Present: V. Brown, L. Gregg-Jolly, D. Lopatto, R. Osgood, W. Moyer, J. Swartz, R. Vetter, E. Willis

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

The minutes and excerpts of the 2/23/05 were approved.

President's Remarks

The President made no remarks.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean noted that the Lilly Endowment has invited the College to submit a proposal which would continue support for certain project activities over a three-year period beyond the expiration of our current grant and which we would thereafter sustain. In relation to the issue of sustaining Lilly related activities, V. Brown expressed concern about an apparent reduction in staffing in the Chaplain's Office and asked if Deborah Brin would be replaced by a person in a full-time position. The President responded that Tom Crady will be submitting a proposal soon. E. Willis stated her views in favor of maintaining a Rabbi on campus, noting that she had received concerned comments from two Jewish students that their needs continue to be met. She pointed out that it has been the role of the Rabbi to maintain interfaith dialogue on campus and emphasized the importance of that role. The President stated that we have every intention of maintaining a Rabbi on campus. W. Moyer asked that Council be made aware of the plans of the Lilly Committee before they get close to the end of the process.

The Dean noted that he and the Associate Deans and several faculty will be heading to an ACM conference on engaging students in the liberal arts on Friday, which will be followed by the ACM Deans meeting.

The Dean suggested adding a discussion of the review cycle and merit process for Physical Education and Library faculty to today's agenda.

He noted that he and the President will be at a meeting at Macalester College next Wednesday and will not be present for Council. Marci Sortor and David Lopatto will lead a discussion of assessment.

There was a discussion of policy and the standards of judgment which are applied to regular and medically related requests for course reduction. The Dean responded that the Faculty Handbook outlines policy with regard to a faculty member who wishes a partial or full reduction of their obligations to the institution without pay. Medical leaves are treated by a different process.

Council Remarks

L. Gregg-Jolly followed-up on a prior discussion of the current draft of the strategic plan. In particular, she voiced her objections to several points made in the introduction. She does not like the implication of a point being made regarding the institution wanting to see greater scholarly productivity from our faculty and she does not like questioning the loyalty of our alums as an excuse for low giving. She asked that this discussion be put on a future Council agenda and would like the former point to be the subject of further discussion on campus. The President noted that this point was an attempt to articulate the voice of the faculty heard in the prior strategic planning faculty focus groups and invited comment. V. Brown asked to see data which would substantiate an assertion that Grinnell is not attracting faculty from "highly regarded institutions". There was discussion.

D. Lopatto reported that the President of the Iowa Psychology Association had called him regarding his efforts to plan a fall conference of the Association at Grinnell. He reported meeting some unusual requirements being placed on the Association for essentially being responsible for logistically supporting the. The President suggested that Lopatto call Rachel Bly to discuss.

Review Cycle and Merit Process for Library and Physical Education Faculty

D. Lopatto expressed the views of his constituency in the Library stating that Associates in the Library disagree with the timetable and system which has been suggested by Council which differentiates them from the rest of the faculty, with the exception of Physical Education faculty and that they have requested that Council change that policy. L. Gregg-Jolly noted that the legislation passed by Council last year will not allow the proposed changes discussed by Council last week without explicitly changing the legislation in the Faculty Handbook. Brown argued that the Council decision last week was reflective of their desire for efficiency. She suggested that Council acknowledge the position and request of the Librarians and make sure that they know that this resolution will require additional work on their part to bring their reviews in line with the requirements placed on other faculty and specifically what that will entail.

Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows

The Dean noted that he has received a number of requests for leave replacements, some of which have been put on hold. His budget includes funding for one CSMP appointment next year. The situation this year allows us to be able to appoint four Mellon postdoctoral fellows (two of whom have been identified from the pool of CSMP candidates). Previously, we approved a Mellon postdoc in political science and music. We have given approval to appoint a Mellon postdoc in art and one in history. He has recommended to the Budget Committee that the funds allocated for the CSMP appointment be used to cover some of the leave replacement requests that are currently on hold (particularly a full-time position request in religious studies). W. Moyer noted that, given the circumstances, using the funds to cover five courses is of greater benefit to the College than the one or two courses that would be offered by a CSMP appointment. It was agreed.

Diversity Strategic Planning

There was discussion of how the College refers to the people we wish to attract to join the faculty. The President noted that he has redrafted the diversity section of the strategic planning document. L. Gregg-Jolly noted her disagreement with the suggested specificity in the articulation of groups and prefers a case-by-case basis, specifically calling out her concern for gender diversity in certain disciplines. She did say that she recognizes her position is in the minority and is willing to move on.

The President left the meeting at 6:00 p.m.

There was continued discussion of the issue. It was agreed that the Dean would redraft the document to reflect the agreement reached in Council for distribution as soon as possible because departments will need this guidance before they begin preparing their position proposals for April 1st submission to Council.

Course Releases

The Dean told Council that he thought it important to bring this issue to Council for discussion because he regularly hears about it from faculty. It was noted that there are many situations which have been and should be left to the discretion of the Dean. It was also noted that a situation with regard to workload often varies from year to year by department. D. Lopatto asked to what degree people are taking their course releases. The Dean responded that he did examine this issue a couple of years ago and could not find cases where a release is not taken. There was discussion. D. Lopatto further noted that faculty at other institutions are no longer using the term "course release" but have tended toward "reassignment". L. Gregg-Jolly urged the Dean to request that Faculty Organization Committee move the election of officers up on the calendar to allow better departmental curricular planning. W. Moyer moved, L. Gregg-Jolly seconded, approval for one course release each year for at large members of Council, a single course release for the two-year term of division representatives to Personnel Committee, and giving the Dean discretion in all other matters involving course release. The motion was approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese