Present: President Osgood, Dean Swartz, Associate Deans H. Scott and P. Smith, Special Assistant to the President J. Brand, E. Dobbs, M. Pillado-Miller, L. Sinnett, D. Smith, B. Voyles

The Dean called the meeting to order at 4:21 p.m. in Nollen House.

Remarks by the President

The President reported that he has received another round of Fund For Excellence proposals. He is pleased that he has received some excellent proposals from administrators, faculty, and students. He plans to circulate campus wide a brief summary of the proposals he has received. Once decisions are made on this current round of proposals, the President will send out a report on the approved proposals and a summary of progress on the proposals approved last December.

In the context of FFE business, D. Smith reported that six alumni scholars were invited back to campus as speakers this spring. Advertising will go out soon soliciting suggestions for alumni visitors for 1999-2000.

Discussion of Commencement Processional

The President asked for Council opinion about including senior administrators in the Commencement processional. Council members recommended that the processional remain limited to faculty members in order to retain its academic focus.

Personal Leave Request

Council approved a personal leave request unanimously concurring that it fits the College policy for personal leaves.

Approval of Faculty Position Description

Pillado-Miller moved and Dobbs seconded approval of the description of a one-year full-time position in English for 1999-2000. Council unanimously approved this position description contingent upon receipt of a resignation from the English department.

Discussion of Changes in Faculty Handbook on Probationary Period

At its meeting on December 7th, the Faculty tabled a motion from the Executive Council. The motion would have amended the language of the Faculty Handbook dealing with Assistant Professors' time in rank before consideration for promotion. Taking into account comments from faculty at that meeting, Council worked on revising the amended statement for the Faculty Handbook.

The current language in the Faculty Handbook, page 25, 3d, reads as follows:

That Assistant Professors be considered for promotion and for tenure (see 4.a.) in the sixth year in rank at Grinnell College, or the eighth year in service, whichever comes first. At the request of the individual and the department, and with the assent of the Dean of the College, the consideration my be deferred for no more than two years.

The Executive Council aims to clarify for the faculty the grounds upon which an extension of the probationary period may be granted. The Council believes that the current language of the Handbook invites inequities or the appearance of inequities in the treatment of individuals as they approach consideration for promotion to Associate Professor. The Council believes that the equitable treatment of all is an essential part of the due process to which each member of the faculty in entitled in a matter so important.

Council will bring to the full faculty at its April 19th meeting a motion to approve the following language to replace the current language in the Faculty Handbook:

That Assistant Professors be considered for promotion and for tenure (see 4.a.) in the sixth year in rank at Grinnell College, or the eighth year in service, whichever comes first. Under normal circumstances, consideration for promotion and for tenure may not be delayed. However, at the request of the individual and the department, and with the assent of the Dean of the College, consideration may be deferred, for no more than two years, to compensate the individual for medical or family circumstances that have impeded professional progress during the probationary period of service.

Requests for Faculty Positions

Council has received requests for staffing from seven departments/ concentrations (Art, Chemistry, Education, Gender and Women's Studies, East Asian/Chinese Studies Concentration, Philosophy, Spanish). The deadline for such requests from departments and concentrations was April 6.

Council began with a discussion of long-range planning and guiding principles for making staffing decisions. The President commented that the College has a larger than average faculty size and that the faculty has grown gradually over the past ten years (approximately12 faculty positions have been added). This is understandable and defendable, but further growth will need to be supported by a deep strategic look at college-wide goals, needs for the future, and past needs which may no longer meet our priorities. The Dean commented that maintaining a low student/faculty ratio as we continue to support our tutorial, small class sizes, and expanding capstone experiences will require considerable resources and needs to be supported in terms of long-range planning and a hard look at what we will do and not do in order to commit expanded resources to this teaching model.

This discussion of guiding principles and long-range goals will continue as Council members move through a review of staffing requests.

Each division chair will give a brief overview of the requests from that division. This procedure will allow Council to identify issues and request any further information it might need from departments. Each case will then be discussed in detail from the point of view of both department and college-wide needs. Once this process is complete, Council will make final recommendations.

H. Scott left the meeting at 6:02 p.m.

Council members briefly discussed the value of using comparative data from peer schools when considering allocation of faculty positions. Academic disciplines vary widely in their degree of national consensus on the standard undergraduate curriculum in a given field. Faculty allocation may be difficult to compare when the peer school has a conservatory or other special program, or if the departments differ in their areas of emphasis and their place in a liberal arts curriculum.

The discussion of staffing requests will continue at the next Council meeting.

Remarks by Council Faculty Members

Council members discussed the assault on the convocation speaker last Thursday. E. Dobbs/M. Pillado-Miller moved endorsement of the following draft statement prepared by Bob Grey for the Executive Council and amended by Don Smith:

"The Executive Council of the faculty, on behalf of the faculty, deeply regrets and strongly condemns the physical assault on Dennis Avery, which took place at our last convocation. Such an assault is an attack on the most intensely held value of this community, the commitment to vigorous and open debate on every subject. Such an attack represents a humiliating, and, we hope, highly exceptional failure of the intellectual tolerance we regard as a hallmark of our community."

The vote in favor of endorsement was unanimous. As part of Executive Council minutes, the statement will appear on the College web site. Council members also requested that this statement be published in the April 20, 1999 issue of the Campus Memo.

L. Sinnett reported that she administered the new experimental end-of-course evaluation form to students in Psychology 113, General Psychology. She gave out two versions of the form; in one version, ratings were scaled from high to low, while in the other version this order was reversed. Sinnett reported that results did not differ significantly between the two versions.

M. Pillado-Miller announced that the Scholar's convocation annually sponsored by the Humanities Division is scheduled for Thursday, April 15. Sam Gill, Professor in Religious Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, will deliver a talk on "Shadow Play: A Javanese Inspired Theory of Dancing" at the Harris center Cinema at 11:00 a.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:12 p.m.

Helen Scott/Paula Smith
Secretaries