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.

President’s Remarks

The President noted that the College has received the report of the Library consultant. At their last meeting the Trustees began a discussion of the Forum and the scattered locations occupied by Information Technology Services. W. Moyer asked about the long-term future of the Library. The President responded that there are significant structural issues regarding compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and building code. These issues lead one to conclude that we shut down Burling while significant reconstruction takes place, demolish it, or build a new library close to the existing one. The report suggests not spending a lot of money on the Library at this time. E. Willis noted that there are supporters and detractors of the Forum and urged the President to open lines of communication to both.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean noted that the French Department external reviewers have been on campus this week. T. Roberts also met with them.

The Dean reported that the Academic Subcommittee of the Budget Steering Committee had met and reviewed all proposals for short-term staffing. He has turned their results over to Karen Voss for budget modeling and hopes to act on departmental requests soon. As soon as he does, he will be sending Council members job descriptions for review and approval. W. Moyer asked about the timeline for announcing Harris leave recipients. The Dean responded that it would be done by the end of the semester.

E. Willis asked about the status of the Library search. The Dean noted that the application deadline was Monday and his office has received over 50 applications. He believes that there are a few very highly qualified candidates and he hopes to have made an offer by the end of the semester.

The Dean noted that we have come to agreement with Gordon Sellon to teach to economics courses next semester to replace courses not taught by Brad Bateman. Sellon is with the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City.

Council Remarks

T. Roberts brought the protests of several Theatre Department faculty and students to Council regarding the possibility of an administratively imposed appointment of an external person to the position of interim Department Chair. The President declined to comment and asked Roberts to direct all with comment to him.

C. Hunter asked about the security of our computing network. The Dean responded that all network data are backed up each day and stored at a remote site.

Hunter noted a recent campus-wide notice from Campus Security regarding the presence and use of the “date-rape” drug on campus recently. This incident caused him to look closely at the most recent Cleary Report. He notices a marked increase in drug arrests in 2004 and suggested that this type of statistic tends to note a change in policy rather than behavior and asked which was the case. The President responded that Tom Crady reports no change in policy, rather a few cases of unusually bad judgment on the part of students.

D. Lopatto noted that at the recent Science Division meeting the faculty voted to approve a new Neuroscience Concentration. This will then go to each Division that contributes courses to the Concentration for approval, to Curriculum Committee, and then the full faculty. The Dean noted that the procedures for academic change are spelled out on the Registrar’s website. For contemporary readers, this can be found at http://web.grinnell.edu/registrar/forms/CatalogInstructions.pdf

History Proposals and Job Description

There was discussion of a term position proposal from the History Department.

Faculty Eligibility to Vote

Following last week’s Council discussion of this subject, the Dean distributed a new draft memorandum intended to go to the Faculty Organization Committee. There was further discussion of citizenship defining policy until there was agreement on the definition of citizenship. The Dean will redraft the memorandum to make Council’s agreement clear to FOC.

Interdisciplinary Fellows

The Executive Council unanimously approved the nomination of three faculty and their terms of service as Interdisciplinary Fellows. They are Jin Feng (1.5 yrs), Clark Lindgren (3.5 yrs), Robert Grey (2.5 yrs).

Humanities Center

There was discussion of the Humanities Center.

The meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese