Staff Council President Ann McFarland
The UH Staff Council discussed budget cuts and scholarship opportunities during its meeting Thursday.
“We will not know until 2011 what are the budget cuts,” Staff Council President Ann McFarland said. “A stronger talk on the furlough and how to implement that is on the table.”
A one-day furlough may be done before March 31. Staff members who make $30,000 or more will be more impacted than those who make less than that.
The Staff Council has made its own cuts in food and work-studies.
“We can’t cut if we want to keep a full-time Staff Council,” McFarland said.
The Council is also offering 10 scholarships of $500 to employees who plan to pursue a degree.
Committee members announced that they would rank applications in a blind review process and select the top 10 applicants. Don Perry from the Academic Affairs Committee passed around the scholarship application.
“All the staff members should complete the application if you are interested,” Perry said.
The application deadline is March 22.
Member Joe Papick also announced that buildings to be locked down would be determined and that staff need to wear name tags if they are on campus grounds over the weekend.
“The problem is people will not wear (the name tags) during the night but need them after hours,” McFarland said. “If you are not wearing the name tag you may have to leave campus.”
She also said there have been staff who have not been let in into buildings because they were not wearing their name tags.
McFarland also asked all members to remember that staff council elections are coming up and that they need to get involved.
She also asked members to begin attending more meetings, particularly Board of Regents meetings.
She said the council should be better represented and have a stronger presence at this meeting.
During the meeting, Esmeralda Valdez from Administration and Finance gave a report on how the University is pushing the green initiatives.
She said UH is the first university to mandate reusable to-go containers and is pushing for a more green and sustainable campus.
“We don’t want students to be cleaning and washing the containers by themselves,” Valdez said. “We are asking students to return the containers, and we will give new ones.”
