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

The meeting came to order at 3:00 p.m. in the Nollen Conference Room.

The minutes and excerpts of the 5/18/05 meeting were approved.

President's Remarks

The President made no remarks.

Dean's Remarks

The Dean made no remarks.

Council Member Remarks

L. Gregg-Jolly expressed concern that next year there may be no women on the podium during Commencement because of the composition of next year's Council and senior administration. This will send a very bad message to our students. She hopes that attempts to identify honorary degree recipients, Trustee, and speaker will focus on women.

D. Lopatto commended the Dean for inserting the comment about the importance of mentoring relationships in his remarks about honorary degree recipient, Kathryn Jagow Mohrman '67, during Commencement.

Math and Computer Science Department Position Request

There was brief discussion of this matter.

Selection of Interdisciplinary Fellows

W. Moyer noted that the fellows need to be appointed at the beginning of next fall because of their responsibilities in planning the 2006-07 Sophomore Retreat. A discussion about the selection process ensued.

Diversity

V. Brown asked for a discussion of what will be the best diversity management system for the College over the next five years. The President thought the adoption of the Strategic Plan, with its commitment to diversity, was a strong statement made by the College community.

The President noted that the diversity functions of the College concern both adjudication and helping people to succeed. The President stated that there is such a high level of concern in the world over diversity that some universities have elevated the matter to a vice-presidential level for increased visibility, but structural issues have caused this model to falter or fail. At Grinnell, diversity concerns are represented in Student Affairs and Admissions and Financial Aid. We now need diversity to be represented in the faculty. The President believes that diversity should be addressed through a new model which would be a new Council on Diversity representing the offices having responsibilities in this area. He sees the President, Dean, Dean of Admissions, Dean of Student Affairs, Associate Dean, and Director of Human Resources sitting on this Council. V. Brown questioned the efficiency of such a highly placed Council in being able to handle matters in sometimes tight timeframes. The President responded that his view is that decisions regarding diversity should not move too quickly, and that the Council model aligns, for the first time, power with responsibility.

V. Brown asked how the Diversity Steering Committee and Council on Diversity get linked. The President thought that a member of the Executive Council or other faculty member should be Chair of the Diversity Steering Committee. Brown argued very strongly for the inclusion of the new Associate Dean on both the Diversity Steering Committee and on a Diversity Council. They argued that this sort of liaison was vital and that the Associate Dean was the appropriate person to play that role. E. Willis stated that the associate dean should be ex officio and nonvoting member of the Diversity Steering Committee as Frank Thomas was and report to the Council on Diversity on diversity efforts in faculty hiring.

The President observed that the Council should not limit itself to adjudication, but take on the role of strategically thinking about how are we doing and how can we do better. He suggested that we should be saying "no" more often in the adjudication process. L. Gregg-Jolly warned against a full separation of "adjudication" and "support" since the person (or body) responsible for adjudication will be most effective if they aware of precisely what resources were made available to the department or staff supervisor. W. Moyer asked what the Diversity Steering Committee will be doing. The President noted that the Committee has been active this year, playing an advisory role and planning educational activities for next year. They should represent the diversity interests of the various constituencies of the College. V. Brown urged an escalation of the Committee's educational program, suggesting annual "teach-ins". There was discussion about the necessity of clear communications between the two bodies. The President stated that some of the diversity budget held by Frank Thomas currently will go to the new Associate Dean with responsibilities in this area and some of it will go to the Diversity Steering Committee for educational activities. W. Moyer expressed his opinion that the Committee should be allowed to meet independently of senior administration to allow open and free discussion. V. Brown asked whether an Executive Council member is always Chair of the Committee. The President responded that s/he must be a member, but not necessarily the Chair.

E. Willis suggested that the Diversity Steering Committee can play both an educational and advisory role in the Divisions. It is important that the Committee needs to be assured access to the Council on Diversity. Willis suggested the chair of the Diversity Steering Committee report directly to the Council on Diversity on the committee's work to advance diversity goals on campus. The Dean noted that for faculty hiring there are four points of diversity intervention: approval of the advertisement and search strategy, approval of phone or off-campus interviews, approval of on-campus interviews, and appointment. The President stated that we need to provide departments with specific guidance on what is considered enough information to be helpful. V. Brown noted that with regard to staff recruiting, Human Resources should be searching actively for minorities at the mid- and higher level administration positions since the pool is larger at that level of search. Brown asked who will be producing the Diversity Report. The President stated that while Institutional Research will be producing statistics, the report itself should be issued by a person or entity with responsibilities in this area. Willis recommended that the Council on Diversity take responsibility for issuing the Diversity Report.

The President offered to write up his thinking and share that with the Executive Council shortly.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

Subsequent to the formal meeting the President, Dean, Marci Sortor, and the EC informally discussed some issues related to space needs for various programs and potential uses, medium and long term for the Forum.

Secretary
Karen Wiese