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Policy changes could affect sick leave and tuition waivers at FGCU

 
Employee sick leave, tuition waivers and FGCU’s organizational chart could be affected Jan. 12 if the Board of Trustees votes to approve proposed changes to three policies.
While most of the updates are wording clarifications, some will affect existing regulations by granting more tuition waivers, limiting the types of employees who can join the sick leave pool and adding new groups to FGCU’s organizational chart.
The proposed changes to FGCU’s “Waivers of Tuition and Fees” grant out-of-state tuition waivers to both veterans and reserve members of the U.S. Armed Forces and National Guard who have been honorably discharged. Previously, FGCU granted waivers to National Guard members and Purple Heart recipients, but this change will extend those waivers to all members of the Armed Forces who wish to live in Florida and attend FGCU.
The policy changes would also waive out-of-state tuition fees for undocumented immigrants who graduated from a Florida high school within two years of their application to college.
Florida employees, who are pursuing a Master’s degree or certificate in social work, must maintain at least a B average in all of their courses and meet certain requirements from the Department of Children and Families. Employees will also be exempt from tuition and fees if the new policy is passed.
The tuition updates were made to match the Board of Governors’ policies. Florida public universities can grant more waivers than the BOG does, but it has to give waivers to at least the groups the BOG specifies.
FGCU’s “Sick Leave Pool” will also be affected if its changes are approved. The Sick Leave Pool lets employees donate unused sick-leave hours to a pool for colleagues to use in case they run out of leave and find themselves in an emergency situation. The policy lets employees who worked for other Florida agencies join the pool automatically once they start at FGCU, but the proposed change would make those employees work at FGCU for at least one year before being able to join the pool.
The policy also requires at least four committee members, who are nominated by the university president, to approve the use of hours from the pool. The policy change would require only three of the committee members to approve use.
The proposed changes to “Statement of Agency Organization and Operation” include several updates to titles. For example, the “Assistant Vice President for Community Relations and Marketing” was changed to the “Associate Vice President for University Marketing and Communications.”
The changes added a new position to the FGCU organizational chart – the Director of Compliance and Risk Management. The director is meant to work with all FGCU departments to ensure they are meeting “industry standards” and are compliant with federal and state regulations.
Finally, the policy adds the “Planning and Budget Council” to the list of five governing bodies of FGCU. The other four bodies are Faculty Senate, Student Government, the Staff Advisory Council and each individual college at the university. The PBC is in charge of updating FGCU’s strategic plan and organizing long-term improvement plans.
The BOT members will vote on these policy changes at their Jan. 12 meeting in the Cohen Center Ballroom. The meeting is scheduled to run from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it is open to the public.
Anyone who would like to comment on or suggest a change to the policies can do so in writing to the Office of the General Counsel’s Office by Dec. 23, or in person at the BOT meeting. The Office of the General Counsel can be reached at [email protected].

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