February 7, 2005

Present: Rob Shakespeare (chair), Judith Anderson, Erik Bucy, Katy Fraser, Jeff Hart, Roger Levesque, Chuck Livingston, Al Ruesink (recorder)

The meeting convened at 2:30.

Minutes of the meeting of January 31, 2005, were approved as amended.

The content of the College chairs' and directors' meeting of last week was summarized. There Vice President Clapacs provided some campus financial information, mostly sobering. For instance, IU has received just $2.5M R&R (restoration and rehabilitation) money over the last four years instead of the needed $80M.

The CPC returned to its proposal for establishing a small faculty committee to screen all full professors' CVs and annual reports every three years for the sole purpose of identifying high performance individuals who would be likely candidates for special awards, for being named as special professors, and for appointment to College committees. The CPC made some minor amendments to the proposal and then voted 6 yes/1 no to send the proposal forward to Dean Swamy.

The CPC continued its consideration of the proposed Department of Second Language Studies, looking at written comments received from several people who were not directly involved in the writing of the proposal but whose work will be affected by it. At 3:08, Associate Dean Catherine Larson joined us to assist our evaluation. Some College departments endorse the proposal and some have suggestions for other emphases. The success of the department will depend upon good working relationships with several other College departments. A central consideration is how theory-based the new department should be. Classroom-based research and a stronger support system for second language instruction as well as for English as a second language for non-native speakers of English at IU are all areas that fit under the general scope of such a department. The CPC plans to interview some key faculty and administrators in the next few weeks to become better informed before making a recommendation on this proposal.

Dean Larson also discussed the status of College efforts to understand and encourage action on grade inflation. Information on campus grades is available to faculty on the IUB website. All College departments have been asked to have at least one faculty meeting on grade inflation this spring. Catherine has distributed a packet of information about the topic to all chairs for their use at that faculty meeting. At this point (3:30), Dean Swamy joined our meeting. He and Catherine emphasized that the intention is to generate dialogue that may perhaps lead to grading changes. Swamy asserted that the issue must be engaged at the department level. Catherine Larson then left the meeting.

Swamy provided us with a bit more information on the chairs' and directors' meeting, noting that Clapacs had provided an update on how the new FLSA rules are being implemented for some professional staff. Swamy noted that the ICHE (Indiana Commission on Higher Ed) is supporting more R&R money for state universities, but Governor Daniels seems not supportive. He also noted that chairs seem to have forgotten that the 2% cuts this fall were cuts in the base budget. The College does not have money to restore those cuts.

Swamy briefed us on some of the other pending bills in Indianapolis that could affect IU--such as a proposal that would force IU to join a state-employee health care plan.

Swamy noted that middle-rank faculty in the College this year are beginning to get more outside offers than has been the case the last few years, at least in part a response to the poor faculty salary increments last year. He emphasized that he needs to retain considerable flexibility to deal with these outside offers, hoping to be proactive when possible.

When asked about the status of the Computer Science move to Informatics, Swamy responded that he felt there had been some movement in resolving the financial arrangements.

Finally, he talked some more about his perceptions of the Second Language Studies scene. He believes that this is a growth area, that IU has both a long distinguished history in the area and some real talent. Because of several upcoming retirements, there is an opportunity to identify a structure that can facilitate progress and visibility in this area, a structure that we don't presently have.

The meeting adjourned at 4:10.

Albert Ruesink, recorder

Questions or comments regarding the minutes and actions of the Policy Committee may be addressed to Rob Shakespeare, Dept. of Theater and Drama, Theater and Drama Ctr. A300H, 5-4367, shakespe@indiana.edu. Past minutes and College Policy Statements can be found at the CPC web page: www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/policy/policies.shtml.