April 26, 2004

Present: Judith Anderson, Erik Bucy, Ellen Dwyer, Katy Fraser, Jeff Hart, Kevin Hunt (chair), Chuck Livingston (recorder), Al Ruesink, Rob Shakespeare

1. The meeting began at 2:00 PM with the approval of the minutes for April 19, as amended.

2. The CPC election for 2004-2005 is complete. Professors Judith Anderson (English), Jeff Hart (Political Science) and Pam Walters (Sociology), have been elected to three year terms.

3. Chancellor Gros Louis has written to the CPC in brief response to its letter of February 26 regarding the School of Informatics, and he has shared with the Committee information provided by School of Informatics Dean Michael Dunn. The Chancellor and Dean noted that the Legislature specified that specific funds be directed to the School of Informatics. This is clearly the case; the CPC has asked the Chancellor to assure that funding is used to support the hiring of faculty throughout the University, holding joint appointments with the School of Informatics. This would be completely consistent with the model of the School of Informatics as originally proposed, discussed by the Bloomington Faculty Council, and as publicly described: as a School based on jointly appointed faculty and with only a small core of full faculty. The CPC believes that by following this approach and effectively calling upon the broad based strengths of the College and University, the School of Informatics will develop into an important resource for the University and State, as supported by the Legislature.

Dean Dunn identified a number of concerns and challenges he has faced in making joint appointments. The CPC recognizes these challenges and shares his concern that joint hiring be done effectively. In facilitating the development of the strongest possible program, the CPC believes it is essential that the outstanding faculty and departments of the College play a key role in building the new School's foundation. The challenges described by Dean Dunn which are of a fiscal nature will be quickly resolved if the Chancellor chooses to designate a portion of Informatics funding to support joint hirings. Other issues will, as would be expected, be less simple to resolve. In its letter to the Chancellor, the CPC suggested that establishing appropriate procedures for joint hiring will assure the necessary effective communication and collegial cooperation. Among its detailed suggestions, the CPC recommended to the Chancellor that:

a. Hiring committees for joint appointments consist equally of faculty from the proposed host department who are not affiliated with Informatics.

b. Whenever possible, tenure of joint appointments be assigned to the host department.

c. When search committees fail to identify an appropriate candidate, the search be continued to the next year.

d. An oversight committee widely representative of the faculty at IUB be appointed to (1) work with chairs of departments and the Dean of Informatics to ensure that the advertising of joint positions and the staffing of recruitment committees are jointly determined, (2) assure that host departments are fully and equally involved in joint hires, (3) coordinate writing of memoranda of agreement for each jointly appointed faculty member, detailing such issues as salary procedures, departmental and School voting rights, and promotion procedures, for that faculty member, and (4) undertake the specific task of working out procedures necessary for making joint appointments, including issues of salary, teaching load, and RCM impacts, in full accordance with the principle of faculty self-governance.

4. The Committee turned to the issue of the transfer of the Department of Computer Science to the School of Informatics. Dean Subbaswamy believes that the resolution of this issue is in the interest of the College and Computer Science, a position shared by the CPC. The Committee leaves decisions concerning the long term interest of the School of Informatics to those charged with such oversight. To complete its deliberations, the CPC awaits the report of the Chancellor's Review Committee, chaired by Vice Chancellor Theobald, which will determine the financial aspects of the transfer. The CPC also awaits a report from Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Catherine Larson regarding the details of a proposed College degree in Computer Science. She has informed the Committee that she in turn must receive feedback from the Department of Computer Science. Whether such a degree offering is practical was discussed, as was the possibility that the Committee resolve the transfer issue under the assumption that a degree in Computer Science will no longer be offered by the College.

5. The Schedule of Classes is no longer circulated in printed form. The Committee has been informed that the Registrar, Roland Cote, consulted with Chancellor Brehm during the summer of 2003, who in turn consulted with the academic deans and then approved ending publication of the Schedule. The Registrar identified two main reasons for the decision: budgetary concerns, largely associated to PeopleSoft development and implementation; that the printed Schedule of Classes is already out-of-date at the time it is delivered and is not reliable for advising or registration.

CPC members believe that the decision to end publication should be reconsidered; similar views have been received from students and colleagues. The repeated loss of on-line access during the week of April 19-24 highlighted the value of the paper copy. A number of possible options to address the issues identified by the Registrar were discussed: these included publishing the Schedule in a less expensive format, perhaps as an IDS supplement, selling the Schedule at a nominal cost, and possibly including advertisements. The Committee hopes that the Registrar, in conversation with a group of faculty and students, will find a reasonable way to return to publication.

6. The Committee has received feedback on its discussion of the restructuring or elimination of the Graduate School. Distinctions between the nature and needs of the graduate program at IUPUI and IUB were identified. The CPC recognized in its earlier discussion that an administrative structure will have to be established to replace some of the functions of the Graduate School. Committee members agree that the details of that structure must take into account the differences between the two campuses.

Questions or comments regarding the minutes and actions of the Policy Committee may be addressed to Kevin Hunt 5-3857, Dept. of Anthropology, Student Building 248, khunt@indiana.edu. Past minutes and College Policy Statements can be found at the CPC web page: www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/policy/policies.shtml.