Present: J. Cummins, B. Ferguson, K. Jacobson, J. Meehan, R. Osgood, S. Rebelsky, J. Swartz, E. Willis

The meeting came to order at 1:15 p.m. in room 203 of the Rosenfield Student Center.

The minutes and excerpts from October 10 and 15, 2007 were approved.

President’s Remarks

The President made no remarks.

Dean’s Remarks

The Dean noted that he had yesterday participated in a panel discussion as part of a course at Iowa State University on “Preparing Future Faculty”.

He noted that in the process of considering term position requests from departments he has been told that as many as eight faculty members have asked for or notified chairs of the possibility of asking for an unpaid semester leave next year. This is very high and he believes the issue should be discussed by Council as a matter of policy. J. Meehan suggested combining this discussion of leaves with a discussion of the Harris leave program. He would like this added to the Council agenda this year.

He noted that he had a meeting with Doug Caulkins and Kathleen Powell yesterday regarding their desire to open up summer internships for credit and make several other changes to that program. While the Dean acknowledged that this is a matter for discussion by the Curriculum Committee there is also a matter of faculty time which should be addressed by Council. Therefore, he would like this to be added to Council’s agenda this year as well.

The Dean noted that the College is participating in a collaborative grant involving 23 similar liberal arts colleges around the country which is funded by the Mellon Foundation. One part of this grant involves the establishment of the Mellon 23 Assemblies. He noted that he is helping to develop and coordinate the first of these Assemblies to take place in Minneapolis this February. He had earlier asked the Advisory Board of the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies to suggest several large themes of current importance to the College community for Council consideration. S. Rebelsky, as Council liaison to the Board, has brought back to Council several suggestions for their selection as the theme around which Grinnell’s participation in the Assembly and throughout the following academic year. Council decided that it would be of widespread interest for the College to concentrate its efforts on “environmental challenges”. The Dean then asked for selection of a faculty member to represent the College at the first Assembly in February.

There was discussion of a position description for a term Arabic language instructor. Council approved an amended position description.

Council Remarks

J. Cummins noted that the Philosophy Department is not going forward with recruitment of a neurophilosophy position this year.

J. Cummins asked the President about protocol regarding Council members reporting out the actions of Council to their respective division faculty. The President responded that s/he is free to report in general terms on non-personnel issues and may present their own positions on various actions but should not, without permission, report on the positions of other Council members. The Dean reminded Council that they must act in such a way as to preserve Council’s ability to continue to have open and free discussion in meetings.

S. Rebelsky, referring to an article appearing in the last issue of the S&B, expressed concern that student body members are working more than 20 hours per week. The President stated emphatically that they are not supposed to and that it is unacceptable because it is contrary to all College policies in this area. He will ask Tom Crady to talk with them.

E. Willis asked about the timing for taking new Faculty Handbook language regarding the possibility of making appointments at the initial rank of Associate Professor to the Board of Trustees for approval. She reminded him of the urgency of having such flexibility as various departments are now considering candidate pools for new tenure-track appointments. The President responded that he thought this could be accomplished as a relatively minor matter in the next phone conference.

Review of Interdisciplinary Appointments

There was discussion of alternative models for the constitution of review committees for interdisciplinary appointments. There was concern expressed (on the heels of the recent faculty meeting at which this subject was aired by Council) that departments had not really grasped the importance of this issue. E. Willis asked the Dean when Council might be able to take this to the faculty. The Dean responded that there are too many references in the current Faculty Handbook that required careful consideration by the Dean, President, and College lawyer that he does not expect action this semester.

The meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Secretary
Karen Wiese