For nearly half a century, the Civil Service (CS) and Administrative/Professional (AP) Councils have served as key shared governance bodies representing the staff of Illinois State University. While both councils have served their respective staff groups well, recent changes and ongoing concerns led the councils to work together in developing a proposal to merge into a single, united Staff Council that includes both CS and AP representation. This culminated in votes of both councils two years ago to merge.
Discussions about the possibility of a merger and the nature of a new, staff-wide council have been ongoing between the two councils for several years, starting with a cross-council working group and extending to campus-wide information sessions that the councils hosted in the fall semester of last year. At this stage, there is general agreement on the benefits of such a council, what major concerns would have to be addressed, what such a council should look like, and how a staff council would function in Illinois State’s shared governance structures.
This process will not impact this year’s election cycles for CS or AP Councils, and elections are proceeding as planned.
To ensure that there is adequate time and consultation with Illinois State staff, the CS and AP councils will spend much of this calendar year engaging in an outreach campaign to provide information about the work done so far and to solicit feedback. Most months from now through November, we will provide either an in-depth discussion of some aspect of the merger or respond to the feedback and questions we receive.
We want to make sure that your voices are recognized and heard, and so we plan to devote two months specifically to addressing questions you send to the councils. This will conclude in November with an advisory survey of all staff, where you can make your views known, and we can take that into account in making final decisions about the merger. The planned topics are as follows:
- March–Introduction and timeline of the plans for this series
- April–History of work on the merger, reasons for proposing the merger
- May–Structure of merged council, part I: Council structure, membership, and executive board
- June–Response to feedback received from March through May
- July–Break
- August–Structure of merged council, part II: Subcommittees on the council
- September–External representation and position in Illinois State shared governance
- October–Response to feedback received from June through September, call for staff-wide advisory survey
- November–Break—continued gathering of survey results
- December–Results of the staff-wide advisory survey, plans moving forward
You will find these articles linked in future staff newsletters. They will also be on the website for the proposed Staff Council, which is coming soon.
As mentioned above, your feedback is vital to this process and central to maintaining Illinois State’s practice of shared governance. Not every question can be answered at this stage, and not every decision can be made right away—some things would have to be determined by the Staff Council itself. However, members of the CS and AP Councils will do their best to answer every question. Feedback, including questions and comments, should be submitted to the feedback form that will be included with future articles. We will devote two months specifically to responding to feedback, so be sure to submit them.
Next month you’ll be hearing about the history of work on a merger and the reasons that led both councils to approve a merger. Be sure to keep an eye out next month, and for the rest of the year, as we walk through the proposal for a unified Illinois State University Staff Council.
Members of the merger working group: Quanisha Kumi-Darfour (chair, CS Council), Derek O’Connell (AP Council), Beth Porter (CS Council), Melissa Ramirez-Osorio (AP Council), Amy Secretan (Chair, AP Council)
