The Business & Finance Committee of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents assembled Thursday to prepare resolutions revising highly contentious issues such as sick-leave policies and the internal audit service. These resolutions will be discussed and voted on by the full board today.
Following a limited period of discussion between the six-member committee and UW System Associate Vice President Alan Crist, who presented an assortment of policies to choose from, the regents unanimously voted to propose a five-day sick-leave resolution. The resolution, as currently written, would require a doctor's certification for the system to grant sick leave for five-or-more consecutive work days.
Former UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows received several months' worth of paid sick leave earlier this year despite not providing any documentation of an actual illness.
Regent Thomas Loftus, who motioned for a vote on the five-day resolution, said a stringent sick-leave policy was appropriate given the system's circumstances.
"It's prudent that the Board of Regents do something more akin to the private sector," Loftus said.
Also discussed by the committee was the role of the internal audit service, and seven recommendations made by UW System President Kevin Reilly were accepted with little adjustment.
Four of the system's four-year universities currently have no internal auditors assigned to their particular campus.
"I am concerned that some of our campuses no longer have a campus auditor," Reilly said.
Individual campus auditors are absent from some campuses, he said, because of continued budget strains. Reilly said cuts were made on auditing positions because of direction he has received from the regents to, whenever possible, cut programs not directly related to instruction.
"The audit cuts reflect our trying to adhere to those principles," he said. "When you're cutting close to the bone, it hurts."
Included in the unanimously accepted internal audit resolution, the Business & Finance Committee would be officially recognized as the audit branch of the regents, and the vice chair of the committee the audit liaison.
Upon Loftus' recommendation, the resolution also includes changing the committee's title to the "Business, Finance & Audit Committee." Should the resolution pass, the name change would be effective no sooner than November because it necessitates changes in the system bylaws.
The committee also forwarded a resolution to better safeguard student Social Security numbers.
Operations Review and Audit Director Ron Yates said many UW System campuses use students' Social Security numbers as the primary identifiers for their students.
"We're going to try to improve that process," Yates said. "You don't need a Social Security number to track a person."
