February 5th, 2007

Please Note: At the end of these minutes is our slightly revised constitution. We are sending it to the faculty for comment.

Present: Judith Anderson (Chair), Simon Brassell, Sandra Dolby, Hal Evans, Roger Levesque (Recorder), Rosemary Lloyd, and Pamela Walters

Our meeting was convened at 4:01.

We read, made minor amendments to, and then approved the minutes of our Jan. 29th meeting.

We briefly discussed our upcoming tour of library facilities (on the 12th) and our meeting with Scott Long (on the 19th) to discuss the new Bureau of Social Science Research.

We spent most of our meeting discussing the Feb. 1 campus visit by Virginia Valian, which included a series of events that addressed barriers to the advancement of female faculty and outlined steps that have proven at least partly successful in promoting gender equity in the academy. Recall that her visit was sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office of Women's Affairs and that she is a leading scholar investigating factors contributing to the disparity in the professional advancement of men and women. Her talks were seen as an opportunity for administrators, faculty and students to learn about and address issues confronting women in higher education.

CPC member Pam Walters attended two of the events – the workshop for chairs, directors, and promotion and tenure committees in the morning and her public address in the afternoon – and led our discussion by focusing on the workshop. The first point to note is that Valian’s message about widespread lack of attention to gender inequities in academia was underscored by the attendance at the workshop: We report with regret that out of more than 60 department chairs and program directors in the College, only four participated in the workshop. Another four faculty members and one College administrator attended. None of those who attended were “majority” males. Valian used the apparent lack of interest in the workshop among chairs and directors to underscore her point that it is a challenge at most universities to raise awareness that inequities exist, let alone devise ways to address them. She also highlighted how academics' strong belief in meritocracy leads them to resist the idea that gender plays an important role in their professional advancement – men’s as well as women’s.

Valian made several important substantive points at the workshop. One, she made clear that addressing matters of gender inequity requires strong leadership from the top. Two, she discussed the established research findings that men and women alike have implicit hypotheses about gender differences (gender schemas) that create the perception of sex differences in characteristics and behaviors of men and women. These schemas cause us to systematically overrate the work or traits of men and underrate the work or traits of women. These gender schema extend even to the evaluation of concrete, unambiguous traits such as height: For example, when subjects in experimental settings are asked to judge the heights of pairs of women and men matched in height, both male and female raters perceive the women to be shorter. Three, each individual evaluative “event” may constitute only a small disadvantage for women, but an academic career is a long series of evaluations and judgments. In Valian’s words, over time those molehills become mountains: She presented strong evidence demonstrating that over the long run gender schemas work to advantage men and disadvantage women substantially.

Our discussion led us to conclude, again, that equity issues need to stay on our agenda. We look forward to discussing these issues with our new Dean on the 26th. We found the discussion especially timely given the increasingly diverse priorities facing the College (see Jan. 29th minutes).

We returned to our constitution and made minor adjustments in election procedures. We unanimously supported the minor changes.

We discussed correspondence regarding our policy on distance education. It was recalled that we had consulted with Dean Larson and that we had benefitted greatly from her guidance and the work that she and the Committee on Undergraduate Education had done on this matter. We will consult with Dean Larson again as we determine whether to revisit this policy. Given the changes in distance education, we certainly expect that we will need to revisit these issues in the future.

We discussed the submission of potential nominees for this Spring's election. We would like to thank faculty who nominated their colleagues and potential nominees for considering whether to serve on the CPC. We expect to have the slate of candidates, and their statements, ready for elections in early March.

We adjourned at 5:39.

Roger Levesque, Recorder

Questions or comments regarding the minutes and actions of the College Policy Committee may be addressed to its Chair, Judith Anderson (anders@indiana.edu – 855-3845). Past minutes and College Policy Statements can be found at the CPC web page: www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/policy/policies.shtml.

CONSTITUTION OF THE POLICY COMMITTEE OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AS REVISED THROUGH FEBRUARY, 2007

I. Powers and Duties of the Policy Committee

A. The Policy Committee represents the College faculty in the formulation of College policies and the monitoring of their impact. It may advise the Dean and the faculty on any matters of College concern.

B. The Committee may make recommendations to the faculty on matters requiring faculty action and to the Dean on matters that are to be handled by administrative action.

C. The Committee may consider questions and proposals that are referred to it by the Dean, by other committees, by members of the faculty, and by students. It may also consider matters it originates.

D. The Committee may have liaison with any other College committee through such means as it deems appropriate.

E. The Committee also functions as the Budgetary Affairs Committee of the College, as stipulated by policies adopted by the Budgetary Affairs Committee of the Bloomington Faculty Council. In this role it advises the Dean on budgetary and salary matters. The Committee sets general salary policies for the College and monitors departmental policies for conformity with College policies but is not otherwise involved in departmental salary allocations. In order to be able to provide the Dean with informed advice on budgetary matters, the Committee may send one of its members to any regular budget conference between the Dean (or the Dean's representative) and a department chair or program director. The Committee will follow established procedures to assure the confidentiality of the budget process.

II. Structure of the Policy Committee

A. The Committee consists of nine elected tenured or tenure-track faculty members, the Dean of the College, and the Executive Associate Dean of the College. With the exception of the Dean and the Executive Associate Dean, faculty members holding administrative appointments in the College at the rank of department chair, program director, and above, or on the Bloomington Campus at the rank of Associate Dean and above, are not eligible to serve on the Policy Committee.

B. The Dean and the Executive Associate Dean are non-voting members. All other members are voting members. If the Dean and/or the Executive Associate Dean are able to attend, they are normally invited to participate in all or part of each meeting.

C. The faculty members are chosen from the following distribution units of the Bloomington Faculty Council :

D. Each faculty member serves three years (including summers) beginning with the fall semester; terms of elected members are staggered on a three-year basis. Sabbaticals and other leaves do not count toward an elected member's three-year term if the member does not attend Committee meetings regularly during the leave.

III. Election and Appointment Procedures of the Policy Committee

A. The newly elected Policy Committee will convene once at the end of the spring semester preceding its tenure in office. The purpose of this meeting is to elect a Chair and Secretary for the coming year; these appointments take effect at the beginning of the fall semester. Chairs and Secretaries may be reappointed for successive terms, but they are elected for only one year at a time.

B. If the Committee chooses to hold summer meetings, the continuing members may, at their discretion, invite the newly elected members to attend. The newly elected members, however, are considered non-voting members until their official terms begin in the fall semester.

C. At the beginning of the spring semester the Committee appoints a Nominating Committee from its membership. In January the Nominating Committee invites nominations and volunteers from the College Faculty to stand for election to the Policy Committee. This invitation is carried out electronically, and the Nominating Committee may also provide additional nominations of its own. Upon recommendation of the Nominating Committee, the Policy Committee designates candidates (normally two) for each anticipated vacancy. Candidates are designated from such units as necessary to maintain the distribution of Committee membership described in Article II.C. That is, if there is a single vacancy in a distribution unit, the Committee will typically propose a slate of two candidates from departments and programs within that group. If there are two vacancies, the Committee will typically propose a slate of four candidates, and so on.  Ideally, depending upon nominees' willingness to stand for election, candidates are also designated in such a way as to maintain a broad representation of departments and programs in the College and to avoid over-representation of any single department or program.

D. In March ballots containing the names of all nominees, along with a statement from each nominee, are distributed electronically to all members of the College faculty, with a date set for the completion of the voting. The Nominating Committee tabulates and reports the results of the election. The election process should be completed by mid-April at the latest.

E. Each tenured and tenure-track faculty member in the College is entitled to vote for one candidate for each vacant seat. Within each distribution unit, the appropriate number of candidates is elected according to the number of votes each candidate receives. That is, if there is a single vacancy, the candidate with the highest number of votes is elected. If there are two vacancies, the candidates with the highest and second-highest number of votes are elected, and so on. The College faculty is then promptly informed of the election results.

F. When an elected member resigns more than one year before the end of the term or is to be absent for more than one year, the vacancy shall be filled through a special election following, except as to dates, the same procedures as for a regular election. Shorter vacancies may, at the discretion of the Policy Committee, be left vacant, or they may be filled by the Committee through appointment from the appropriate distribution unit.

G. Persons who have completed three-year terms of service are ineligible for re-election for a period of three years following their terms of service. For members who have recently completed a regular term of service, reappointment under Article III.F. to fill a short-term vacancy is allowed but is considered in determining the three-year waiting period.

IV. Administrative Matters

A. The Policy Committee is an advisory and legislative body that frequently considers personnel matters and other confidential information. The committee's deliberations require concentration and an in-confidence atmosphere that is not possible in open meetings. Accordingly, attendance at the committee's meetings is limited to the voting and non-voting members and to invited guests. All invitations are extended in the context of specific agenda items where the committee wants the input of specific individuals. Invitations are not extended to persons who would serve only as observers.The committee's minutes are publicly disseminated and serve as our link to our constituency and other interested parties. The committee will answer questions about its minutes submitted to its chair.  Each set of minutes will invite such comments.

B. The Policy Committee may create such committees, subcommittees, task forces, and similar bodies as are required to fulfill its duties and responsibilities. These bodies may include persons who are not members of the Policy Committee.

C. A file of paper copies of the minutes of the Committee shall be kept in the College office. Minutes are distributed electronically by the College office to the Dean, to Associate and Assistant Deans, and to all members of the College faculty (except those who explicitly request not to receive the minutes). For ease of retrieval and reference, a separate file of paper copies of all policies and resolutions enacted by the Committee shall be kept in the College office.

D. The committee maintains a website through the College office. The website contains a general description of the Committee and its activities, a copy of the Constitution, a list of current members, and any other background information the Committee deems appropriate.

E. The minutes of the Committee, along with copies of policies and resolutions enacted by the Committee, are posted and archived on the Committee's website.

F. The Dean's office shall provide Support Staff services to the Committee, including maintaining the website.

V. Constitutional Amendment

This Constitution can be amended by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the Policy Committee. Upon amendment, the revised Constitution must be promptly distributed to those persons who receive minutes of the Committee's meetings and must be posted promptly on the Committee's website.