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 Rosenfield Student Center. The minutes of November 8, 2006 were approved.

President’s Remarks

The President congratulated the Pioneer women’s cross country team for winning the Midwest regional competition and wished them good luck in the NCAA national meet.

He has just returned from speaking at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on diversity on college campuses in America. Joined on a panel by the Presidents of Vassar and Lawrence, he spoke about moving from incorporating diversity as an objective in a strategic plan to implementing tactics to achieve it. This experience has helped him rethink the position of diversity officer at Grinnell and he is now ready to prepare a position description in advance of the departure of Frank Thomas from that position in December.

In response to previous requests for information on the College medical benefits policy, the President stated that our insurance policy is at the vortex of Medicare and tax laws. The plan promises that we will give equivalent benefits to all who are eligible. Eligibility can vary depending on state recognition of the class of person. All of our plans require that you must elect Medicare as soon as you are eligible because for every year that you do not a premium penalty is levied by Medicare. Our insurance continues to wrap around Medicare as “gap” insurance. He does not believe that our policy is discriminatory but rather requires unmarried partners who have reached the retirement age to do what the law forces them to do. E. Willis asked that a letter be issued to all members of the College community which contains this information.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean reminded Council that they have voted not to meet next week in view the of Thanksgiving holiday.

Council Remarks

T. Roberts reported on a discussion of Strategy 6 in the Humanities Division meeting this week. There were a lot of questions raised and skepticism expressed. The majority are wondering if the purpose of this strategy is to enable more effective public relations communication or if it is really to result in additional academic programming in relatively few areas. With regard to the Strategy 6 current emphasis on creativity, the majority believe this should be intimately linked to critical thinking…the development of critical thinking enables the development of creativity. They also contested the use of the concept of leadership rather than emphasizing citizenship as an educational objective of the College for our students. Roberts reported that a number of humanities faculty at the meeting were unhappy with the lack of emphasis on the humanities in the document and that one faculty member characterized this as “demoralizing.” C. Hunter noted that the subject had been briefly touched at the Social Studies Division meeting but it was agreed to delay a full discussion to 12/11/06.

E. Marzluff updated Council on the status of the earth systems science and human geography position searches.

E. Willis noted that the Curriculum Committee is pursuing options to offer faculty to handle the distribution requirements for off-campus study, second majors and graduation without completing residency requirements.

Prof. Rebelsky asked if the construction of Phase II of the new Athletic Center would cause the demolition or removal of the BCC. Pres. Osgood replied that the building was far away and would not affect the BCC. Should the Trustees decide to attempt to save Springer Field by moving it west it might require the removal of the current BCC building but it is too early to know if that is to even be given serious consideration. The President stated that he thought by early December he might have a better idea.

Department Proposals

Council discussed personnel issues in philosophy, theatre, and sociology.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese