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  • 8.1.1 Business Meals - Open Comment Period: November 17 - December 8, 2023

    Nov 17, 2023 8:00 am by Policy Office

    The Office of the Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Comptroller announces an open comment period for Policy 8.1.1 Business Meals, Refreshments, and Alcohol from Friday, November 17 to Friday, December 8, 2023. This policy update attempts to provide more clarification on this process.

    Highlights Include:

    • Added definitions for Business Meals, Food Supplies, Alcohol, Catered Event, and University Function
    • Added list of Approved and Non-Approved events for expenditure/reimbursement
    • Clarifies that students can attend business meals, catered events, or university functions IF (1) there is an educational component to the event, and (2) a faculty or staff member is present.
    • Added language that UIS requires pre-approval prior to serving alcohol
    • Lists the allowable funds to utilize for alcohol purchases

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    Contact

    • If you have questions about the updates to policy, please contact the CFO Business and Finance Policy Office at obfspolicies@uillinois.edu.

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Comments

joneshe@illinois.edu Dec 8, 2023 1:41 pm
• How (and who) will be determining if an event advances the mission of our unit? • What will “enforcement” of this policy look like? • How they are defining “Meals”. The overall policy heading seems to differentiate meals from Refreshments, but this specific policy only addresses meals. Does this mean that if we are offering refreshments but not full meals this policy does not apply? • Who is determining what “modest cost” means?
Reply to joneshe@illinois.edu at 1:41 pm
joneshe@illinois.edu Dec 8, 2023 1:39 pm
How will this impact the residential Experience for those students that live with University Housing? Our mission is about creating communities and a sense of belonging beyond the classroom that sometimes involves residents socializing over a meal that represents their culture. We are a home away from home which our efforts to get students connected may occur during/beyond the traditional office hours as they are with us 24/7. Sometimes we have events with food from cultural restaurants and bakeries to bring a sense of home and belonging for students. Additionally, having "social" space for students who feel excluded or the "only" throughout much of their academic experience Is critical and having food in this space is critical to making students feel at home. Our efforts to get students connected to the Illinois Experience contributes to retention efforts for individuals returning to the Residence Halls/Apartment communities as well as the university.
Reply to joneshe@illinois.edu at 1:39 pm
ahedrick@illinois.edu Dec 8, 2023 12:11 pm
We have always paid for meals separately from alcoholic beverages (two separate receipts), due to limitations on allowable charges on specific funds (State, Grants, etc) and on limitations with mixing cfops on same expense report (State and Local). So for an event we would have one charge for the food and a second charge for the alcoholic drinks. Then we could charge different cfops for each if needed, and use separate expense reports if mixing funds. Payables is saying we need to charge the food and alcohol on one receipt/charge so that it is combined for the $75 meal limit policy. If we do this, it would cause our department to do many journal vouchers in the back end to correct what cfops the expenses should actually go to. Is this a policy to charge food and alcohol to one receipt/charge?
Reply to ahedrick@illinois.edu at 12:11 pm
djbreen@illinois.edu Dec 8, 2023 11:44 am
The wording, "Non-allowable events include events focused on individuals or small sub-sets of individuals, such as birthday celebrations, wedding celebrations, and other similar celebratory events," is not accurate or extremely restrictive in my view. A small department often has a business meetings with a small sub-set of individuals. For example, when you bring in candidates to interview, they often have a working lunch with the search committee. That is usually four or five people. This is most definitely a "small sub-set of individuals." This language should be removed. The wording would be difficult to enforce in a uniform manner.
Reply to djbreen@illinois.edu at 11:44 am
ahedrick@illinois.edu Dec 8, 2023 9:40 am
Our department is Food Science and Human Nutrition, so we purchase a lot of food supplies used for research projects and for food eaten by research participants. Can you provide examples of how/or if this differs from business meals. We struggle with what account codes to use for the different food purchases.
Reply to ahedrick@illinois.edu at 9:40 am
holman1@illinois.edu Dec 8, 2023 8:23 am
These edits do make things clearer on allowable vs non-allowable. Maybe more information about a business meeting - what constitutes a business meeting? Can we include interviews with candidates (external or internal)? Why 5 years of service for a separation event?
Reply to holman1@illinois.edu at 8:23 am
aander5@uic.edu Dec 4, 2023 4:59 pm
The System's mission is broader than education and includes Public Service and Engagement (https://www.uillinois.edu/about/mission/). Only educational events are addressed as allowable in the policy. Please provide clarity on events that are open to the public and that further the university's mission in other ways.
Reply to aander5@uic.edu at 4:59 pm
kcromwel@illinois.edu Dec 1, 2023 3:41 pm
Graduate students are also employees. For research units an event with students may have a research component, they may be "educated" at the event , but you may need to think about saying they have an education and or research component or define that students who are also employees can be considered as employees when talking about meals/receptions, etc.
Reply to kcromwel@illinois.edu at 3:41 pm
hstites2@illinois.edu Nov 27, 2023 12:05 pm
Maybe I missed this, or maybe it is under another section, but what about events geared toward public outreach or events where the public might be present, whether held on campus or not? I did not see this defined in the new policy.
Reply to hstites2@illinois.edu at 12:05 pm
clawson@illinois.edu Nov 27, 2023 11:35 am
under definitions, not all university functions are events where the majority of attendees are students. There are staff appreciation events that campus puts on solely for staff or the events at the President's house, conferences... I think that perhaps there should be University functions and Student functions to make it clear. for our faculty search candidate lunches, we do have a group of students meet with the faculty search candidate with no other faculty member present. I think this is common. We usually order pizza or sandwiches for this interaction. I like the examples.
Reply to clawson@illinois.edu at 11:35 am
jcox@illinois.edu Nov 27, 2023 10:17 am
Please clarify how this relates to graduate students who can also be employees in many units. Grad students often meet with our seminar speakers over lunch, as an educational opportunity for the students. Faculty and staff are too busy to always attend these meals, and in fact are typically already separately meeting with the speaker for a dinner later that day. We also engage our current grad students during recruiting season for new graduate students, where they are hosts for lunches, dinners and other events. This enables the recruits to discuss real experiences with current students in a casual setting without the faculty present, which helps them decide if UIUC is the program for them.
Reply to jcox@illinois.edu at 10:17 am
bamberge@uic.edu Nov 27, 2023 8:53 am
Student orgs that are not registered should still be able to meet to discuss the org activities and how they can engage the student body. Would appreciate more clarity around having food at routine faculty meetings.
Reply to bamberge@uic.edu at 8:53 am
bneig2@illinois.edu Nov 20, 2023 4:21 pm
When prospective students conduct a formal campus visits to our program one meeting they attend is lunch with current students. We purposefully do not include faculty or staff at this business meal, so the visiting student can talk with current students about the program without professional staff in the room. This allows for a more candid conversation between students. However, there is real purpose for this meal as our feedback shows it is a critical part of a prospective students decision to attend the program. The current description of the new policy would no longer allow this to occur and would have negative consequences on our admissions.
Reply to bneig2@illinois.edu at 4:21 pm
jkatterh@illinois.edu Nov 20, 2023 4:18 pm
The section regarding students and business meals needs to be further clarified. First, the phrase educational component needs to be better defined. Second, our grads are often employees, but not considered faculty or staff. Requiring faculty or staff to chaperone business meals is going to present unnecessary challenges and cost as grad students often entertain seminar speakers and potential new graduate students on their department's behalf. It's not uncommon for a graduate student to take a seminar speaker out for meals without a faculty member present when others have scheduling conflicts. Our graduate students also play a large role in the recruiting of new grad students by taking potential recruits out to dinner to see how they will interact with the lab without the faculty member present.
Reply to jkatterh@illinois.edu at 4:18 pm
rsbare@illinois.edu Nov 20, 2023 9:04 am
"Clarifies that students can attend business meals, catered events, or university functions ONLY IF there is an educational component to the event AND a faculty or staff member is present." Are grad students included in this? We have weekly colloquia which includes the grad students taking the speaker out to lunch. The purpose is to have them be able to speak to the colloquium speaker who is a leader in Astronomical sciences and can be a professor or a post doc from a university. The Chair and the Executive Committee of Astronomy offered this opportunity to students exclusive of faculty for a unique educational purpose.
Reply to rsbare@illinois.edu at 9:04 am
passalac@illinois.edu Nov 20, 2023 8:58 am
Perhaps this isn't the appropriate place; however, I have always wondered if I am completing this portion of the alcohol form correctly. For "event type" for options are: Meal only Reception only Meal with reception Other We almost always provide appetizers with drinks. I have no idea which one of these is the appropriate choice.
Reply to passalac@illinois.edu at 8:58 am
sdwax@illinois.edu Nov 17, 2023 4:53 pm
An employee appreciation luncheon or reception should not only include events to honor multiple employees for also individual employees. This includes, but is not limited to, recognizing an individual who receives a competitive or prestigious award.
Reply to sdwax@illinois.edu at 4:53 pm
sdwax@illinois.edu Nov 17, 2023 4:48 pm
Employee separation event to honor a departing employee who has at least five years of service to the system and/or university should include employees accepting promotional opportunities in other units across the University System. Many units already hold these types of receptions, for example for staff, faculty, department heads and deans that accept other administrative roles on campus. We should celebrate these advancement opportunities just as we celebrate when these same individuals accept positions at other institutions.
Reply to sdwax@illinois.edu at 4:48 pm
dalerush@uic.edu Nov 17, 2023 3:25 pm
The definition of "educational" purpose for students attending business meals needs to be clarified. There are many functions a College or Unit may organize that contains food and faculty, staff and students are invited. Plus, students are asked to participate in college business activities, such as faculty meetings, college committee meetings, organized events such as the Dean's annual State of the College address, where food is provided since the only time everyone can attend is usually during the lunch hour. I think the term educational should also include "business" purpose of the University.
Reply to dalerush@uic.edu at 3:25 pm
mlking2@uic.edu Nov 17, 2023 2:55 pm
For the language clarifying that students can attend business meals, catered events, or university functions IF (1) there is an educational component to the event, and (2) a faculty or staff member is present - would students serving on college committees count? Students are required to serve on various college committees per accreditation requirements but the goal of this committee participation is not necessarily to educate the student.
Reply to mlking2@uic.edu at 2:55 pm