November 13th, 2006

Present: Judith Anderson (Chair), Simon Brassell, Tom Busey, Roger Levesque (Recorder), Patrick McNaughton, and Pamela Walters

The meeting was convened at 4:16 pm.

We discussed and approved, without amendments, the minutes from our November 6th meeting.

We discussed a faculty member’s correspondence regarding the use of library space. Concern centers around the increasing removal of books and journals from the Wells library and reliance on ALF. CPC members shared the faculty member’s concerns. We expect to meet with appropriate staff and faculty so that we can gather more information and determine the steps, if any, we need to take to address this important issue.

We discussed faculty responses to our policy on the selection and tenure of chairs. We found the comments most helpful and have modified the policy accordingly. Before adopting our final version, we will wait an extra week to allow for additional faculty responses.

Dean Zaret joined us at 4:33 pm. He briefed us on recent developments regarding the recently formed IUB General Education Committee (GEC). The GEC met for the first time on Friday, November 10, and its members were given an ambitious set of deadlines. Subcommittees are now working to finalize the curricular definitions for the Common Ground categories (e.g., "Arts and Humanities," "World Languages and Cultures," "Mathematical Modeling"). Once that task is completed, the GEC will consider whether courses nominated by each school and the College fit under the newly defined categories. For a look at the Campus General Education Program and the GEC’s mandate, see http://www.indiana.edu/~bfc/docs/AY07/circulars/B5-2007.amended.pdf

The remainder of our discussion focused on administrative transition issues. David, for example, discussed the need for a more systematic and principled procedure for evaluating professional staff’s activities so that Chairs and Directors can ascertain yearly merit and maintain records.

David noted that tenure decisions will be made before in-coming Dean Berthenthal arrives. The College’s own decisions will be completed by mid-December and then sent to the Dean of Faculties.

David also noted very positive developments in increasing funds to support undergraduate students. Several million dollars are being reserved to support a mix of need-based and merit-based programs. The programs will go into effect this fall. We briefly discussed the diverse efforts and then centered our discussion on the Research Scholar program. That program, with a first year cost of over $2 million, will pay full attendance costs for selected students who work with faculty on their research. We were very much interested in finding out how “research” was being defined. It is our understanding that such matters have yet to be determined fully and that there will be flexibility as the program develops. We certainly hope that what constitutes research will include the arts and humanities as well as the historical and social sciences. For a look at the new initiatives, see the university’s media release at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/4354.html.

David left the meeting at 5:10 pm.

We considered faculty responses to our policy on the suspension and restoration of faculty governance in departments and other units. Our discussion led to significant modifications in the policy’s format. As a result, we sent our revised policy to Dean Zaret. We will consider his response before we adopt the final version.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:03.

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.

Below are the CPC’s statements on the core values of the Humanities.

THE ROLE OF THE HUMANITIES

A College Dean recently told Humanists at IU: "Give me the language and I will make it happen." He understood that the value and vitality of the Humanities all too often get lost beneath the attention paid to developments in technology and the sciences. Yet the enduring values of the Humanities are basic to social life. The Humanities are contemporary and forward-looking while also being fundamental and traditional. They wield tremendous influence in society, play central roles in the College and University, and should always be an essential part of any education.

The richness, variety, and quality of the Humanities at Indiana University-Bloomington are beyond dispute. There are over forty-five Humanities departments, programs, centers, institutes, and archives within the College, ranging from the Archives of Traditional Music and the Black Film Center and Archive to the West European Studies Center; and from the Departments of the History of Art, History, and the History and Philosophy of Science, to the Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Theatre and Drama Departments. In addition, seventy-five languages and cultures are taught within the College, from Arabic, Bamana, and Chinese to English, Spanish, and Uzbek.

By focusing on both the greatest and the most representational products of the human mind, the Humanities help people develop and refine the resources they need to think critically, making them more responsible members of their society. Developing the ability to think rationally enables analysis, assessment, differentiation, and independent construction of opinions, ideas, and arguments, all crucial to effective functioning in our complex modern world.

The Humanities also provide historical and cultural understanding of our world that attends to the variety and diversity of people and civilizations and seeks to comprehend a multitude of perspectives on the situations and problems of life, including the implications of social and technological developments. Familiarity with historical and cultural perspectives offers a comparative understanding of precedence and change, which deepens the ability to think critically.

The Humanities foster the development of perceptual sensitivity and provide an understanding of the important relationships among meaning, value, and emotional impact that people experience when they engage expressive culture. The Humanities offer a sophisticated awareness of the many forms of language and expression that human beings encounter and use in life. Language, a central focus of the Humanities, is a major resource in mediating and shaping experience. It is bonded to thought just as thought is bonded to language, and a careful understanding of its power to effect social change is vitally important.

Through critical thinking, expressive culture, historical perspective, and the command of language (both verbal and visual), the Humanities offer forums for exploring our social and personal worlds, assessing and experimenting with ideas and values, and developing our sense of self and place in society. These resources are the essential basis of circumspect and ethical action at a time in human history when both are greatly needed.

THE ROLE OF THE HUMANITIES: TALKING POINTS

Through critical thinking, expressive culture, historical perspective, and the command of language (both verbal and visual), the Humanities offer forums for exploring our social and personal worlds, assessing and experimenting with ideas and values, and developing our sense of self and place in society. These resources are the essential basis of circumspect and ethical action at a time in human history when both are greatly needed.

Enduring values of the Humanities are basic to social life.  Simultaneously contemporary and traditional, forward‑looking and fundamental, they are essential to everyone's education.

• Examining the greatest and the most representational products of the human mind, Humanities develop and refine critical thinking, providing the ability to construct effective and principled assessments of the issues composing our modern world.
• Humanities attend to historical and cultural variation and diversity, offering valuable multiple perspectives on the situations we confront in life.
• Humanities examine perception and the ways we create and manipulate meaning, value, and emotional impact from our experiences with people, objects, art, language, and ideologies.
• Humanities expand our potential for creativity.  Joining tradition and innovation, they enhance our ability to engage the world in fruitfully enterprising ways.

These roles and goals are reflected in the wealth and high quality of Humanities teaching and scholarship at Indiana University, Bloomington. There are over forty‑five Humanities departments, programs, centers, institutes, and archives in the College.  Seventy‑five languages and cultures are taught within the College.