UIC UNITED: A Chapter of SUAA Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting December 13, 2007

Members Present: Marsha Borders, Merrill Gassman, Carol Humble, Richard Johnson, William Jones, Rose Kirk, John McCrosky, Irving Miller, Susan Sindelar, Charles Stanislao, and Jacob Starks

Members Absent: Lawrence Poston, Marilyn Ruiz, and Frank Tachau

Guest: John Shuler

The meeting was called to order by President Irving Miller at 10:30am.

1. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Board meeting held on November 1, 2007 were approved.

2. Discussion with SURSMAC member: The Board met with John Shuler, a representative from SURSMAC, to determine if there was potential for common cause and, if so, to look at appropriate ways in which the two groups might work together.

Shuler explained that SURSMAC serves as an advisory group to the SURS Board and draws its members from SURS employees around the state. The group is organized according to employers and linked to the faculty Senate structure. There is general concern about the recent pension holiday as well as other issues. According to Shuler, there are 72,000 active SURS participants, 65,000 inactive participants (not contributing/not collecting), and 40,000 benefit-eligible participants. There are 68 state employers of which approximately 50 are members of SURSMAC. Each organization has 2 appointed representatives; Henri Gillet and he are the UIC representatives.

Mr. Shuler provided additional information on the profile of SURS participants as reported by the Executive Director of SURS:

52%---professors/teachers
48%---support staff
65%---earn less than $50,000/year
79% ---work full-time
57%---work at universities
35% ---work at community colleges
69% ----of retirees receive an average monthly annuity of less than $2,600

Discussion indicated that the two groups could best work together by educating SURS members. President Miller stressed the importance of educating faculty and encouraged Mr. Shuler to consider approaching the Senate leadership to ask that a more proactive stance be taken toward informing faculty about pensions. Mr. Shuler agreed to speak with his colleague Henri Gillet about the discussion and to explore further the role of SURSMAC, which could range from reporting to something more interactive. President Miller will touch base with the SURSMAC representatives again in February.

3. SUAACTION (Richard Johnson): A meeting of the SUAACTION Committee is scheduled for this afternoon (Dec. 13) to discuss the next stage of fundraising for the group as well as other activities for the year. The 2008 fundraising target for UIC is $18,000. Dick stated that a letter of appeal requesting a donation is going out to SUAA members in January.

4. Treasurer's Report (Chuck Stanislao): The following balances were reported as of 12/13/2007:
Savings Account: $  18,465.07
Checking Account:     4,048.26
Certificate Account: 26,692.77

5. SUAA members financial worksheet (Humble, Sindelar, Stanislao): Discussion ensued over the difficulties of getting accurate membership and dues counts from the central office. Chuck indicated that tracking the Chapter's income is complicated by the many factors that are considered by the central office before crediting the Chapter account. He has managed to obtain information on how the central office does their calculations, which has helped with understanding the financials. Many of the problems, he feels, are related to changes in the reporting system, new staff, and the reorganization of the central office. The team pledged to continue working toward a resolution of the problems. In the meantime, Chuck plans to consult with treasurers from other chapters to determine how they are handling their financials.

6. Membership (Susan Sindelar): An identification banner for UIC UNITED has been created for use by the Board. The banner may be displayed for visibility at all Chapter functions and meetings in order that SURS members might begin to recognize UIC UNITED as a Chapter of SUAA.

A draft of an advertisement soliciting potential members was distributed to the Board for their comments. Once approved, the ad will be placed in the February edition of the UIC News.

Also distributed for Board feedback was a single page informational brochure about UIC United with a tear off application that includes our web address for those who wish to learn more about the organization.

The newsletter survey that Larry Poston constructed will be mailed out after it has been reviewed by the Survey Research department in CUPPA and approved by the Board

7. Program (Carol Humble): There were 49 prepaid reservations for the Holiday Luncheon.

More is charged for meeting space on the east side of campus than on the westside. Carol will look into this discrepancy.

The room for the February 6th talk on Social Security will accommodate only 35 people; a larger space was recommended and will be sought.

A number of mailings were returned as undeliverable because of bad addresses; these will be sent to Christine in the Central Office for followup.

8. Appointment of Nominating Committee (Irving Miller): Jacob Starks, Susan Sindelar, and Chuck Stanislao were appointed by President Miller to serve on the Nominating Committee for 2008. Chuck Stanislao will chair.

10. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:59am.

Respectfully submitted by Marsha Borders, Secretary

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