|
Return to CURC Minutes
CURC Steering Committee
January 21, 2004 Conference Call Minutes
Present: Sheela Backen, Julie Cahillane, Pat Chase, Jack DeBell, Alana
Levine, Ed Newman, Carolyn Noack, Pete Pasterz
Not Present: Michael Alexander (NRC), Angie Fowler, Rob Gogan, Michael
Youdelman,
1] Work
Plan Budget update
NRC does
plan to request work plans and budgets from the councils this year
but we do not know when. Pete, Angie
and Ed will begin working on these in anticipation of the request and
will solicit input from the rest of the steers.
2] Newsletter
Draft
sent to all steers prior to the call. Edits/changes were discussed
and made to the draft. Please read and submit any final
changes to Pat by the end of business today. Newsletter will be finalized
and distributed ASAP. Pat and Julie will work with Kurt to post it
to the web site.
3] Rapid
Response
Jack distributed
the draft letter and discussion via e-mail prior to the call. If you
have changes to the letter, please
send to Jack. There may be situations where politics or fear of backlash
may prohibit use of the letter. Careful wording [re: “it has come to
our attention”] may help minimize backlash. We could do more to beef
up the resources and best practice information offered with the letter… some
formulas to calculate costs and savings; ways to highlight percent recycled
in strong areas such as academic offices; etc. Need to help schools see
bottom line savings realized from recycling. For the most part administrators
don’t look at the big picture but simply focus on the cuts they need
to make within one unit or Department. The negative backlash that would
be generated if a program were cut isn’t a consideration as an administrator
looks solely at the cuts they need to make. The letter would only be
one part of the entire campaign to save the program. Would be good to
have the resources and talking point information on the CURC web site
so people can download the information and use it in their campaign to
save their program. Steers need to clarify how we use this process, who
is eligible and how we follow up to see what the effectiveness is. All
steers should help to add resources and best practices and submit to
Jack. Jack will change “talking points” to “best practices” and will
work on clarifying use of the process and eligibility. Jack has also
come across the need for an “endorsement” letter as well as a rapid response
letter. An endorsement can help programs push new initiatives, apply
for grants, etc. Jack will help get this letter going. This letter could
serve as a precursor to the need for a rapid response. National attention
and support could make administrators think twice before moving forward
with cuts to a program.
4] APPA
Affiliations
Most CURCsters
have a connection to APPA based on our placement in or work
with physical plant/facilities. We have struggled
with how to connect and align ourselves with APPA to be sure our message
is included with theirs. Pete will e-mail a list of ideas for working
with APPA (developed at our Albuquerque meeting) and steers should
send Pete thoughts on these and our APPA relationship. Jack is giving
a presentation
at the upcoming APPA and Pete is meeting with the APPA Executive Director
to discuss further. Brochures have been sent by NRC to Jack for the
APPA conference but not received yet.
5] Vacancy/elections
Need
someone to notify members of positions open, nomination process,
timeline, etc. Julie will do this. Pete will pull
together a list of whose term is up for the next call.
Webmaster – if we
find someone to appoint prior to the elections we will do so. If not,
we will solicit through elections.
6] ABC's
status
Pete sent
the four chapters we finalized to NRC shortly before the conference
in Baltimore and has not heard back from them.
Pete will again try to get a response from NRC. Pete will send Julie
the list of chapters that were submitted so Julie can send steers a
list
of chapters left for them to select for editing.
7] Regional
Workshops update
Pete has
an e-mail from Julie Muir about the joint CURC/CCRA (CA College Recycling
Assoc.) efforts at NRC this
year. Pete will forward to Pat so she can make contact with Julie M.
Pat will also call Karyn Kaplan to see if she is again working with
NRC on CURC track sessions. CO has been given the opportunity to plan
a college
track at their annual conference June 7 - 8. Jack would like CURC to
consider supporting this with speakers as it would help to assure the
reality of this track in their conference.
8] Feb call
date
Pete has
a conflict and will not be available. Ed will be able to chair the
call. The call will be the standard third Monday
of the month, February 16, noon eastern.
|
