Meeting called to order at 9:05 AM.  Present were President Rick Troxel (UO), Vice-President Bob Becker (OSU), Secretary-Treasurer Kemble Yates (SOU), Greg Monahan (EOU), Steve Gibbons (WOU), Jacqueline Arante (PSU), Tim Thompson (OIT), and Sherry Yang (OIT).  Also present:  Mark Nelson, Bill Linden, and Erica Hetfield.   

Rick Troxel called the meeting to order at 9:05.   

Campus reports— 

UO (RT)

• Raises in 2006-07: 2.75% COLA, 4.25% merit.  Was 6% in 05-06.
• Frohnmayer claims “control of PEBB and PERS necessary”.
  

SOU (KY)

• Budget is bad ($3M hole).
• Enrollments are almost “up” to 0%.
• Kemble is working on a Collective Bargaining Agreement/Const. & By-Laws committee trying to untangle and reconcile these two faculty governance documents.
• Accreditation preparation is consuming a lot of folks’ energy – visit is in 10-07.
• New President Mary Cullinen is being received well so far.
  

EOU (GM)

• Reserves are dangerously spent down.
• Enrollment about flat.
• Chancellor due to visit campus soon.
• Demoralization in upper administration great.

PSU (JA)

• Enrollment up at least 10% while reserves are down.
• Mix of part-time/full-time faculty getting worse (currently about 65% p.t/35% f.t), a huge concern noted in the recent accreditation team report.
• Negotiating team being formed now – union really wants steps.
  

OIT (TT & SY)

• 2% COLA in September.
• Accreditation self-study is almost done.
• Construction of a strategic plan is underway.
  

OSU (BB)

• Faculty Senate has an increasing fraction of non-tenure track faculty/administrators.
• Still grappling with $13M budget shortfall.
• Raises:  2% in September, 4% in January; 12% over biennium.
• President Ray’s goal:  OSU in top 10 land grant institutions nationally.

WOU (SG)

• Enrollments flat.
• President Minahan claims reserves now at 8.4%.
• “Western Tuition Promise” (frozen rate for all four years for a student) approved; amounts to a 12% increase from last year, but really only now in line with other OUS schools.
• Faculty salary increases will be about 10.3% total over biennium.
  

President Troxel suggests:  AOF should organize a major summit of campus faculty leaders (senates and unions), along with IFS and AAUP, to share information and coordinate strategy. 

Treasuer’s Report/ Membership Report 

Membership is down – could be retirements.  Mark will more fully report on membership at our November meeting.  The question was raised:  Couldn’t we offer “organizational memberships”, in addition to individual memberships?  It seems our best way to heal our budget woes is to work on significantly increasing membership.

Executive Director Report (Mark Nelson) -- 

Political polling suggests…  Governor:  Kulongoski leading Sexton by small margin.  Senate:  MN predicts 16-12 or 17-11 for Dems. (w/ 2 Independents). House:  MN predicts the R’s will lose from 2-4 seats – they currently control,   33-27.  Initiatives:  41 losing, 43 is passing, 45 is passing, 46 & 47 are passing, 48 is losing. 

Joint Boards Working Group (a coalition of higher ed, community college, and K-12 players convened by Governor):  Bill reports that our worst fears are materializing – the group’s purpose appears to be to give the Governor some cover for putting less into his budget than he initially signaled.  Gov K is suggesting a 10% increase for each sector; at least 15% is needed to just for current service level in OUS.  To his credit, Chancellor Pernsteiner is not giving into this & simply repeats what OUS needs to truly move forward.

ORP Talking Points:  Were in our packets.  Bill, Marie, and Rick met with Denise Yunker of OUS.  RFP’s are out.  OUS is seeking to reduce their costs, but will choices decrease and costs increase for faculty?  Marie will attend Investment Committee meeting(s).  Larry Curtis, an OSU IFS Senator, is also involved in these meetings. 

PEBB:  OUS wants out.  Should we (AOF) support or oppose this position?  We discussed this.  The general consensus is that we would need statutory language (similar to ORP) that would guarantee OUS faculty would get no less than PEBB delivers.  We’re skeptical that savings would truly find their way into other faculty compensation.  Jacqueline mentioned that PSU has been considering a “go alone” strategy. 

PERS litigation update: [we looked at a handout with this]. 

Future meetings:  November 11, January 13.  No meeting in December.  2007 meetings to be scheduled at our November 11 meeting. 

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 PM