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

The meeting came to order at 4:15 p.m. in the Nollen House Conference Room.

The following remarks were distributed electronically in advance of the meeting.

The President noted that the College made a CD of our symphony orchestra performing under Doug Diamond's direction Jon Chenette's Rural Symphony and Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. It is wonderful and great advertisement for the strength of our music programs and the skill of our music faculty and students.

He will be circulating the final Report generated last year by the Carleton on-campus budget process, a process that resembles our new process. It is interesting reading and I thought you might like to see it if you can't already.

I have now heard from all of the Trustees who participated in the visit this weekend and the last ones had some things to add which I pass along. Several of the faculty said that we need to work even harder to improve the quality of students who apply and matriculate. They said we need to work on promoting the place including having programs like the art gallery and improving the local community.

The Dean announced that we have heard from Waseda University that they are not interested in our proposal for accepting ten students and a faculty member in a program for next year, but they are very interested in such a collaboration, perhaps for the following year. Todd Armstrong, as director of the Center for International Studies has been and will continue to take a leading role in this. We can disuses further the nature and advisability of this kind of endeavor if Council wishes. If we do so we might want to think about involving Todd. There is no immediate issue for us since this is only a possibility for 2003-04.

Real time minutes continue here.

The minutes and excerpts of 11/21/01 and 11/28/01 were approved. It was decided that the sense of the meeting minutes of the special council meeting with Ray Haas on November 10 will be placed in the regular Council folder maintained by the Dean's Office.

The President noted that he is serving as the chair of the Rhodes Scholarship committee for the State of Iowa this year. He spent the day in Des Moines interviewing candidates. There were no candidates from Grinnell.

The Dean distributed an email draft of an Scarlet and Black article written by Dan Rothschild which he wanted Council to see prior to its printing.

The Dean reviewed the situation with regard to Mellon postdoctoral proposals.

Sociology Diversity Initiative Proposal

Council discussed a proposal from the Sociology Department.

Discussion of the Budget and the Fund For Excellence

D. Kaiser asked how the priorities are set by the Budget Steering Committee. J. Brand stated that faculty salaries and meeting demonstrated financial need were identified and unanimously agreed to by members of the Committee, which includes J. Mutti and B. Grey. D. Kaiser asked that among the "other" priorities that have been identified, how are decisions made regarding allocation of resources among the competing priorities. J. Brand stated that one maxim of financial planning and budgeting is that if you aim for zero growth in all categories of the budget you will achieve mediocracy. D. Kaiser noted that November 30 was the deadline for resubmission of budgets as requested by the Committee. He asked what resulted from that process. J. Brand stated that they are not all in yet.

J. Brand distributed a copy of the Current Fund Budget draft for fiscal year 2002 (approved) and 2003 (requested). The President noted that when people are asked to resubmit budgets they are in fact identifying elements in those budgets which they think should be funded. He noted that a number of people did return budgets that have achieved zero growth and there are no corresponding problems that will occur as a result of doing so. K. Kamp noted that for some departments zero growth is in fact negative growth-pointing to a situation that occurred some years ago with the Libraries.

B. Grey noted that we have just borrowed money and we will pay interest on that money and asked if that will come from the annual budget and why. The President stated that this is consistent with generally accepted auditing standards. These funds come from the Capital Reserve Fund and if we end up doing better on the interest costs than we have projected the excess will go back into the Capital Reserve Fund. D. Kaiser inquired as to the size of this fund. The President stated that it is approximately $12.5 million and is dependant on the stability of the endowment. D. Kaiser summed up by noting that there are three accounts in which current funds are held: the current fund budget, the Capital Reserve Fund, and the sinking reserve fund (bonded off from the Fund for Excellence). The President stated that if we do not spend the total in the reserve then it rolls into the Capital Reserve Fund.

B. Voyles asked whether those Fund for Excellence projects that have not yet been rolled into the base budget and are currently being funded from the sinking reserve fund will come to Council for an ultimate decision. The President stated that he thinks those decisions should be guided by and follow an evaluative process. B. Grey stated that doing an evaluation involves answering the question of whether the project is doing what it was designed to do and effectively. However, there is a prior question which is to ask is this a priority for the institution.

D. Kaiser and K. Kamp asked whether decisions made in the campus planning process with regard to capital infrastructure are open for revisitation. D. Kaiser also asked the President for his own views with regard to the relationship between academic program and capital infrastructure, noting that he personally saw no relationship or a very weak relationship between athletic fields and fieldhouses and the continuing ability of the college to carry out its chief academic mission. He stated that if we are in an economy of stringency, which is what the faculty are being told by the Budget Steering Committee, then how can things like these planned capital expenditures be considered priorities of the college. The President responded that in his view those projects for which architects have been retained such as the dormitories and the campus center should move forward. He further disagreed with D. Kaiser's assessment of the relationship between these types of capital expenditures and the ability of the college to continue to compete with our competitors (who have made such student life related investments) in recruiting high caliber students and faculty. He also noted that Grinnell's academic program is very expensive in relation to our peers. K. Kamp stated that if we are going to be successful in recruiting and retaining quality faculty under the diversity initiative we will need to pay immediate attention to the quality of the facilities in which they work.

The meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese