Present: R. Osgood, J. Brand, J. Swartz, B. Grey, D. Kaiser, K. Kamp, J. Mohan, J. Mutti, B.Voyles.
The meeting came to order at 4:15 in the Nollen House Conference Room.
The minutes and excerpts of the January 30, 2002 meeting were corrected and approved.
President's Remarks
The President noted that for years we have allowed faculty charges in the bookstore. Government regulations (Regulation Z) have resulted in potentially large transactions costs to the college should we continue this policy. Therefore, after making an announcement at the next faculty meeting the Dean of College Services will send a memorandum to the college community stating a change in policy which will result in no further personal charging in the bookstore.
Dean's Remarks
The Dean announced that Matthew Pacholec has accepted our offer for a one-year term position in the Philosophy Department.
He noted that by email Council had approved offers to be made in psychology and economics.
He updated Council on the status of the human geographer search.
The Dean noted that the Philosophy Department has accepted the proposed changes to the position description for an analytical philosopher recommended by Council last week. They have done this because they do not wish to miss this publication deadlines this week.
The Dean distributed a memorandum to Council which he had prepared after reflecting on the mission statement approval process. In it he laid out his thoughts about how to proceed with the planning process in the immediate future. He suggested that Council members work with the Dean's Office to write a longer statement that clearly identifies the distinctive features of a Grinnell education-things which were in earlier versions of the mission statement. B. Voyles asked if the core values statement is taken as a rider to the mission statement. The President stated that he is going to seek approval of the mission statement alone by the Board.
The President distributed a document which presents a preliminary budget comparison with Swarthmore. He chose Swarthmore because they are the most like Grinnell among our peers. He pointed to line items such as net tuition revenue, endowment support of the base budget, unrestricted gifts and grants, and total revenue in making comparative remarks about the college budget situation.
The President stated that he would like to talk with Council about several issues in future:
The President noted that the two pillars of our long-term budget strategy are that maintenance of a rich student-faculty ratio and need-blind admission. He also noted that it will be important for Council to meet with Admissions and Financial Aid to have a full discussion of international students. Many of our international students have serious financial problems and wind up leaving Grinnell with very large debt which is not fair to them.
At 5:15, President Osgood, J. Brand, and K. Wiese left the meeting. D. Kaiser appointed secretary for the remainder of the meeting.
Council considered five Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence program proposals concerning six candidates. It was agreed that candidates in Political Science and Religious Studies would be brought to campus for an interview.
Council then began discussion of proposals to improve the faculty salary process. Using the August 30, 2001 memo from the Dean, the September 10, 2001 memo from J. Mutti, and the [February 6, 2002] memo from B. Voyles, Council agreed to examine at least seven specific questions:
Although reserving final judgment until all elements of a proposed revision are in place, Council members tentatively agreed:
In discussion about how the process might apply to pre-tenure faculty, the Dean suggested that the interim review in year 2 might also provide good data for salary decisions. In any case, the review offered the College the opportunity to reinforce the signals contained in the review, whereas a standard raise would camouflage these findings. Council will resume this discussion next week.
The meeting adjourned at 6 PM.
Secretary
Dan Kaiser