Boulder Campus Staff Council records

Prior to 1935, there was an extremely limited number of staff at the University of Colorado, but between 1935 and 1945 the university enrollment grew to 4000 and more clerical and custodial staff were added. In the fall of 1945, the student population doubled, increasing the demand for staff. The student directories illustrate the establishment and growth of departments and staff as departmental listing began to appear in WWII and grew as the University enrollment increased to 10,000 by 1950. As academic departments began to develop, they continued to fill positions with clerical and administrative staff. The number of staff increased dramatically as the University grew more bureaucratic after 1955. By 1960, university staff members, administrative, secretarial, custodial, medical, maintenance and grounds, constituted a large enough constituency for representation.

In July, 1962 the original Staff Advisory Committee was formed under Section 20 of the Staff Personnel Policies of the University of Colorado. It stated that the Staff Advisory Committee would, “advise the Director of Personnel and administrative officers on such matters as may be referred to the Committees, as the committee may initiate, or as the employees may request.”[1] From 1962 to 1972 the group was informally known as the Staff Council. The by-laws did not reflect the name or the function of the Council, and so the “Boulder Campus Community Council Constitution” was rewritten and the name changed.[2] In 1972, a state constitutional amendment was passed that reorganized the University into four campuses, and it became important to subdivide university-wide organizations into campus entities. In 1972 the name of the group was officially changed from “Staff Advisory Committee" to “Boulder Campus Community Council.” Once again, in 1975, after the university campuses had developed their campus administrations, the name was changed to Boulder Campus Staff Council which has stood as the name since.[3]

The purpose of the Staff Council, according to the 1975 Constitution was to primarily give the University Administration “proposals to improve the status” of CU staff. The BCSC constitution did not limit the type of items that could be proposed, as long as they fell within the “broad interpretation of the term ‘improvement.’” Staff benefits, salary, incentives, leave, rights and many similar topics have fallen under this domain of “improvement.” Other general purposes included serving as the mediator in disputes between the staff and administration. The goal of the organization was to remain a-political and unbiased. The Staff Council took an active part in the Silver and Gold Record, the campus-wide faculty/staff newspaper, sending a Staff Council representative to hold a position on the Editorial Board.[4] The Silver and Gold Record ran from 1970 to 2009. Later by-laws included “fostering community engagement and enhancing employee morale.”[5] A staff council softball team was created in the 1990’s and many engagement events, and awards were also established and developed by the Staff Council.

[1] 1962 Staff Council By-Laws, Boulder Campus Staff Council. 2-1, Special Collections and Archives, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries. [2] 1972 Staff Council Constitution, ibid, 2-6. [3] 1975 Staff Council By-Laws, ibid, 8-25. [4] 1975 Staff Council Minutes, ibid, 1-18 [5] 2014 Staff Council By-Laws, Staff Council University of Colorado Boulder, http://www.colorado.edu/staffcouncil/sites/default/files/attached-files/6_bylaws_january_2014.pdf