Update on Faculty Club

1
Update on Faculty Club
Lee Glenn Faculty Senate February 23rd, 2009
2
History

• In Spring/Summer 2007, ETSU central admin and
  Faculty Senate officers discuss taking a look at
  this.
• In Fall 2007, Fred Alsop and Exec Committee
  charges Bylaws Committee to work on Faculty Club.
• In Fall2007/Spring 2008, Bylaws Committee work
  with restaurateurs, ETSU dining service
  administrators, Carnegie Hotel managers, ETSU
  legal counsel, Faculty Senate, Staff Senate,
  Retirees Association, and other groups.
• In late Spring 2008, voting by above ETSU groups
  to narrow shape and direction of club. Staff and
  faculty surveyed by Chris Dula. Faculty Club
  Steering Committee formed from volunteers (Lee
  Glenn, Bill Fisher, Tony Warner Asst VP Univ
  Ctr.
• In Summer 2008, everything in place to launch
  founding membership drive.
• In Fall 2009, temporary hold in order to focus
  attention on budget shortfalls. Furlough/layoff
  atmosphere may not mesh well with a fundraising
  driving.

3
Directions By Votes

• Club characteristics
• For faculty, staff, and administrators
• Private, independent, off ETSU
• ETSU only at first
• Within walking distance (parking concerns)
• Serve food, alcohol, artistic entertainment
• Low start-up costs easy to close down
• Carnegie Hotel voted as first site to consider.
• Member of ACUC for assistance/reciprocity.

4
Possible Names

• No ETSU or Buccaneer words in name
• Faculty Club
• Faculty-Staff Club
• Blue Yellow or Blue Gold Club
• University Club
• State of Franklin Higher Ed Club
• Academia Club or Club Academia
• Hot Air Hideout
• Academia Recovery Club
• Others

5
Milestones

• Draft bylaws for club written and OKd
• Status settled as unincorporated business
  league/trade association
• Level of interest determined to be medium
• Senior staff OKd the plan
• Carnegie Hotel is willing and able. Flexible
  plan for space, services, and amenities is in
  place.
• Letter brochure for Call for Founding Members
  drafted OKd by Faculty Senate
• ACUC stands ready to help
• Club steering committee in place

6
Level of Interest SurveyBy Chris Dula
330 Staff and 285 Faculty
7
Staff and Faculty
Staff and Faculty Combined
8
Staff Only
Staff Only
Staff Only
Faculty Only
9
Low Level of Interest by Staff
Staff (M 1.94, SD 1.23) were significantly
less likely to anticipate paying one years dues
to become a founding member than were Faculty (M
2.76, SD 1.44), where t -7.50, p --Chris Dula
The percentage of extremely interested faculty
was three times that of the staff. About a third
of faculty responded as compared to about a
twentieth of staff. By combining these two
numbers, a rough estimate is that the staff
interest level is about one-tenth to
one-twentieth of the faculty interest level.
10
Worst Case Scenario

• If we assume that the number who will be members
  are
• 0 of non responders Not at All
• 5 of barely interested
• 20 of moderately interested
• 50 of fairly interested
• 100 of extremely interested
• Then
• The club will have 166 founding members and
  3,320 per month to work with.

11

• If you do the same analysis with the Likely to
  Pay? item,
• Then the club will have 124 members and 2480 per
  month to work with.
• Conclusion This is a worst case scenario, but
  the numbers are still on the low side. This
  would be adequate for a small club. Little is
  lost by making this a faculty-only club due to
  low interest level of staff.

12
Carnegie Hotel Stands Ready

• Space, personnel, and services are more than
  enough for the club. They state that they can
  take anything we throw at them.
• The structure was established to be an ETSU
  partner. Mutual financial benefit and
  convenience.
• They will bend over backwards to help, but
• Cannot lose money or other business on the deal.
• Are not very interested in using students or ETSU
  personnel to deliver any services, due the need
  to maintain control to achieve high standards of
  service.
• The managers view is that they want to develop
  more business connections with ETSU. The club
  this hits this desire dead center, making this
  attractive to them.

13
Ideas By Carnegie Hotel

• Key cards to enter the club
• Parking
• Discounted food, drinks, services, and shopping
• Discounted room rentals for members
• Use of pool and exercise room
• VIP treatment

14
What Is Next?

• Just pull the trigger.

15

• Consider making this a faculty/admin only club.
• Executive Committee briefs ETSU President and VPs
  on this and get feedback.
• Finalize letter and brochure and send offers of
  founding membership to all staff/faculty/admin.
  Accept checks only initially. August is best.
• If enough checks come in, activate the club,
  finalize bylaws, file with IRS, and elect board.
• Negotiate 12 month contract with the Carnegie
  Hotel or other.
• The space, amenities, breadth and depth of
  services hinges on number of founding
  memberships.
• If there are 100 members, the club will have one
  set of features suitable for a small, part-time
  club. If there are 2,000 members it will be a
  large full-time club.