Present: S. Barber, V. Brown, L. Gregg-Jolly, M. Montgomery, 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 3/3/04 were approved.

President's Remarks

The President thanked Council members for their service in carrying out the strategic planning process in addition to their regular duties.

He noted that he is planning to generate an omnibus proposal to reduce temporary faculty appointments and to bring that proposal to Executive Council in April to frame the discussion of departmental proposals for new positions. V. Brown raised the issue of leave proofing being tied to the traditional departmental curriculum as opposed to creating the opportunity to serve the larger curricular needs of the College which may in part fall outside of the department (e.g. concentrations). L. Gregg-Jolly raised the issue of temporary faculty from the student viewpoint, noting that in certain disciplines students are more likely to be exposed to temporary faculty more often than others.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean noted that the Curriculum Committee is discussing a proposal that four-credit 397 (Independent Study) and 399 (Directed Summer Research) courses be counted similarly to MAPs (be given teaching credit) with the restriction that one cannot accumulate more than two courses worth of credit in a six year period of time. Another aspect of the proposal argues for greater discernment in definition of what constitutes Independent Study. V. Brown expressed concern that this model sees the faculty as moving toward "bean counting" or piece work. She noted that an alternative model would reduce the teaching load to 4 courses per year and simply expect faculty to perform all aspects of their job. The Dean responded that these issues form the core of the discussion that the Curriculum Committee hopes to have with the faculty.

He distributed a current draft of the Committee on Academic Standing proposal to change the method of transcript recording for their information.

He distributed a revised draft of the proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook regarding Senior Faculty Status. The President noted that the College's lawyer has reviewed it and has no objection. That process of moving this forward involves Executive Council taking it to the next faculty meeting for approval. The Council approved the language of the proposed change contingent on the Dean's final changes which he will circulate electronically. If no one objects the draft will go forward for faculty approval.

The Dean updated Council on the status of faculty searches.

There was discussion of the status of Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence program search.

Council Member Remarks

M. Schneider has been working with Scott Baumler to rationalize the reporting of data on grade performance of athletes at Grinnell College (currently reported as GPA) with the reporting of data in the Bowen study. When this work is completed he will bring the analysis to the Council.

V. Brown asked the status of report preparation by each of the strategic planning subcommittees. There was discussion.

L. Gregg-Jolly noted that Carol Trossett and Frank Thomas have completed a draft of a diversity report and it will soon be distributed to Council for discussion. She asked that the Council spend time on these issues before the end of the semester.

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese