Present: R. Osgood, J. Brand, J. Swartz, H. Scott, W. Ferguson, B. Grey,
K. Kamp, T. Moore, M. Pillado-Miller, B. Voyles.

The meeting came to order at 4:20 p.m. in the Nollen House Conference Room.

The minutes and excerpts from the 10/25/00 meeting were approved.

The President made no remarks.

Remarks of the Dean

The Dean noted that P. Smith is serving on jury duty and is not present.

He stated that, there is no business scheduled, the faculty meeting scheduled for November 6 will be cancelled.

The Dean stated that over the past several years there have been repeated complaints concerning the academic year schedule. The Curriculum Committee had discussions regarding the academic calendar last spring and now the Division Chairs are being asked to have further discussions on these issues within the divisions. The matter will then be taken up by the Committee for Academic Standing.

The President asked Council members if they want Council Secretary to attend the dinner meeting scheduled for November 8 in order to prepare a "sense of the meeting" report for the record. Council agreed. With regard to this meeting B. Ferguson stated that he would not be comfortable making any decisions at that meeting without the broader participation of the whole faculty. The President noted that this was definitely not the expectation.

The Dean noted that during the past two weeks he had been contacted about our diversity statement by the Deans of other institutions which are struggling with these issues.

The President asked for Council comments on the draft faculty diversity initiative guidelines which were distributed by email. He will welcome all comments until November 2 at noon, at which time he will proceed to distribute the document.

Continued Discussion of End-of-Course Evaluations

The Dean distributed to the Council a draft memorandum to the full faculty regarding the End-of-Course Evaluations. He stated that his intention in drafting the memorandum was to summarize the previous Council discussions. B. Voyles moved, B. Ferguson seconded, acceptance of the use of the bar graph as the method for presenting statistical data from end-of-course evaluations. The motion was unanimously adopted.

There was considerable continued discussion of the Dean's draft memorandum. B. Grey moved, M. Pillado Miller seconded, approval of the document, as revised, for presentation to the full faculty. The motion was approved.

Discussion of Lighting Athletic Fields

B. Voyles brought the issue of lighting of athletic fields to Council because of an apparently proximate decision. The President noted that the sources of ambient light interfering with celestial observation are not limited to the new athletic fields, but rather come from a plethora of sources of light in the immediate environment of the observatory. He suggested that an expert consultant be brought in to consider this issue and provide the committee with information sufficient for them to make a recommendation to him. There was continued discussion of the specific and the larger issues.

K. Kamp left the meeting at 5:50 p.m.

M. Pillado Miller left the meeting at 6:00 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese