Present: R. Osgood, J. Brand, J. Swartz, H. Scott, B. Grey, D. Kaiser, K. Kamp, J. Mohan, J. Mutti, B. Voyles.

The meeting came to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Nollen House Conference Room. The minutes and excerpts of 9/19/01 were approved.

It should be noted that there was discussion of several items that were not scheduled on the agenda for this meeting.

President's Remarks

The President reported that there has been considerable interest in the condition of the College endowment. He stated that despite the current market performance the endowment is in excellent condition, but that the Trustees will devote considerable attention to that issue during their meeting in October.

In response to a request for more information on the appearance of the new Welcome Center he reported that the architects are moving toward a final resolution of the facing material and will make a public presentation on campus soon.

Finally, he noted that Kathryn Mohrman, alumnus, former Board member, and current President of Colorado College will be resigning later this year.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean stated that he had followed up on a Council member's question regarding ITS access to individual computer files. The only members of the ITS staff who have privileges to access files beyond their own are the network group and the person who sets quotas. The other team members have privileges the same as any other faculty or staff member. Student staff do not have any privileges beyond that of regular students and they are not asked to sign the confidentiality form that these other employees sign prior to employment.

The Dean circulated the minutes of the recent meeting of the Diversity Committee in which a change was suggested in the language of the affirmative action statement used in recruitment advertising was changed. The proposed changes will be discussed at a future Council meeting.

He reviewed with Council a change to the recently distributed schedule of faculty and division meetings for fall semester. A division meeting was inadvertently placed during an already scheduled convocation.

Discussion of the Planning Process

The Dean stated that, during the time that he has been really paying attention to institutional direction, he has noted several significant planning processes: 1) the Task Force on the Future initiated under George Drake; 2) preparations for the capital campaign under Pam Ferguson; 3) the planning process undertaken in conjunction with the reacreditation in the late 1990s; and 4) the faculty retreat and work that followed under Charlie Duke. He stated that he and Paula Smith, with the assistance of Susan Schoen, researched these planning processes and have put together a document with reviews this series of objective setting and accomplishment. He circulated that document.

B. Grey noted that there was a faculty meeting held on 9/20/01. He has reported previously to the ex-officio members of Council who were not in attendance at the faculty meeting. He reported a substantial level of mistrust being expressed among many faculty members with regard to the proposed Council academic planning process and more generally of the administration of the College. He urged Council to make a systematic effort, as they proceed with the planning process, to make known all faculty attitudes and priorities with regard to choices and trade-offs and to share Council discussions with them.

B. Grey reported that he and J. Brand have been negotiating with the proposed consultant, Ray Haas. The full spectrum of problem and opportunity has been discussed with him and he is enthusiastic. He has suggested that the process of information gathering be opened up to the full faculty to allow greater participation of stakeholders. B. Grey noted that the previous Thursday's faculty meeting had been good for enabling faculty to air their attitudes and opinions, but was too free-wheeling to be of any utility to the planning process. Any future open discussions will need to have an agenda that is adhered to and controlled by Council in order to move the process ahead. He suggested that Council have a telephone conference with Mr. Haas during the next Council meeting.

Previously, the administration had proposed a meeting of the president, deans, and faculty Council members in Minneapolis with the presidents of Oberlin and Macalaster to discuss planning efforts at thee two comparable institutions. The proposed meeting with Presidents Dye and McPherson is not working out for November 16 due to logistical considerations. K. Kamp noted that it was extremely important that the meeting be done on the Grinnell Campus and that there be at least some opportunity for anyone interested to meet with the two presidents. J. Mutti asked what the difference is between what is to be expected from Mr. Haas and the two presidents. B. Grey noted that the process and structure of the process will benefit from the input of Mr. Haas, whereas learning about what the two presidents have learned in the process of planning should inform the content of our discussions. D. Kaiser asked why the two presidents could not come to campus separately. The President acknowledged that the experience and perspective of the two are different and that a separate visit would not be detrimental to their purpose. Council was in favor of D. Kaiser's suggestion and will proceed on that basis. There will be open meetings for the faculty with Mr. Haas.

In accordance with the motion passed at the faculty meeting, the Dean, when he met with the Admissions and Financial Aid and Curriculum Committees this week and asked them whether there are longer-range issues with regard to the long range planning process that the Council is about to undertake that these committees should be taking up. They responded that they are already doing this.

Discussion of Institutional Statement of Purpose and Core Values

Council spent an hour planning the structure of the faculty discussion of the statement of purpose so as to permit the widest possible involvement and participation.

Discussion of a Proposal from the Education Department

While the Dean opened what was to be a discussion of a proposal from the Education Department, it should be noted that this discussion was pre-empted by a request from B. Voyles to have Council discuss the possibilities of changing the venue of the Executive Council meetings and who could attend. Council members discussed a variety of other actions we might take regarding our meetings to allow fuller understanding and participation, including inviting "stakeholders" to meetings in which their particular issue is to be discussed. There was a brief discussion of the Education Department proposal but no action was taken.

The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese