September 2, 2005

Present: Rob Shakespeare (chair), Judith Anderson, Bob Becker, Tom Busey, Roger Levesque, Rosemary Lloyd, and Al Ruesink (recorder).

The meeting convened at 2:00.

Minutes of the last meeting (August 26) were approved unanimously.

There was further discussion of a proposal to change the departmental name of TESoL/Applied Linguistics to Second Language Studies. Last spring the CPC sent an evaluation of this and related matters to Dean Swamy. The situation is still fluid and the CPC has new members. Later in this meeting, Swamy spoke about the situation. The CPC will undertake further review and intends to vote on the matter next week, after new CPC members are up to speed on the issues. (Rob will distribute to new CPC members a copy of our report to Swamy last spring.)

Again this semester there have been problems getting classrooms scheduled. Faculty and students are distressed, and the CPC is concerned about the academic impact. Even at the end of the first week of class, some discussions and learning groups have yet to be assigned to rooms. Though it is not clear why this is occurring (too many faculty wanting 75-minute slots for MW, students registering late and making planning difficult, simply too few classrooms, sluggishness in the system for assigning classrooms?), it is clear that something needs to change.

The CPC also lamented once more the lack of hardcopy schedules of classes. Advisors and faculty find it hard to determine quickly what classes are available. And perhaps most critically, students find it hard to browse for likely courses. (For example: In the old paper bulletin, Biology's offerings fit on two pages--browsable. On the present electronic schedule, one has to peruse a minimum of 53 computer screens--daunting.)

To consider the matter of grouping and evaluating the 31 existing CPC policy documents, the CPC has been divided into four subgroups and each will receive a portion of the documents to study in some detail. Later in the meeting we managed to get consensus on what the topical groupings for the 31 items should be.

Assoc. Dean Catherine Larson joined our meeting at 2:40 to brief us on the present efforts to generate new General Ed requirements for IU. The documents about it have often changed rapidly, making it difficult to get adequate evaluation by the College CUE (Committee on Undergraduate Education), the CPC, and departments within the College. She gave us a document she has prepared called "College of Arts and Sciences General Education Overview and Suggestions for Discussion," and we had already received from her a 4-page document on the history of Gen Ed discussions at IU and what CUE's position on the modification process was last semester. It has been suggested in the past that University Division advisors have found it difficult to advise exploratory students when unit requirements for General Education are so different in various units and Dean Larson plans to talk with Dean Sally Dunn to understand that situation better. The CPC intends to stay involved.

At 3:01, Dean Larson left and Dean Swamy joined us.

Regarding planning for faculty numbers for next year, Swamy noted the limitations of the budget. We know what the state has placed in the biennial budget and we know that the tuition increase is capped at a 4.9% maximum. Swamy would like to achieve a 3% pay increase. Because the number of faculty in the College fluctuates by about 20 annually because of leaves and such, long-term trends are hard to see. But it looks as if there might be about 35 retirements and probably only about 20 hires because of the limitations just noted.

The quality of students at IU seems not to have changed much recently, while the quality of students at other publics in Indiana and the Midwest has improved. Swamy is part of an enrollment committee that is studying this problem. When there is a perception that students here are not good, good students go elsewhere. We need to break that negative cycle, if it exists. This year the campus budgeted for 6500 freshmen and it appears that 6700 have matriculated. Swamy believes that excess tuition money should be used to attract better students, not to fill budget holes.

As mentioned earlier, Swamy shared with us some information about the possible renaming of the Department of TESoL/Applied Linguistics.

Swamy left the meeting at 3:26.

The CPC informally discussed some upcoming issues: the Departmental renaming mentioned just above, some lingering concerns about the "phishing" problem of last spring, and some possible policy issues to consider relating to the effective functioning of the human subjects review committee.

The meeting adjourned at 3:35.

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, Lee Norvelle 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.