The Board of Governors on November 13, 1998, determined that the occupants
of
administrative positions are entitled to elect enrollment in the Optional Retirement
Program (ORP) only if those positions qualify as Senior Academic and Administrative
Offices (SAAO) (see Administrative Memoranda 387 and 391). Previous actions of the
board permit ready identification of a broad array of administrative positions that do
qualify as SAAO’s under board definitions (e.g., associate and assistant vice chancellors,
associate and assistant deans). However, other components of the board definitions
(e.g., “directors of major administrative, educational, research and public service
activities”) require a case-by-case analysis to determine whether the particular position
qualifies as an SAAO and thus makes its occupant eligible for enrollment in ORP.
Concern has been expressed about whether the procedures for accomplishing such
case-by-case evaluations (normally requiring approximately 90 days) will work fast
enough to accommodate situations in which a campus has an urgent need to fill a new
or vacant administrative position that has not yet been evaluated for possible inclusion
in the SAAO cohort; and until such an evaluation has been accomplished, there may be
a serious disadvantage in the recruitment effort if a campus is not able to assure
candidates of their right to enroll in the ORP.
