STAFF COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD 1/21/03

The sub-committee came up with a draft application and proposal. The Council approved the following:

• The "Academic Honorarium" will be available to a full-time appointed CL, TE or SM staff member, degree seeking, overall GPA of 3.0 and registered for more than 3 credit hours.
• The Council wants to limit the honorarium to those staff not receiving financial aid of any kind, except fee courtesy.
• An award of $150 would be toward credit hour payment and $50 would be toward books, going to two different individuals.
• The same person could not receive the same award two semesters in a row and would not receive it again until everyone has had a chance to receive it.
• Length of service will be the distinguishing factor in the event of more than one person qualifying.
• Applications will be available on the Staff Council Web Page; deadline will be posted.
• All fundraisers, beginning with the Style Show in March of 2003, will contribute 20% of its income to the Honorarium Account for scholarship distribution.

I met with Barb Gelwick before the holidays regarding questions that Staff Council had regarding mail here at campus. The questions stemmed around personal mail and packages, and she asked that I dash off a note to you regarding our discussion.

Because IUS is a state university and gets its funds from the taxes paid by Indiana citizens, my Mail Services staff are state employees; therefore, the staff are not allowed to process or handle any mail or packages for individuals or for non-university business. They are only allowed to engage in the processing and handling of mail/packages for the university and its business. In that respect, it would be no different than a manager on campus asking an assistant to run a personal errand, or buying something of a personal nature with university funds.

Barb also mentioned the "red box" that used to be in the Library Building. That box was removed because it was not being used for its intended purpose, which was for dropping off of campus mail and USPS mail. Instead, well over 90% of the letters were from individuals who were mailing personal letters, such as the payment of bills, greeting cards, etc. I believe that most people did not know or understand that it was not to be used for the sending of personal mail. Because the vast majority of the mail was personal and not for university business, the box was deemed to be unnecessary and was removed.

If anyone wishes to send personal mail from campus, the US Postal Service, for the convenience of students, faculty, and staff on campus, have a USPS mail box located by the bus stop, which seemed to be the most central spot on campus. Any outgoing personal mail with proper postage affixed can be deposited in the box, and the USPS will pick up from it daily. As far as personal packages are concerned, unless very specific instructions are given to the shipper to deliver directly to the individual receiving the package at their office or location on campus, personal packages should be sent to that individual’s house. If no one is available to receive it at the residence, the person should make arrangements to have personal packages delivered to a trusted relative or friend.

If you and the Staff Council wish, I would be happy to come to a future meeting to field any questions, and/or please feel free to pass this information along. The Mail Services portion of our Campus Services homepage also addresses the issues of personal mail and packages, and is of course, open to anyone who wishes to view it.

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