Minutes of the February 12, 2009 Faculty Meeting


Call to Order
The President called the October Meeting to order at 11.33.

Opening Prayer
Pastor Bruce Benson reminded the faculty that today marks the 200th birthday anniversary of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.  He noted that the Catholic church has officially apologized for its actions against Darwin.  He prayed for continuing the search for what is true, right and just.

Approval of the Minutes of the December 2008 Faculty Meeting
The minutes were approved.

Remarks by the President, David Anderson
President Anderson addressed the faculty at a special "State of the College Address" on Feb. 4th and had no further remarks for the faculty meeting.  He invited Dean May to make announcements.  Dean May first welcomed field supervisors returning to St. Olaf from abroad including: John Barbour and Meg Ojala, Term in Asia; Dave and Pat VanWylen, Term in the Middle East; and Rich and Wendy Allen, Global Semester.  Jim also welcomed back those who were on leave and away during interim.  The faculty welcomed all with warm applause.

Dean May also noted that many individuals were involved in compiling tenure dossiers and thanked all who generously contributed to this effort.  He then reported that much time has been spent on hiring for the fall.  Several committees have successfully completed tenure-track searches and several are still pending.  He gave the faculty a preview of the faculty who will be joining our community in the fall and again thanked the large number of individuals involved in this process.

Consent Agenda
There were two items on the agenda:
1.  Currcomm08/09-09, New Course Proposals, David Booth
2.  Spring Sports Schedules, Judy Kutulas

The faculty voted to approve the agenda.

Committee Reports
Jonathan Hill,Faculty Governance Committee, reported that in their last meeting, the committee returned to the issue of counting votes in elections with three or more candidates.  He noted that although a motion was already passed in the December faculty meeting, the topic elicited many questions and some dissent.  The discussion in the committee focused on two points.  First, it is extremely rare to have elections with three or more candidates. Second, the committee was not convinced that a change in the motion about run-off elections would ensure any greater measure of fairness in the process. They also felt this change would raise as many problems as it sought to solve.  Therefore, the committee prefers to stay with the motion presented and passed in December but is open to return to this question in the future, if needed.  Meanwhile, any individuals not satisfied with this decision are encouraged to discuss their concerns with committee members.
Hill also reminded the faculty of the email that was sent earlier this week regarding service on elected faculty committees.  He thanked those who have responded and volunteered for future candidacy.  He encouraged others to follow suit and to be in touch with the committee.  Hill noted that there are always problems tabulating faculty service in a document such as this.  They acknowledge that elected faculty committees are only one type of service to the College, that these committees are not always the most time-consuming of committees, and that there are also administrative assignments, special assignments, etc.  But, for this purpose, they were charged with specifically examining elected committees.

New Business
Judy Kutulas, Student Life Committee, requested a waiver of the seven-day rule in order to present a new Classroom Disruption Policy.  The motion was moved and approved.  Kutulas explained that the motion has two pieces, new wording of the policy and a recommendation to the President that this policy be added to the Faculty Handbook.  She described the new policy as one that gives leeway for the professor to define limits in the classroom.  She also explained that this policy is currently only listed in the Student Handbook and that the committee believes that it should be added to the Faculty Handbook.

There were comments from the faculty on the wording of this policy.  Specific questions were posed about the omission of the first sentence of the existing policy.  A friendly amendment was suggested to add the sentence "Students are expected to have high standards of behavior in the classroom, and rules of reasonable behavior should prevail."

Questions were also posed about how this policy affects students in special circumstances.  Kutulas responded that the Student Life Committee had concluded that it was best to have a flexible policy so faculty can set their own rules for classroom behavior, rather than an inflexible policy with a pre-determined, structured set of rules. The proposed policy allows for more flexibility and can accommodate special circumstances or individual preferences.
There were questions and comments as to whether or not the wording of the policy should be the same in Student and Faculty Handbook.  Suggestions were given that an introductory or concluding statement could be added to the Faculty Handbook that addresses the implications for faculty.

Members of the Faculty Governance Committee also commented that they had reviewed this policy in their last meeting.  They noted that having this policy in the Faculty Handbook gives the faculty ownership of the policy and allows the faculty to review this policy in the future, if needed.

The motion put forth included what was distributed plus the additional sentence from the previous policy as stated above.  The motion passed.

Dona Freeman, Honorary Degree Nominations
Two nominees were approved by the faculty and will be forwarded to the Board of Regents for approval.

David Booth, Chair of the Curriculum Committee, put forward motion 08/09-08 for the Film Studies Concentration.  He emphasized a few of the points that stand out as reasons to adopt the concentration.  First, the depth and breadth of student interest has grown steadily.  Second, film is an important creative form which has cultural implications and historical weight. Third, the skills and dispositions in interpreting and producing film are central to a liberal arts education. Fourth, the depth and breadth of faculty interest is also increasing.  Booth also called attention to the patient, methodical and prudent way the proposal was developed and how it makes use of existing resources in shrewd ways.
Kathryn Ananda-Owens asked for clarification as to why a course on music composition does not count towards a Film Studies Concentration.  Booth explained that the Curriculum Committee had a lively and helpful discussion about which specific courses should be included in this concentration.  He noted that the list of courses is suggestive, since the official list of courses that will count to the concentration will be settled by the directors and faculty in Film Studies.  Ananda-Owens replied that she felt strongly that music and other aspects of sound production be included in the concentration and would like to urge future directors of the Film Studies to consult with someone with knowledge of music and sound as they put the concentration together.  She noted that film should not only be seen as a vehicle for visual literacy, but that the faculty should consider all the dimensions of film in a Film Studies Concentration.  The motion passed.

Remarks for the Good of the Order
David Booth noted that the Curriculum Committee oversees the role of the academic planning group of the pandemic task force.  As a part of this effort, two faculty members have developed course structures that could be used in instruction in the case of an emergency that required the College to close the physical campus, such as a pandemic.  The first course, developed by Professor Colin Wells, is a general course in the humanities on preserving the human good in times of crisis.  The course is designed with a wide variety of literary and historical resources, almost all available in the public domain and available electronically.  This course is designed so that large number of faculty would be able to teach this course with the resources that Wells developed, including a fully developed Moodle template.  The College will offer this course in a provisional, experimental way this summer as a way of testing what we could do in the event of flu or other emergency.  The Committee wishes to recruit a faculty member who thinks this would be an attractive challenge.  The Curriculum Committee finds it an important way to advance the College's readiness to respond to an emergency with our curriculum by taking the course for a test drive.  Please be in touch with David Booth if interested.

Michael Fitzgerald reminded the faculty of his recent email on the 100th Anniversary of Lincoln's birth.  A faculty panel discussion on Lincoln's legacy will take place in one week.

Steve Soderlind reported great news on Mark Schelske's recovery.  Steve is putting together a bank account for anyone wishing to contribute to large medical bills. Mark is recovering, so he can not accept visitors or anything from the outside for fear of contamination.

Steve McKelvey reminded faculty that class deans are an excellent resource if there are any questions about what to with disruptive students in class.  He would be happy to discuss these issues with concerned faculty.

A reminder was made about the Nobel Peace Prize Forum taking place March 6 and 7.  They are having problems with the website and are working on fixing the links.
Eric Cole corrected an email he sent out, reminding faculty that the summer curriculum grant deadline is one week from Friday (Feb. 20).

Bruce Dalgaard called the faculty's attention to the upcoming visit of the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, Dr. Musil.  He will be here the week leading into the Peace Prize forum, and there are still some times available for him to meet with classes or faculty and student groups.

Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 12.30.
Minutes prepared by Kari Lie, Secretary to the Faculty

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