Present: C. Hunter, D. Lopatto, E. Marzluff, W. Moyer, 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 10/12/05 were approved.

President’s Remarks

The President was traveling.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean noted that with all the changes that have been approved in the past two years, including the new appendices, the Faculty Handbook is ready to be republished.

There was discussion of Council’s meeting schedule for the remainder of the semester.

He noted that the College had received over 50 applications for the Librarian of the College position. The search committee has reviewed them and met on Monday to create a short-list of 6 candidates. The committee will interview these people in the next few weeks and make an offer by the end of the semester. He reviewed the status of other faculty searches.

Council Remarks

E. Willis brought a request from the Biology Department that grade reports for their advisees be sent to them by the Registrar automatically in hard copy. The issue is having a hard file to work with when they are with their advisees. The Dean reported that this request is not easily met because of the nature of the electronic information system used by the Registrar. He has recommended that the Registrar and Associate Dean Chenette meet with the Instructional Support Committee to resolve this issue. Conceptually, he agrees with the idea of providing good support for advising.

E. Willis noted that the full Diversity Steering Committee met this week. They decided to propose that a distinguished speaker be invited to campus next year to deliver a convocation address on the question of identity. They also planned for three additional speakers next semester to talk about racial, religious and physical diversity. The Committee also noted that staff who attend our convocations often complain that the speakers are talking over their heads and will be mindful of this when selecting these speakers. Finally, the Committee talked about how the college gathers statistics for the diversity purposes. It was suggested that we may want to develop an internal reporting system that reflects the goals of the institution. This information might differ from the information we report to the Federal government in keeping with its guidelines. Willis noted that some students are reluctant to self-report within the context of the current categories we use. She also noted that there is a possible ACM conference on diversity in the liberal arts education next year and the Committee would like to be out in front on this.

D. Lopatto noted that the New York Times reported recently that the FCC is requiring colleges and universities to reconfigure their computer systems so that they are electronic-tap friendly. The Dean responded that the College will respond to this as a member of larger organizations.

Faculty Eligibility to Vote

The Council decided to forward their policy guidance on faculty eligibility to the Faculty Organization Committee so that they could craft the language changes for the Faculty Handbook. When they have done this the proposed language will be returned to Council for approval and the Council will recommend it to the faculty.

Center Reviews

The Dean invited discussion of overarching issues common to all three centers. A discussion ensued.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese