"If we have very clear definitions in terms of what each of those conditions mean, then we'll be in a circumstance of contacting the local media to say: `The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is operating, say, under Condition One,'" Floyd said. "And then all employees would know what a Condition One means."
The University also was considering establishing a telephone system that employees could call to find out about the University's status, he said. But that has turned out to be a more difficult challenge than he expected, Floyd said.
"The fact of the matter is, regardless of what we do there probably will be some confusion," he said. "But we will make our best efforts to make sure that is not the case."
Policy petition
The forum voted to send to its public affairs committee a proposed petition drafted by faculty member Susan Albright (pediatrics) that would have asked the state to consider changing the adverse weather policy and to allow Carolina employees to treat time missed on Jan. 12 as a holiday. The committee was to consider whether there was a need to provide additional information to employees about the policy.
Several forum delegates said they didn't want to endorse the petition because they felt the University already was taking appropriate steps to deal with similar situations in the future.
Former Chair Rachel Windham, who continues to serve as an ex officio member of the forum, suggested delegates carefully consider whether they wanted to spend time and energy concerning the policy.
"I think there's a policy that clearly details what the rules are in adverse weather conditions that are backed up by state policy," she said. "The state taxpayers are not willing to pay you if you are not at work."
But delegates said they didn't want to discourage employees from bringing their concerns to the forum.
"We as a body can certainly say that we understand the adverse weather policy was in place and that we have heard what the administration is saying about improving communications and we feel that's going the way it should," said Chair Ann Hamner.
Norm Loewenthal (continuing education) said: "I think the sense of the group seems to be that we respond in that way, but I think it's also important to give employees the sense that their concerns are being heard."
Helen Iverson (UNC Physicians & Associates) suggested sending the matter to the public affairs committee, which she chairs.
In other matters
*The forum heard its first memorial resolution honoring the memory of a deceased employee. The resolution, read by Vice Chair Kay Spivey, memorialized Cranine Brinkhous, a 17-year employee of Printing Services who died in 1995. Brinkhous was an artist who drew many of the works on posters and the covers of University manuals and brochures.
*The forum didn't adopt a suggestion to invite a student group to videotape forum meetings for broadcast on student television. The forum has been considering ways to expand University awareness of forum activities, but several delegates said they thought videotaping meetings might inhibit discussion. The forum accepted a suggestion from Windham that it ask students whether they would tape quarterly interviews with forum leaders in which they discussed forum activities.
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