The meeting was called to order on Jan. 26. The University Staff Senate recently received a letter to recommend Steve Hankus for an emeritus status. All were in favor and the motion for recommendation passed. Afterwards, the senate held discussions about why some others, including Joyce Bucholder, were not recommended for emeritus status.
Working hard to find an answer to the question, Josh Savoy stated, “It might be that Joyce’s email is still considered active.”
The senate then said they would find out more about this process and put that information in the next newsletter so most faculty and staff know how to get recommended or recommend someone else for emeritus status. COVID-19 testing was the main subject on the open floor. Testing has to happen every two weeks, but the Baraboo campus testing is fully booked.
Karen Teffleet, from the Richland campus, said, “Richland does not offer a wellness, test only a symptoms test. What should we say to the students and faculty?”
The senate’s solution to these questions, for now, is to encourage students to get more active with the free Wisconsin at-home test kits.
Since Baraboo and Richland campuses do not have as much access to COVID testing as the main campus, it was suggested that a COVID tester should visit Baraboo and Richland once a month or, alternatively, every two weeks. The senate then said that the idea was already discussed before, but they are not able to finance travel expenses. With no further questions, the meeting was adjourned.