BFC highlights health care, constitutional modifications

On Tuesday, the Bloomington Faculty Council met for the last time this semester to discuss changes to its constitution and faculty health care.

The BFC passed a constitutional reform that, upon the approval of the whole faculty, will turn the agenda committee into an executive committee that will have some power to act on its own when the full council isn’t available to vote.

“That’s talking about particularly the summer, if there is something urgent,” President pro Tempore Erika Dowell said. “The executive committee would be empowered to act on behalf of the council.”

There was also a report given by the ad hoc committee that discussed the Health Engagement Program, which includes the insurance options that are offered to faculty and staff at the University statewide.

“They had a short summary report that included a few resolutions and put forward what they think might be alternative ways to achieve the same goals for the faculty to endorse actions,”
Dowell said.

The committee will come out with a longer report within the next 10 days that gives a more complete background of the research it did on health care.

“That’s something that is certainly very important to the faculty and staff because it affects how much we pay for health care and what kind of information we need to provide to our employers about our health,”
Dowell said.

— Katie Dawson