Minutes of the April 2006 Faculty Meeting

President Thomforde called the meeting to order at 11:34 a.m.

Pastor Benson opened the meeting with prayer.

The minutes of the March 2006 Faculty Meeting were approved and accepted.

President's Remarks

The President thanked the faculty for greetings during this time of transition. He recalled with gratitude the letters of welcome he received from faculty members when he prepared to occupy this office and asked the faculty to consider doing the same for President-elect David Anderson.


The President also announced that Jan McDaniel, VP of Church Relations, is leaving to become the C.E.O. of the Red Cross of the Twin-Cities Area. The President has named Janet Kringen Thompson to be Interim VP of Church Relations, and asked the faculty to extend congratulations to her.

Order of Business

Nominating Committee

Bob Hauck presented a ballot for election to the faculty. He also asked for a waiver of the seven-day rule because several nominees were added to the ballot after it was made available to the faculty. After the motion was seconded, it passed.

CEPC

Corliss Swain asked for a waiver of the seven-day rule for CEPC 05/06-08, which was seconded and passed. Next, she moved and amended CEPC 05/06-08 to include Dance 215. After it was seconded, the amended motion passed.

Mary Cisar moved CEPC 05/06-09, which was seconded. She introduced this motion. Bryn Geffert addressed the motion, arguing that it addressed only part of the problem of grade inflation. In answering questions posed by Paul Zorn, Mary Cisar, Kathy Thomforde, and Jo Beld spoke to the history of the motion. Gary Stansell spoke in favor of the motion, arguing that students are done a service with higher standards. After the close of discussion, the motion passed.

Kathy Thomforde presented CEPC 05/6-10, which was seconded. She introduced this motion. During discussion a range of questions were asked. Matt Richey and Mary Carlsen asked questions of fact regarding the motion, which Kathy Thomforde addressed. Matt Rohn spoke against the motion, arguing that the needs the motion addresses can be sustained informally. Jo Beld spoke to the history of the proposal. Kathryn Ananda-Owens and Alice Hanson asked how this proposal addresses classes in the fine arts. Alice Hanson argued that performance-based fine-arts courses are exempted from this motion. Ted Johnson and Eric Lund asked how this proposal would affect off-campus courses. Kathy Thomforde responded that the proposal is assumed to address only on-campus courses. L. DeAne Lagerquist, Bob Hanson, and Kathryn Ananda-Owens asked questions of procedure, whether college-wide committees, departments, instructors, or some combination thereof would determine admission. Jill Dietz, Jo Beld, and Kathy Thomforde addressed these questions.

At this point in discussion, Corliss Swain moved to amend the paragraph marked #4 to read "admission of students must rely on publicly stated criteria," which was seconded. Matt Rohn, Kathleen Shea, and Ed Langerak spoke against the amendment, stating that it is not appropriate for IDOCS courses to have publicly stated criteria. After discussion, the motion to amend did not pass.

Discussion continued with Karl Fink and Bob Hanson asking how waiting lists and registration would relate to the motion. Kathy Thomforde addressed these questions. John Barbour thanked CEPC for their work, argued that the motion has too many questions of interpretation, and called the question. His call was seconded and passed. This brought the motion to vote, and it did not pass.

RPC

Matt Richey altered the agenda to bring the RPC Salmon sheet to discussion first. He moved that the faculty endorse RPC to continue work on the proposed committee structure, which was seconded. After some clarifications, the faculty endorsed the continuation of RPC's labors to reform proposed committee structure.

Next, Matt Richey moved RPC 05/06-4, which was seconded. He introduced this motion as a resubmission of a motion already passed in May 2003. He further explained that the motion was not forwarded then to the Board of Regents, so it is again proposed to the faculty to resubmit to the Board. The motion passed.

Finally, Matt Richey moved RPC 05/06-3, a revision of the language for honorary degrees, which was seconded.During discussion, Kathryn Ananda-Owens lamented that honorary degrees are no longer granted for outstanding teaching. The motion then passed.

Academic Dean

There were no remarks from Dean May since he was attending a meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, where, as the society's official orator, he delivered speeches honoring members.

Announcements

Office of the Dean of Students

Jim Hanson spoke about academic integrity on campus. He is forming an ad hoc committee to explore and invited interested members of the faculty to contact him. The President underscored the importance of academic integrity and the timeliness of Dean Hanson's announcement.

The meeting adjourned at 12:33 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Gregory A. Walter
Secretary to the Faculty