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March 6, 2019

 

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UNC-Chapel Hill Employee Forum

Hitchcock Multipurpose Room, Sonja H. Stone Center

NOTE:  This is a draft agenda and is subject to change without notice.

I.  Call to Order & Opening Remarks—Chair Shayna Hill (9:15 a.m. – 9:25 a.m.)

  • Welcome to Guests & Members of the Press

II.  Special Presentation (9:25 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.)

  • Kim Strom, Director, Office of Ethics & Policy, on Speak Up, Carolina & Campus Culture Around Integrity

III.  Consent Agenda (10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.)

IV.  Special Presentations (10:05 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.)

  • Rick Wernoski, Sr. Vice Provost for Business Operations, & Anna Rose Medley, Senior Consultant to the Chancellor, on Carolina Excellence Listening Tour Themes and Updates from the Early Impact Pilots
  • Ardis Watkins, SEANC Legislative Affairs Director

V. Human Resources Update (9:45a.m. – 10:05 a.m.)

  • Vice Chancellor for Workforce Strategy, Equity and Engagement Felicia Washington
  • Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Linc Butler

VI.  Old Business (11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.)

VII. New Business (11:15 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.)

VIII. Announcements/Questions (11:25 -11:30 a.m.)

IX.  Adjournment

MINUTES

March 6, 2019 Employee Forum minutes

Attending:  Darren Abrecht, Emma Beckham, Rich Brandenburg, Tiffany Carver, Timothy Carville, Jasper Fleming, Karen Gilliam, Lori Haight, Shayna Hill, James Holman, Linda Holst, Mary King, Katie Lewis, Karlina Matthews, Jeff McQueen, Arlene Medder, Kadejah Murray, Katie Musgrove, Hoi Ning Ngai, Jim Potts, Laura Pratt, Kathy Ramsey, Greg Smith, James Stamey, Rose Thorpe, Rich Wright

Excused Absences:  Chrissie Greenberg, Alan Moran

Chair Shayna Hill called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m.  She noted that Resolution 19-01 concerning adverse weather leave has been transmitted to the Chancellor’s Office.  She thanked the Forum for its work on this important issue.

The Chair welcomed Kim Strom, Director of the Office of Ethics and Policy.  Strom noted that her Office had been founded in the wake of the Wainstein report.  She said that the Office works to help units make and get rid of policies and to insure people are willing to follow campus policies through tools like the Carolina Ethics Line.  She said that the Office works to deal with difficult situations, both observed and caused.  She referred listeners to the Speak Up Carolina website (https://speakup.unc.edu) for more information about the center’s place in the University’s Blueprint for Next plan.  The website provides a “Tool Kit” to find allies, build skills, and build resources for training.  The site is divided into several sections, namely:  Classroom, Workplace, Community, and Campus Spaces.

Strom directed listeners to the “Workplace” section, which includes several different vignettes about workplace situations in the context of ethical behavior.  As an example, she noted the “Political Cartoons” vignette provides advice on possible responses to an e-mailed cartoon that disagrees with an employee’s political viewpoint.  The site is meant to encourage community members to lean in to uncomfortable situations by building on examples cited through their own thoughts and shared experiences.

She hoped that this page would help employees make better and stronger choices for the benefit of the community.  However, she added that the page is not meant just to deal with difficult conversations only.

The Chair asked about the Ethics Line phone process and whether anonymity is really maintained by the Center.  Strom said that all calls and e-mails sent to the Ethics Line go directly to a third-party administrator in Oregon.  That administrator removes identifying information before the communications are returned to the Office of Ethics and Policy.  Strom said that sometimes calls are simply questions, instead of allegations of improper conduct.  The Office must work to eliminate clues in these comments that might reveal the caller’s name.  She reported that 40% of communications give the caller’s name or self-identify in some other way.

Strom said that sometimes the Office will put together groups of reports when addressing one issue.  She said that “incident managers” across campus handle reports for different areas of campus, providing respondents with a passkey to provide information about how their report has been handled.  Sometimes there is no contact with callers while other times their report is triangulated with other sources.  In any instance, Strom encouraged employees to make reports through the line when in doubt.  She offered to assist listeners with the logistics of preparing a report.

Lori Haigh asked how the Office dovetails with the Ombuds Office.

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