Present: Geoff Conrad (Chair), Dan Dinnsen, Alex Dzierba, Tom Gieryn, Steve Girvin, Noretta Koertge, Dale McFadden, Lin Ostrom

1. New member, Thomas Gieryn, was introduced.

2. The minutes of the May 19th meeting were approved.

3. Because so many people will be unable to attend at the previously scheduled time, we decided to meet on Friday, June 16 at 9 am.

4. To provide us with relevant background information on our on-going discussion of the situation in NELC and the related proposal for the formation of a new Near East Institute, we met with two faculty from academic units that would be directly affected by any new arrangements.

Alvin Rosenfeld, director of Jewish Studies, joined us at 10:15. Christopher Beckwith, a past Chair of Central Eurasian Studies, joined us at 10:45.

To insure that the discussions would be as productive as possible, we all agreed that the details of these two conversations would not appear in the minutes. However, we can summarize the points raised in the discussion:

a) The core academic courses of the present NELC department are not only intrinsically valuable to IU as a major research university, they are also vital for the graduate and undergraduate degree programs in neighboring units. Any future arrangements should not jeopardize these strengths.

b) Although IU is renowned for the breadth of its offerings in languages/area studies, there are some serious lacunae in its present offerings in the general area of Middle Eastern Studies, especially in, but not limited to, the area of language pedagogy.

c) Every effort must be made to insure the development of institutional arrangements that facilitate a form of faculty governance that is perceived to be fair and open. Only then can the dedication of individual faculty members to teaching and research be maximally effective.