Minutes of the December 4, 2008 Faculty Meeting

I. Call to Order
The President called the October Meeting to order at 11.35.

II. Opening Prayer
Pastor Bruce Benson prayed for the community in this stressful season.

III. Approval of the Minutes of the November 2008 Faculty Meeting
Amendments were made to the minutes.

IV. Remarks by the President, David Anderson
President Anderson first explained that although the number of Board of Regents meetings has been reduced from four to three per year, the Executive Committee did meet to discuss how the country’s financial crisis affects the College.

The President stressed that it is an advantage for St. Olaf to have a small endowment  because only ten percent of the College's operating budget relies on earnings from the endowment.  Second, he reported that we have a very healthy ratio of debt compared to many other colleges.  Third, based on the information that we now have, the President is reasonably confident that we will have a robust pool of applicants next year.  This is based on the record number of students both visiting and applying for early decision admission.  We will not know the scope of the application pool until January 15th and will not know which individuals decide to come to St. Olaf until May 1st. However, based on the current information we have reason to be confident about admissions next year.  The College's biggest vulnerability would be the failure to enroll a sufficient number of students with the ability to pay for their own education. 

The basic strategy for now is to be prudent and cautious, patient and persistent in pursuit of the College's goals and in the implementation of our programs and adapt to circumstances when and if we find them. The President does not anticipate having to freeze hiring as many other colleges have done.

Because the endowment is going to contribute less to the overall operating budget in the next four years, the President believes that the College is going to have to think hard about how money is spent.  The President does not think we will be able to increase the comprehensive fee at the levels anticipated a year ago. He also reported that the College would not likely be able to complete or need to abandon all capital projects as planned
and that the College would probably not be as aggressive with Faculty and Staff compensation increases as hoped.  And finally, the President reported that he did not know for certain if the College would go ahead with renovating Old Science.  The earnest hope and intention is that the renovations go ahead as scheduled; there is forward momentum for the College that is represented by this project.  Additionally, many other space needs would be fulfilled in a domino-like fashion upon its completion.  A decision does not have to be made yet, so no final decision will be made.  The Executive Committee thought that this was a reasonable approach to take and asked if the College had taken as careful and analytical look at the overall costs as is needed.  He responded that they would continue to look as every institution is doing. 

The President’s final message was that St. Olaf will be fine.  We don’t know what is going to happen in the world but we are as well-positioned as we could be given the kind of operation we run in the environment in which we live.  In conclusion, he reiterated Pastor Benson’s point that this weekend is one of the most remarkable but also stressful times at the College for and reminded us all to take care of ourselves and each other.

Questions were raised as to when the comprehensive fee for next year will be set and if there is worry about retention from Fall to Spring semester.  The President responded that the comprehensive fee would be set in February at the Board of Regents meeting. He also reported that there is not a significant amount of new attrition expected .

V. Consent Agenda
There were three items on the agenda:
1. Curriculum Committee 0809-05, New Religion Course, (David Booth)
2. Curriculum Committee 0809-06, Changes to the Bachelor of Music - Church Music Major, (David Booth)
3. Curriculum Committee 0809-07, Bachelor of Music - Elective Studies Major, (David Booth)
The faculty voted to approve the agenda.

VI.  Committee Reports
Judy Kutulas and Jim Hanson, Student Life Committee, reported that they have gathered data on plagiarism.  The results showed that the most significant reason for student plagiarism is not understanding what plagiarism is.  They found an attitude difference in using electronic materials and printed materials.  The most important thing for faculty is to create assignments that are plagiarism-proof.  The more individualized assignments are to the course, the less chance of plagiarism.  They intend to have a policy in place next semester.

Eric Cole, Faculty Life Committee, reported that the committee has received many good proposals from tenured faculty and tenure-track faculty for time release grants.  The Committee continues to re-think faculty development opportunities. 

He congratulated the two faculty members awarded release time: Anantanand Rambachan (Religion) whose proposal was entitled “Hindu Theology of Liberation” and
John Schade (Biology) whose proposal was entitled “The Bio-Geo Chemistry Food Dynamic in Extreme Eco-Systems.”  The digital copies of the proposals are located here.

VII. New Business
Dona Freeman, Honorary Degree Nominations
The two nominees were approved by the faculty and will be forwarded to the Board of Regents for approval.

Jonathan Hill, Faculty Governance Committee, proposed motions 08/09-02,03,04, Changes to committee terms, changes to language in the Faculty Manual regarding committee elections.

Hill gave a number of reasons to reduce committee terms from three to two years including: enlarging the number of available candidates for elected positions on faculty committees, cutting down on length of service, thereby distributing the elected positions more widely among the faculty, increasing the number of faculty participating and decreasing workload of faculty members serving on committees.  He also explained that this motion does not affect those interested in running for a second term of office.

A question was raised as to how this first motion affects those who will be entering the third year of a term. Arnie Ostebee, Assistant Provost, explained that current terms would be grandfathered in and they would eventually enter in the new system.  Replacements would then be elected for a new two-year term.  There was also clarification that some faculty committees were previously two-year terms that were changed to three-year terms.  The first motion was approved.

Regarding the second motion, Hill explained that the move from paper to electronic ballots would allow the faculty to vote over the course of a week and does not require faculty members to be present.  The Governance Committee believes that this gives everyone more time to consider candidates and to make a more informed choice.  In the discussion, it was suggested that some slight editorial changes be made in the wording of this motion.  The second motion was approved.

Hill explained that the third motion has created a semantic frenzy as to what a majority vote means. The Governance Committee’s hope is that the new wording using the word “plurality” of votes (meaning the candidate with the most votes wins) will clear up any confusion.

There was some discussion of this point and third motion was approved with some opposition.

VIII.  Remarks for the Good of the Order

Jonathan Hill posed a question to the Secretary to the Faculty on the use of names in the minutes of the faculty meetings.  He noted that names listed in the agenda are used in the minutes, but that names of faculty who pose questions at the meeting have not been used.  He suggested that more names should be used in the minutes. Lie responded that she did not have a strong opinion on the use of names and is willing to write the minutes however the faculty prefers.  The President responded that the Faculty Agenda Setting Committee would discuss this matter further.

The meeting adjourned at 12.31.

Minutes prepared by Kari Lie, Secretary to the Faculty

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