Present: C. Hunter, D. Lopatto, E. Marzluff, W. Moyer, R. Osgood, T. Roberts, J. Swartz, E. Willis

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

The minutes and excerpts of 12/20/05 were approved.

President’s Remarks

The President updated Council on the ACM Presidential search, indicating that the process is nearing its conclusion.

The draft plans for a possible move of Information Technology Services to the Forum have been found to have no ADA implications. They would not trigger a need for substantial ADA-related renovations.

The College successfully met the $1 million fund-raising challenge for the Science Center by the Dec. 31 deadline. Contributions towards the Center now stand at $11 million towards the $18.5 million goal. We expect now to proceed to another challenge.

Both the Rosenfield Campus Center and Noyce Science Center building projects are on schedule.

Dean’s Remarks

We have reached agreement with Richard Fyffe to become the next Librarian of the College. An announcement to the campus is likely before the end of the week. His title will be Samuel R. & Marie-Louise Rosenthal Professor and Librarian of the College, with a rank of Associate Professor without tenure. His start date is under negotiation but will likely be in early August.

The Dean updated Council on faculty searches.

CSMP proposals are due soon and will be considered at next week’s Council meeting. The President will not be able to attend that meeting.

Last week, the Dean and Associate Deans Bateman and Chenette attended the American Association of Colleges and Universities conference in Washington, DC. Grinnell was represented in four presentations, out of 75 at the conference, and there were many favorable comments from attendees especially on the Bateman/Reynolds presentation:

• Brad Bateman and Dan Reynolds – Articulating the Meanings of Liberal Education
• Brad Bateman and deans, faculty, and staff members from Wooster, Colorado, and DePauw – Multi-Dimensional Advising as a Tool for Furthering the Goals of Liberal Education
• Brad Bateman, Jim Swartz, and the Executive VP for DePauw – Initiative to Recruit Faculty Members to Serve Strategic Needs at Liberal Arts Colleges
• Jon Chenette and deans and faculty members from Luther, U. Michigan-Flint, Simon’s Rock College of Bard, and the College of Charleston – Engaging the World at Our Doorstep: Valuing Place in Liberal Education

The CSMP office is moving from Grinnell to DePauw this summer. This is an important step in ensuring the long-term vibrancy of this initiative. There are now 36 institutional members of the Consortium, and other institutions have expressed their interest in joining.

Council Member Remarks

E. Willis indicated that several faculty members have contacted her to express negative opinions about the move of ITS to the Forum. The primary alternative these faculty members have mentioned is the possibility of moving the Centers to the Forum. W. Moyer asked J. Chenette to report on the Instructional Support Committee discussion today of an ad hoc faculty committee’s draft vision for a Creative Computing Lab and Gallery at the Forum. Chenette reported that ISC endorsed the general idea but expressed their desire that the space continue to offer coffee and an atmosphere that would draw people in for informal interactions, possibly enhancing campus awareness of its existence and of innovative projects using media across the disciplines at Grinnell. Chenette will edit the draft vision to say more about the atmosphere of the space and will circulate this draft to the ad hoc committee, ISC, and Council. T. Roberts expressed the opinion that the Creative Computing Lab and Gallery could well make the Forum a more vibrant place than if the Centers were moved there. The President indicated that no Centers seem interested in the prospect of moving to the Forum.

The President pointed out that consolidation of ITS in the Forum would open up a number of College-owned houses for other uses. The Dean suggested that it would make sense to move more of the student theme houses to southerly houses vacated by ITS and to use current student theme houses as more academically oriented spaces, since they are located more closely to instructional buildings. The President described three of the houses to be vacated as in excellent condition and three in poor condition, with one or two to be sold or demolished. We anticipate moving the Chaplain’s office from its current house and tearing that house down to make 7 parking spaces on a lot that someday may be used for an expansion of the College Pre-School.

E. Marzluff asked about concerns the Biology Department has expressed regarding the difficulty of getting paper grade reports from the Registrar for faculty members’ advisees. The Dean indicated that the situation has been resolved: individual faculty members may request that paper copies of advisees’ grade reports be sent to them through Campus Mail. We will work on improvements to online advising tools to facilitate printing of paper grade reports from there.

Faculty Meeting Agendas

The Dean pointed out that the February 6 faculty meeting has two agenda items: election of a new Chair of the Faculty and a report from W. Moyer on the conclusion of the Center reviews. The President stated that J. Sumner will have a report on early admits, which the College tries to limit to no more than 30% of the entering class. D. Lopatto asked if the ethnic diversity of early decision applicants is similar to diversity in the regular applicant pool. The Dean responded that early applicants generally come from more college-educated families and thus are likely to be less diverse, although we haven’t looked specifically at the situation for Grinnell. Additional suggestions for the faculty meeting agenda included approval of two honorary degree candidates who are alums and announcement of changes in registration arising from recent Curriculum Committee action: no Harris Center registration in the winter/spring semester of 2007 and permission for students to add courses without instructor signature up to the start of the semester, provided they have advisors’ signatures and classes have openings.

Future faculty meeting agendas for this semester should include a report from the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies Interim Advisory Board and a report from the Curriculum Committee on changes in Independent Study offerings.

Faculty Handbook Regulations on Voting

Council discussed FOC’s response to draft proposals for changes in guidelines governing voting rights.

Office of Interdisciplinary Studies Interim Advisory Board ICF

The Dean reported that the Interim Advisory Board is grappling with the questions of which areas to prioritize for interdisciplinary curricular development and how the Expanding Knowledge Initiative positions interact with the College’s normal position approval process. W. Moyer talked about the desire on the part of the IAB to put forward a proposal for two geography positions – one science-oriented and the other social science-oriented – and indicated that the proposal is now circulating to divisions and centers to begin to get wider feedback. If Council believes this proposal is off base, it would be good to signal that soon to avoid time wasted on further development of a proposal that is unlikely to be viable. The Dean suggested that Council think about how many proposals it wants to stimulate at this point, since there are only two EKI positions to allocate. W. Moyer stated that some of the best proposals may take a while to write. C. Hunter expressed his view that people need to be aware that delaying a proposal now will not foreclose future chances.

T. Roberts asked about the relationship between Council and the IAB in the approval process for EKI positions. W. Moyer indicated that the IAB won’t filter or prioritize proposals; rather, that will be Council’s responsibility. E. Willis said that, in that case, it would be inappropriate for Council to review draft proposals from the IAB or other constituencies in advance of the normal April position proposal deadline. We need to avoid the impression that particular proposals have an inside track. E. Marzluff stated that people might think that any IAB proposal will foreclose opportunities for other proposals to receive due consideration. The President indicated that Trustee buy-in will be enhanced if the EKI starts with a proposal that is well developed and “comes out running.” The Dean suggested the possibility of inviting short proposals or statements of intent to submit proposals for preliminary feedback from Council. D. Lopatto stressed the importance of a level playing field for EKI proposals. W. Moyer asked why there should be an IAB if Council wants a level playing field. The President suggested that we ask the IAB to report to the faculty that they are making progress on a Geography proposal but that the IAB and Council are still open to other proposals. W. Moyer reiterated that IAB divisional representatives will report to faculty and invite input at upcoming divisional meetings. E. Willis suggested that Council and the IAB reiterate the long-term nature of the process and be clear about the rules for developing and deciding on position proposals under the EKI.

The President left the meeting at this point.

Diversity Statement

The Dean reminded Council that last year’s Diversity Committee developed a Diversity Statement that was never formally endorsed. This document establishes the framework for what the College can do to enhance diversity within the guidelines of the Gruder Supreme Court decisions. The President needs to explain his vision of who needs to approve this document in order for it to become College policy. E. Willis indicated that she was under the impression that the President’s acceptance of the statement was all that was needed and she was disappointed to learn that it was not yet considered College policy. W. Moyer suggested that Council ask the President to comment on his reaction to the Diversity Statement. This will be on next week’s Council agenda.

The meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

Secretary
Jon Chenette