Present: V. Brown, L. Gregg-Jolly, D. Lopatto, W. Moyer, R. Osgood, 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 4/6/05 were approved.

President's Remarks

The President announced that he needed to leave the meeting at 5:10 p.m. to travel.

He noted that the discussion regarding administrative reorganization continues and he again invited comment from Council members. He stated that his goals for this reorganization were to save money and achieve greater diversity.

He remarked that his office was preparing for the Board of Trustees meeting in Grinnell April 29-30. He noted that review of the Strategic Plan and Expanding Knowledge Initiative is on their agenda.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean reminded Council that there have been a series of external reviewers on campus this week looking at the Theatre Department, Prairie Studies Center, and the International Studies Center.

He reminded Council that next week the meeting will be held Monday 11:00- 2:00.

He updated Council on the status of faculty searches.

The Dean reported that the Curriculum Committee agreed to a one-year experiment moving from 9 final exam periods per semester to 8 per semester. V. Brown noted that the Social Studies Division did not feel that buffer days will solve the problem and that a series of faculty development activities would be a better solution.

Council Remarks

E. Willis noted that Peter Blanck from the University of Iowa Law School was on campus recently to talk about the Americans with Disabilities Act. He gave a very good talk which was well attended by members of the Grinnell community, faculty, and students. She believes that there will be a number of proposals regarding ADA compliance and increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities will be coming from his talk.

Willis also noted that at the Social Studies Division meeting there was substantial discussion of a recent situation regarding a student posting messages on PLANS which were perceived to be threatening harm to one or more individuals in the community. She noted that there was general agreement that our policies and procedures should be reviewed in relation to this case to see how we got from a person posting a message on PLANS to that same person being charged with a felony. V. Brown added that the other issue is how students are working out their dorm issues or not working them out. The President responded that the nature of silencing or conflict aversion that is experienced at Grinnell at the present time is reflective of a larger societal issue and is a very complicated one.

L. Gregg-Jolly noted that Alvin Irby has gotten back to her regarding setting up a time for a meeting with students concerned with the faculty hiring process at Grinnell, and in particular the diversity initiative. She arranged for W. Moyer and E. Willis to join her in representing the Executive Council at this meeting on April 19th.

Gregg-Jolly also noted that two of our students were awarded the very prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowships for graduate school. She asked that the College establish a centralized campus repository where information on the accomplishments of our students and alumni can be stored. She noted that such a resource would be very valuable to faculty and administrator writing external funding proposals, for alumni relations staff, and other purposes. This was unresolved.

D. Lopatto introduced the subject of Senior Faculty Status agreements. There was discussion.

Expanding Knowledge Initiative

The President complimented W. Moyer and the Expanding Knowledge Committee members on a productive faculty meeting on Monday. He then left the meeting at 5:10 p.m.

W. Moyer led a discussion of the revisions made to the draft document following the input received at the last faculty meeting and the meeting of the Committee today. He distributed a new draft containing these revisions. After considerable discussion, D. Lopatto asked W. Moyer about the process he intends to follow at the next meeting of the faculty. Moyer stated that he would offer the document as an up or down vote to endorse the proposal. E. Willis moved, L. Gregg-Jolly seconded, endorsement of the current version of the Expanding Knowledge Initiative proposal, as amended. The motion was approved.

Independent Study

At the last meeting Council called for a study of the issues involved with independent study. D. Lopatto will write a precise of what such as study would look like.

Faculty Position Requests

The Dean summarized the nature of the departmental requests for faculty positions in anthropology, biology, chemistry, English, music, physics, and the Library.

Full discussion of these requests will begin at the next Council meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese