Present: C. Hunter, E. Marzluff, J. Meehan, R. Osgood, S. Rebelsky, T. Roberts, J. Swartz, E. Willis

The meeting came to order at 4:20 p.m. in Room 226 of the new Rosenfield Student Center. The minutes of September 20, 2006 were approved.

President’s Remarks

The President remarked on the unhappy situation surrounding the disappearance of our second-year student, Paul Shuman Moore. A massive search has been underway for three days now. Unfortunately, he has nothing new to report.

Dean’s Remarks

There was discussion of several proposed personnel actions.

There was a discussion of the current dining hall situation and a conclusion that the early start-up operational issues are now being resolved.

The Dean noted that the College lawyer has finished his review of the proposed Faculty Handbook language change regarding promotion to professor and recommended a few non-substantive wording changes.

There was discussion of “Strategy 6: Strengthening the Public Profile of Grinnell College”.

Council Remarks

C. Hunter, citing a recent problem at Ohio State, asked if we have social security numbers stored in our computer network. The Dean noted that a few years ago the College conducted a serious review of network security and is now satisfied that we are in very good shape.

E. Marzluff asked if we have met the Federal compliance requirement regarding Constitution Day. The President responded that a panel discussion is planned for October.

Marzluff noted that, when the Des Moines Register listed the book allowances included in the comprehensive fees of all Iowa colleges and universities, Grinnell’s allowance was the lowest. She remarked that she finds this fact embarrassing. The Dean responded by saying that he has asked Jim Sumner to look into this issue.

E. Willis noted that there was a meeting with department chairs regarding writing personnel review letters. She thought it was productive. The chairs expressed their interest in receiving sample letters to provide guidance in writing these letters. She wonders whether, given the increasing number of things they are being asked to do, if department chairs are being fairly compensated. She would like some discussion of this issue in future. We may want to carry out a review of this next year.

Ad Hoc Committee on Voting

E. Willis reported that Pablo Silva and Karla Erickson have agreed to join this committee. Tom Moore will represent the Faculty Organization Committee on this ad hoc committee and Sam Rebelsky will represent executive council T. Roberts noted that it seems that one of their responsibilities would be to define what is meant by “regular” faculty member. A discussion ensued.

Strategic Plan Metrics

The President noted that the proposed metrics are intended for use in assessing progress of implementation of the Strategic Plan, but do not extend to the institution. When the Plan concludes the metrics disappear. The proposed metrics were largely developed by the Trustees and it is highly appropriate for the Council to engage them now. He urged Council to prepare for their meeting with Clint Korver to discuss the proposal. He also noted that these metrics, when adopted, will become the core of our assessment plan proposed for NCA reaccreditation.

Interdisciplinary Appointment and Review

T. Roberts noted that the proposed search models have already been distributed to the human geography and earth systems science search committees and asked to what extent are these models guiding the action of those committees in advance of discussion by Council. Marzluff responded that while they had seen the document, they had not discussed it and they were asking council for guidance in what the review procedures would be in anticipation of interviewing candidates.

E. Marzluff suggested that Council now talk about the hiring process. E. Willis suggested that Council discuss the possibility of hiring outside the departmental structure. The Dean noted, that in accordance with the Faculty Handbook, there is no faculty governance structure outside of the departmental one. He also noted that this could be changed by modification to the Handbook. A wide ranging discussion ensued. Issues engaged include:

• appointing a new faculty member into a department in which s/he taught no departmental courses in relation to review;
• separating teaching, scholarship, and service evaluation processes and the role of the home department chair as synthesizing agent;
• socializing and mentoring needs of new faculty with feet in different departments;
• creating concentrations as governance structures with appointments made to them;
• creating stable multidisciplinary review committees as an alternative to departments;
• determining how much say departments should have (including veto power) in hiring decisions and giving departments more security regarding future position requests; and
• reassigning teaching responsibilities as an interdisciplinary faculty members move through their careers and institutional curricular needs change.

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

Secretary
Karen Wiese