Approval of minutes. The minutes for the meeting of April 7, 2004 were approved as submitted. The minutes of April 14, 2004 were distributed for information, but not proposed for approval. Remarks by the Secretary. Professor Ditz reported that the May 11 evening meeting may or may not be held. If held, it may be at an alternate location if Council members express interest.

Open Discussion. Professor Poland noted that he and Professor Hobbs will be in their fifth year on Council next year, and he will serve as Secretary in the Fall, with Professor Hobbs serving in the Spring. He suggested undergraduate education as a theme for the evening meetings next Fall, and Council members indicated general agreement.

A Council member reported that an e-mail sent to him from an Associate Dean was classified as spam by JHED. He suggested that the default JHED spam filter might need fine tuning.

A Council member reported that two of her colleagues ran into unusual situations with Human Resources. In one case an audit incorrectly flagged a spouse, and benefits were terminated without notification. In another case an individual was listed as fired, when in fact that was not true, and again there was no notification. Another Council member reported somewhat similar occurrences in his department. He added that the individual situations had been corrected, but speculated that some of these events are because of outsourcing of services.

A Council member said that in regard to accepting invitations from European universities for scholarly visits, the process of getting visas to attend conferences for those who do not have American or European Union passports is approaching severe harassment. The member reported experience with insinuations and the personal nature of the interrogations. The Provost was asked if there was something the University could do to help, perhaps a letter to ambassadors to object to this type of harassment of visiting scholars. Provost Knapp replied that he would work with the Council member and Dr. Cranston, who is coordinating international programs at the university level, to see how to proceed.

The promotion of Dr. David Goldberg to the rank of tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry effective July 1, 2004 was approved.

The Council turned to further consideration of the proposal for changes to the tenure policy and procedures for their implementation, including transition procedures. Dean Falk called Council's attention to the transition plan, which includes input from the evening meeting. He added that data gathered on associate professors who will just have been promoted and assistant professors who will be coming up for promotion next year is also supplied so that Council will have a sense of the number of faculty involved. He said that the documents have been to General Counsel's office and resulting revisions are marked. A couple of other issues raised by Counsel concerned how dismissal for just cause and financial exigency are handled, but these are not connected to changing the system so they can be added to the list of issues Council may want to take up next year.

Professors Paola Marrati of the Humanities Center and Sarah Woodson of Biophysics were elected to serve on Council for the one-year period July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005.

Professor Khan, Chair of the Appointments and Promotions subcommittee reported on appointments that have been approved by the committee: 1) Mr. Michael Kazhdan as Assistant Professor in Computer Science effective 7/1/04. 2) Mr. Amin Saberi as Assistant Professor in Computer Science effective 7/1/04. 3) Dr. Barry Hindess as Hinkley Visiting Professor in Political Science for 7/1/04 - 12/31/04. 4) Dr. Gwynne Jenkins as Visiting Assistant Professor in Political Science for 7/1/04 - 12/31/04. 5) Dr. Thomas Thornton as Adjunct Professor in Political Science for 7/1/04 - 12/31/04.

Remarks by the Chair. The Provost reported on the memorial service for student Chris Elser and said that security matters had been undergoing review. He suggested that Ron Mullen, the director of campus security, could give Council a briefing. Dean Weiss noted that some time in the past the building had been assessed for security, and that there were three substantial locks on the door that were not used. A Council member noted that in interviewing women students, as part of the report on the status of women, it is clear that there is a strong gender dimension in terms of security.

Remarks by the Deans. Dean Douglas said that the statistics on the incoming class will be shared at some point in the future, and that the admissions pool is very strong.

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

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Last updated 23Apr04 by dgips@jhu.edu