The Chair indicated the sabbatical leave considered was not presented at the last meeting. It was an oversight. 

D. Phillips provided an overview of the newly revised draft bylaws. One of the changes is for the Chair to appoint the committee chairs annually. This process will make scheduling committee meetings more efficient. 

The President recommended a minimum of four meetings a year that would be scheduled in alignment with the faculty/librarian personnel calendar and to hold the budget meeting in May. 

D. Phillips discussed the Open Meeting law which states the agendas for public meetings are to be posted 48 hours in advance of the meeting. The Fitchburg State Trustee bylaws, the packet will be posted 5 business days in advance of the meeting. She next discussed the updated name changes to the committees to better reflect their functions. 

The consensus was to accept all the changes suggested and recommend approval to the full board at the next meeting. 

D. Phillips discussed the petition presented at the last full board meeting by the faculty. She thought significant portions were addressed or on the docket to be addressed. 

The President echoed her sentiments, and added that there are no plans to appoint any additional Vice Presidents. He stated that the NECHE visiting team indicated that we were deficient in not having a Vice President of Diversity. He thought in the future, we might want to revisit that position. Also, there will be forums and an inclusive Finance Task Force established to look at the overall institutional finances. 

D. Phillips talked about the line regarding faculty and staff positions. The President discussed the hiring process for faculty and staff. 

L. Barrieau asked if the Trustees have the ability, within the confines of Open Meeting Law, can we look deeper in these procedures? The President responded that it would be appropriate to review these processes in the Personnel Committee.

M. Fiorentino asked what is the charge to the Finance Task Force, and what is the timeline, and next steps. The President responded that committee makeup and charge will come over the winter break and start in the spring semester. The Finance Task Force will have the opportunity to engage with the campus community. 

A discussion ensued. 

D. Phillips next discussed the slide presentation by the faculty union. In reviewing the document, she expressed confusion by some of the information. 

There was a discussion on having an integrated approach, and which committees should review the materials and to move at a reasonable timeline.

The President offered if there are specific questions that might or might not be included, to send those to J. Bry and that way we can structure the presentation so we can be efficient and respectful of time. 

There was further discussion regarding the document that the union presented. Having the finance and personnel committees review the slide presentation handout was discussed. 

M. Fiorentino asked what is the hope for the results that the Task Force committees will be working on,what are the specifics?

The President responded that they didn’t want to predetermine the answers. The finance team is still trying to put together a specific charge, and the enrollment management team have put together four specific points. 

There was a discussion on the finance task force and the trustee committees’ outcomes.