April 30^th, 2007

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

Our meeting was convened at 4:02.

We read and approved the minutes of our April 23rd meeting.

We discussed themes that seem to be emerging from departmental and program budget meetings. It was noted, for example, that there may be a trend toward using part-time staff and lecturer faculty to develop programs. We wondered whether this was something worth investigating in light of our concern about apparent reductions in full-time, tenure-eligible faculty. Concern also was expressed about appointment letters that seem to serve as substitutes for MOUs (memoranda of understanding) among programs and departments. These substitutions may be problematic when copies are not sent to all involved parties. This may become particularly troublesome when, over time, administrators change, faculty get promoted, and agreements regarding teaching and service responsibilities to various units become unclear.

We returned to the amendments we had made to our constitution. Given that we had not received comments from faculty regarding our proposed amendments, we decided that the revised constitution was ready to be put to a vote by the faculty.

We discussed comments that we had received about our statement detailing the core values of the social sciences. We slightly amended our statement in response to one e-mail but felt unable to address the concerns of another, deciding to seek clarification of explicit aspects we should address. We would like to thank the faculty members who provided insightful feedback.

It was noted that this was the last regularly scheduled meeting for several of us. Our Chair, Judith Anderson, has completed three years of service, Roger Levesque completed his term as has Hal Evans, Rosemary Lloyd is retiring from IU, Pamela Walters will be on leave next year, and Simon Brasswell and Patrick McNaughton each will become chairs of their departments. We looked back on our many accomplishments and noted how we have enjoyed our Monday afternoons.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:02.

[Friendly Amendment: At the end of the week of the 30th, we learned that the vote on our amended constitution was positive.]

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.