Present: S. Barber, V. Brown, L. Gregg-Jolly, R. Osgood, M. Schneider, J. Swartz, R. Vetter

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

The minutes and excerpts of 2/18/04 were approved.

President's Remarks

The President noted that there was a Board of Trustees meeting in Grinnell last week and thanked Council members for their participation. As expected, the Board voted to begin CERA construction and to adopt the 2004-05 budget. He congratulated the CERA-Science Building Committee and thanked them for their work. M. Schneider asked whether the 4% faculty salary pool was set. The President responded that the Trustees would love to see the gap at the assistant professor rank closed and that he was still in discussions with the Dean. V. Brown asked what was being discussed. The Dean responded that they were talking about how to allocate the pool and whether 4% was enough money to accomplish the preferred allocation. M. Schneider urged further analysis of salaries at the three ranks using a longer data series.

S. Barber asked if the President could give a brief overview of the presentation to the Board on the endowment spending policy. The President noted that the Board looks at historical data on our pay out policy (4.5% of a 12 quarter rolling average) in comparison with our peers and better managed endowments at institutions which are not our peers. It is interesting to note that the better managed endowments include a "collar" to prevent large market upswings and downturns from having significant impact on actual dollar payout fluctuations. It is also interesting to note that many of our peers also have capital reserve funds. There are some Trustees who believe that the payout percentage should be reduced in order to preserve the value of the capital. V.Brown noted the relative size of our endowment compared to any other school and asked why there is concern about the operating budget. L. Gregg Jolly noted that we are being limited by Trustees policy on the endowment contribution to the base budget, not the endowment payout policy. The President noted that we are financially in a much better place than we were a year ago. There was further discussion.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean raised the issue of spousal employment. He noted that this is a very real problem and asked Council for guidance. The President stated that his thinking on employment issues includes consideration of 1) will we be in legal compliance with the terms of an open search, 2) do we have the capacity to go outside of our normal search where there is a strong diversity employment opportunity, 3) what are the institutional or curricular needs that can be met, 4) does this person have extraordinary credentials, and 5) is this a spousal employment opportunity.

There was substantial discussion of the need for a system which is not wholly dependent upon the host department for review of faculty in temporary positions to provide information that can be used to evaluate a fit between that person and a potential opportunity for a permanent appointment.

Council Members Remarks

V. Brown asked whether or not the College has a policy that aims to bring Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence appointments to campus with no promise of or opportunity for a permanent appointment in a regular position. The President stated that the goal of the CSMP program is to bring minorities with a strong interest in teaching to liberal arts colleges for a year with the purpose of exposing them to this educational environment and with the hope of encouraging them to pursue careers at liberal arts colleges. The program is not primarily a recruiting tool.
There was discussion.

V. Brown noted that she has been approached by a member of her division with a request to, in concert with the Registrar, investigate the process of setting class schedules with a view to introducing flexibility which is not now present. The Dean noted that the Committee on Academic Standing (which sets the schedule) reviewed a similar proposal from this same faculty member four years ago and was not convinced. According to the FOC procedures what will need to be done is for the Social Studies Chair submit a letter of request to the CAS.

M. Schneider asked that faculty be reminded when Executive Council minutes are posted.

The Dean reminded Council that M. Montgomery will be presenting the three year salary proposal to the faculty at their next meeting. There was discussion.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese