Having voted at its December meeting to support a resolution from the Carter Center asking the administration to suspend its pre-employment drug testing policy, Employee Council spent a significant portion of its Jan. 15 meeting crafting its statement to the University Senate in order to present its position.

“We need to make sure that our statement is exactly what we want to say, that it expresses our sentiments as a council and is the direction that we want to take,” council President Cheryl Bowie told the group just prior to its vote on the statement’s wording.

In between the council’s December and January meetings, Bowie had met with members of the Senate’s executive committee who asked her the background behind the resolution. The committee told her the topic will be on the Senate’s Jan. 28 agenda and asked her to prepare an introductory statement.

In other council business, nomination forms were handed out for officer elections, which will be held later in the spring. Council members may nominate themselves or others for positions, and the forms will be accepted through February. Completed forms should be returned to membership chair Robyn Pollette in 211 Bishops Hall. Questions should be directed to her at rwpolle@emory.edu.

Communications chair Susie Lackey said the council most likely will hold its spring information fair in April at the VA Hospital. She is taking suggestions for a theme.
Guest speakers included servant leadership chair Julia Leon, who discussed the council’s ties to the Center for Ethics’ Servant Leadership program, and Veronica Finkelstein, director of Student Legal Services. Finkelstein introduced the council to her law school-affiliated office and said that any member of the Emory community can come by for free legal advice on anything ranging from criminal to civil law. The advice, which comes from Emory law students and a practicing attorney, is free of charge.

The next Employee Council meeting will be held Feb. 19 at Oxford College from
2–4 p.m.

If you have a question or comment for Employee Council, send e-mail to Cheryl Bowie at cheryl@radonc.emory.edu.