AGENDA ITEM FOR 9/9/96 BOARD MEETING

SUBJECT

Consolidation, generalization, repeal, and/or transfer to Administrative Rules of Board policies I-10, I-13, II-6, III-25, IV-84, VI-30, VII-21, VIII-7, VIII-10, VIII-2, VIII-5, VIII-30, VIII-31, VIII-32, VIII-33, VIII-34, VIII-36, VIII-37, VIII-38, VIII-39, VIII-41, VIII-42, VIII-43, VIII-45, VIII-48, VIII-49, and VIII-58, with related amendments to Board policies III-1 and VII-2, and addition of a policy mandating a College Legal Manual.

RECOMMENDATION

That the Board adopt, after any desired amendments, the proposed new policy (College Legal Manual), six replacement policies (on Employee Leave, Conflicts of Interest, Prevention of Harassment, Sabbatical Leave, Employee Tuition Exemption, and Posting of Position Openings), and two amendments (to the policies on Tuition Rates and Purchasing), and repeal the listed existing policies.

RATIONALE

This is the second stage of the policy-consolidation process. In the first stage, the Board tranferred a large number of policies which completely lacked strategic policy-level provisions entirely to Presidential authority. In this stage, the Board-level elements of 27 policies which have a mixture of Board-level and lower-level provisions have been extracted. 54 pages of existing Board policy would be replaced by a total of about three pages of new policy language. These "Group B" policies are those which were identified as ones in which the separation of Board-level and lower-level provisions is relatively straightforward. The remaining 23 "Group C" policies, which will require more individualized attention, will be brought up for Board consideration in smaller groups over the next year.

Significant changes in these policy proposals in response to legal advice and comments at the 8/19/96 discussion meeting:

[1] A policy mandating the development of a College Legal Manual is proposed; this will facilitate the exclusion of statutory provisions from Board policy, as Carver recommends.

[2] The Board must approve any changes in administrative rules on leave which cost more than $100,000 per year.

[3] Conflict-of-interest rules about doing business with the college are mandated only for trustees and managers; rules for other employees left to President's discretion. "Substantial interest" is defined by referring to the Texas Local Government Code.

[4] The Prevention of Harassment policy has been expanded to include most of the language in the current policies against sexual and racial harassment.

[5] Deletion of specific HUB goals and disparity study language from policy III-1 (Purchasing) and from the suggested amendment is proposed.

BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

None.

RESOURCE PERSONNEL

Hunter Ellinger, Trustee

Cynthia Reed, Asst. to the President

EXHIBITS

Proposed policies and amendments

proposed new policy-consolidation policy

COLLEGE LEGAL MANUAL

The College President, in coordination with the College legal counsel, shall cause to be maintained and distributed a College Legal Manual which explains the important legal provisions covering College operations.

The new policy-consolidation Board policy proposed below would replace existing policies VIII-30, VIII-31, VIII-32, VIII-33, VIII-34, VIII-36, VIII-37, VIII-38, VIII-39, VIII-41, VIII-42, and VIII-43. All other details on leave would be left for the administration to determine. The amounts of leave specified here match those provided under current practices; any changes would require appropriate amendments.

EMPLOYEE LEAVE

A. COVERAGE

[1] The provisions of this policy apply to staffing-table positions. Paid leave may be provided for other classes of employees when deemed appropriate by the President, provided that the rates at which leave is earned do not exceed that for staffing-table positions.

[2] Use of all leave is subject to administrative rules set by the President; in particular, use of annual leave may be restricted at times where it would interfere with meeting teaching assignments or needed seasonal work. Changes in administrative rules on leave must be approved by the Board if their financial impact would be more than $100,000 per year.

B. STANDARD LEAVE

[1] The standard amount of annual leave for eligible employees shall be 15 days per year during their first 5 years in an ACC staffing-table position and 20 days per year after that.

[2] No more than 30 days of annual leave may be accumulated; employees are paid for any unused annual leave upon separation.

[3] Faculty members with less than year-round employment do not earn annual leave.

[4] Up to 19 paid holidays may be provided each year, as specified by the College President.

C. EXCEPTIONAL LEAVE

[1] Sick leave is earned at the rate of 1 day per month, with a maximum of 150 days, and taken as needed. Half of any accumulated excess over 120 days is paid on separation.

[2] Paid leave may also be taken for jury duty, the birth or adoption of a child (10 days), the death of a close relative (3 days), and military reserve training (up to 10 days).

[3] Unpaid leave, with or without benefits, may be granted at the discretion of the administration.

The proposed new policy-consolidation Board-level policy below would replace current Board policies I-10 (conflicts of interest), III-25 (gifts from vendors), IV-84 (private use of college property), VI-30 (intellectual property), VIII-2 (standards of conduct), and VIII-5 (nepotism), as well as Section D of policy III-1 (purchasing). Many of the details of these old policies would no doubt be retained in the administrative rules.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The College President shall establish and enforce rules for college employees, students, and volunteers to keep college resources from being inappropriately used for personal gain. The rules shall forbid, in addition to activities forbidden by law, at least these activities:

[1] the acceptance of personal gifts from College vendors,

[2] participation by authors in decisions about use of their textbooks by the College, and

[3] supervision of one relative by another.

[4] the provision of college business to College managers or trustees, or to their immediate family members. Provision of college business to firms in which such people have a substantial interest (as defined by Chapter 171 of the Texas Local Government Code) shall also be forbidden except when the President finds a compelling benefit for the College and the manager or trustee publicly recluses themselves from the decision.

The rules shall also establish procedures by which employees shall report, and provide the College an appropriate share of, any significant financial gain beyond their College pay resulting from activities in which College resources or facilities are used, or which are conducted during their duty hours or as part of their College jobs.

The proposed new policy-consolidation Board policy below would generalize and replace existing Board policies VIII-7 (sexual harassment) and VIII-10 (racial harassment).

PREVENTION OF HARASSMENT

Austin Community College assumes an affirmative posture to prevent and eliminate harassment, especially sexual and racial harassment, in any part of the College by any employee. It is the policy of the College that any practice or behavior which constitutes such harassment is strictly forbidden, and that any employee, regardless of gender or race, who is found to have engaged in such conduct shall be subject to disciplinary action or dismissal.

The College President shall establish and enforce rules for college employees, students, and volunteers to prevent any form of harassment in college activities. The rules shall provide a clear and well-publicized procedure for filing harassment complaints. Special attention shall be placed on the prevention of sexual and racial harassment, and on the prevention of abuse of positions of authority. Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome "sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature".

Such conduct violates policy when submission to it, or the response to it, is an explicit or implied basis of a decision about employment or academic efforts, or when the conduct produces an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or learning environment.

The proposed new policy-consolidation Board policy below would replace existing Board policy I-13 (MBE/WBE rules) by an appropriate amendment of the new purchasing policy. The old policy would become an administrative rule.

Replace the last three sentences of the current Section E of policy III-1 by this sentence:

The college shall follow the MBE/WBE definitions of the City of Austin or the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

proposed new Board-level policy-consolidation revision of policy VIII-48

SABBATICAL LEAVE POLICY

Each year, the College President may, upon the recommendation of the Sabbatical Review Committee, grant sabbatical leaves to staffing-table employees, provided that employees granted such leaves:

[1] comprise no more than 2% of their employee category,

[2] have rendered at least 6 years uninterrupted service, and

[3] agree to return to the College for a period at least as long as the leave period, or to repay all money they were paid by the College while on leave.

Faculty members may be granted sabbaticals of nine months at 67% pay or one semester at 75% pay. Non-faculty employees may be granted sabbaticals of 30 days at 91% pay or 60 days at 83% pay. The pay rate shall be reduced if needed to keep total compensation from all sources during the sabbatical from exceeding the employee's base ACC salary.

proposed new Board-level policy-consolidation revision of policy VIII-49

EMPLOYEE TUITION EXEMPTION

Since providing education benefits to its employees is in its best interests, the College will generally pay tuition and fees at the College for up to 12 credit hours or 180 non-credit hours per year, for all full-time employees and for part-time faculty and staffing-table employees employed for at least the last three years.

proposed new Board-level policy-consolidation revision of policy VIII-58

POSTING OF POSITION OPENINGS

The President shall establish rules for posting openings for staffing-table positions which s/he determines will result in the provision of adequate notice to as broad and diverse a pool of well-qualified potential employees as feasible.

To maximize faculty-position applications from people already employed at other colleges, these rules shall be designed to enable the College to usually make offers for faculty positions before most college faculty have been asked to commit themselves to continue at their current institutions.

The amendments proposed below to existing Policy VII-2 would extract the only Board-level policy provision from policies II-6 and VII-21, permitting their transfer to administrative rules.

Amend title "TUITION RATES" to "TUITION AND FEE RATES", and append a fourth paragraph:

[4] Student fees must be approved by the Board and shall be assessed without regard to residence status.

This page was prepared by Hunter Ellinger and was last updated on August 31, 1996.