December 2023
EFC Reports
Faculty Senate (Draft)
December 5, 2023
(Minutes will be published in February)
----Funded Retirement and Insurance Committee Update by Julie Urmie, Faculty
Co-chair, Funded Retirement and Insurance Committee and Joni Troester, Senior Assistant Vice President and Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer, emphasizing changes to health and drug coverage.
----Presentation on progress of the “Together Hawkeyes Campaign” by Lynette Marshall, President and Chief Executive Officer, UI Center for Advancement.
----Presentation by Barbara Wilson focusing on student enrollment numbers, tuition costs, scholarships and financial aid, and support for faculty research and teaching.
---President’s Report by Ed Gillan.
The Presidential Committee on Athletics (PCA)
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023.
Reported by Tricia Zebrowski and John Westefeld representing the EFC.
Committee chair Torner read the minutes from the previous meeting, which were subsequently approved. This was followed by a presentation by Megan Menzel, Head Coach for the women’s golf program. team. She reported a deep and strong roster consisting of a number of freshmen. Overall, the team is comprised of students from the US and abroad (e.g. Peru and Mexico). Coach Menzel ended with a preview of the upcoming season, which includes six invitationals and the Big Ten final in April.
The next speaker was Greg Davies, Associate Athletic Director and CFO who provided an overview of the budget for 2023-24. Points of interest:
- The overall budget for Athletics is $140,000,000, the 9th largest in the Big Ten conference.
- Top revenue: $61,000,000 (44%) comes from conference distributions, and $28,000,000 from gift contributions (20%)
- Top expenditures: Salaries (44%) and debt services (14%). Student scholarships represent 11% of expenditures.
- The Department of Athletics is a self-supporting unit.
The final speaker was Beth Goetz, Interim Athletic Director. She reported that the NCAA has provided a framework for determining student athlete compensation. No decisions were made by UI regarding adopting these recommendations. The two major pieces of this framework
- Provide a total of $30,000,000 in trust fund for student athletes across programs ($9.000.000 for UI)
- Consider purchasing NILs from student athletes
Goetz ended the meeting by presenting accomplishments of UI student athletes:
- Overall graduate rate is 89%, which is above NCAA and UI thresholds
- Women’s field hockey team in sweet 16
- Women soccer team won Big Ten championship
- Football team final record 10-3; Citrus Bowl Jan 1 vs U of Tennessee
- Men and women’s wrestling ranked #1 nationally
- New wrestling facility “months away” from completion
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia Zebrowski
FRIC Report 12/1/23
Provided by William Silverman
The meeting started off with a reminder that everyone would be assigned a PCP by WellMark if they didn’t already have one. It was stressed that this did not oblige people to go to that assigned PCP. Also, patients could go to the MyWellmark site and update their PCP choice.
GLP-1 drug being used for weight loss:
Committee is still considering negotiated coverage details.
Issues: 1) Indications and degree of coverage. 2) Reimbursement relative to restrictions based on FDA indications and compliance. That is, drug company reimbursements are currently based on whether the plan adheres to FDA indications. If the coverage is more restrictive, drug company reimbursement will be decreased or nonexistent currently. That is under negotiation. It was discussed that there are many new potentially competitive GLP-1 drugs, and that may affect reimbursement.
Leon Jons MD ( leon-jons@uiowa.edu) Dept Family Medicine who runs the obesity clinic with other physicians (Kathie Robinson and Katie White), gave an excellent presentation.
He talked about the pharmacology of GLP-1 drugs. He stressed that behavioral and dietary treatment always precedes consideration of pharmacologic treatment. Both of those proceed surgical considerations for weight reduction.
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He also discussed new data showing potential cardiac benefits with GLP-1 drugs. He did not know whether those cardiac benefits were due to the weight loss itself, or to particular pharmacologic properties of those drugs. This will likely be a major consideration in ongoing global medical discussions of those drugs’ clinical benefits. (General discussion of the drugs, benefits, and indications, not confined to insurance reimbursement, etc..)
Since the number of patients who would qualify for these drugs is so high (people with a BMI of greater than 30, or a BMI of greater than 25 with comorbid indications), and since these drugs are used chronically, the amount of drug that would be potentially prescribed across the country (for diabetes management, and for weight reduction), as well as the supply of the drug, and the resulting costs are a major considerations.
The FRIC committee will make a final decision regarding the coverage details in the late spring 2024.
Personal comment: Need to be observant to the fact that prominent physicians are being paid to promote these drugs.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-obesity-novonordisk-doctors/
Recreational Services Charter Meeting Notes 12.1.23
Submitted to ERC by C. Atchison
Attendance: Patrick Taylor, Shea McMurray, Cooper Pierce, Mallory Valentine, Pat Kutcher, Jeanette Luke, Evan Decker, Angela Charsha-Harney, Alex Voss, Chris Odinet, Luke Mozena, Caleb Recker, Gretta Acheson, Shelby Reeves, JT Timmons, Adam Schuck, Daniel Caplan, Mike Valentine, Kara Park, Dave Patton, Michelle Harder, Erin Sullivan, Nathan Lokenvitz, Amy Smith, Matt Schaefer, Tommy Schorer, Abby Rivenburgh, Emily Hamling,
Welcome – Patrick
Locker Survey – Shea McMurray, Assistant Director of Facility Operations
- - Overview: CRWC member lockers are not in great condition. Locks are broken and replacement keys are no longer in production. This prompted our department to evaluate the locker room/space.
- - Assessment: An assessment was created and sent to all current members. Survey was designed to look at all storage options within our buildings, not just paid lockers. Survey was sent through email in October 2023. Roughly 2,000 responses were collected.
- - Questions about Results:–
o Chris Odinet: Did you break the survey out between the club locker and other locker rooms?
▪ Answer: No we did not, rather we evaluated paid lockers as one category. o Erin Sullivan: Was there anything in the survey that talked about styles (bays, etc.)
▪ Answer: No, we did not ask specifically that question but that data suggests changing rather than locker/showers.
o Chris Odinet: Served as a visiting professor at the University of Georgia – There they had one locker room for men and women, and you would bring your own lock. They also had free lockers where patrons made own code. These were always used and popular however patrons would forget which locker was theirs and staff were constantly using a master key to open lockers.
▪ Shea McMurray: some other institutions are adding clear Plexi glass.
▪ Caleb Recker: BIG10 schools are being consulted.
o Patrick Taylor: Are we leaning towards having more paid lockers on workout floors?
▪ Answer: Unpaid lockers.
▪ Follow up: Would you replace cubbies?
• Answer: Maybe combination, unsure at this time.
o Patrick Taylor: Students tend to avoid locker rooms. Typically don’t pay for things separately and tend
to shower at home/dorms. I prefer the size of the cubbies.
Student Leadership Committee – Mallory Valentine, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives
- Overview: The Student Leadership Committee is comprised of 10 students from across the department. Together they go through leadership development series as well as work on a project for the department. This year the group is exploring outdoor recreation opportunities. They have narrowed down their topics to the following:
o Outdoor Bouldering Garden o CalisthenicsPark
o Pickleball
- Pickleball:
o Chris Odinet: Pickleball court service preference is to be indoors
▪ Georgia had six pickleball courts that were packed with college students outside.
o Alex Voss: Temporary pickleball surfaces are improving. Pickleroll is a new product where you lay it out,
play on it, move it to the next location.
https://pickleroll.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiApaarBhB7EiwAYiMwqujpTyRfI2Zto58_k2aP5yXbqU11wClzv3N34 0gCElp7Vx6JOlHx5hoChwoQAvD_BwE
o Caleb Recker: We are finding high performance players want to play on the better surface, rather than hardwood floors.
o Chris Odinet: How are we judging the need? Do we know the wiliness to travel? Blended lines at HTRC can be a barrier to participation. Fac/staff/community interest part of the solution.
▪ Answer: We are juggling all the different user groups, but find there is interest for the department to consider.
- Calisthenics:
o Patrick: Curious about calisthenics – Is there a club and have they been working with them?
▪ Answer: Unknown. Something we can look into.
o Mallory Valentine: Added additional context that the group is currently exploring Fitness Court:
https://www.nationalfitnesscampaign.com/fitness-court
o Jeanette Luke: In my hometown, by their community center, they have outside stations that are very popular.
o MichelleHarder:Considerationtoincludecampusplanningindiscussions.