Saturday, April 20, 2013

Agenda for the Shimer College Assembly meeting of April 21, 2013



Meeting of the Shimer College Assembly

Sunday, April 21st, 2013:  4:00
Cinderella Lounge

AGENDA

Approval of the Minutes of March 17, 2013
              
Committee Reports (submitted ahead of time:  questions only):  15 minutes   

MOTIONS FROM THE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE:  20 minutes

I)

To be inserted into Section V of the Constitution:

Institutional Goals and Assessment Committee

The Institutional Goals and Assessment Committee represents the Shimer community as a whole in the setting of long-
term goals for the College and contributes to the composition and implementation of the College’s Strategic Plan. To this
end, the Committee:

1.Promotes ongoing, community-wide discussion of the identity, mission, and long-term objectives of the College.
2.On the basis of such discussion, identifies and recommends strategic goals for the College to pursue.
3.Disseminates its strategic goal recommendations to the Shimer community.
4.Presents its recommendations in writing to the committee that is periodically formed, at the initiative of the Board
of Trustees, to write or revise the Strategic Plan.
5. Includes general budgetary recommendations among its recommendations, to financially sustain and give due priority to the strategic goals it proposes or supports. Specific amounts for budget line items are not within the purview of the Committee.
6. Advises the President or other senior staff when they seek the sense and opinions of the community as a whole of strategic issues
7. Selects at least one Committee member to participate in the interviewing of candidates for senior administrative positions.
8. Assesses the progress of the College toward strategic goals:
a) Checks that departments and offices are assessing their progress toward strategic objectives.
b) Checks that such self-assessment is adequately informed by evidence.
c) Makes recommendations to departments and offices regarding their strategic self-assessment.
d) In the event that the Committee finds that strategic goals are not being adequately pursued, or progress toward them not adequately assessed, by one or more departments or offices, it may, at its discretion, bring the problem to appropriate authorities.
e) Shares in the responsibility for disseminating to the Shimer community, annually and on the basis of departmental and office strategic self-assessments, information regarding institutional progress toward long-term goals.

The Committee shall consist of: one member each from the Faculty and the administrative staff, two students, one internal member of the Board of Trustees, two members from the Assembly-at-large, and the President as member ex officio without a vote. In the event that no candidates are available for reserved constituency seats at the time of election, their seats may be filled by members from the Assembly-at-large. Members must have attended or been employed by Shimer College for at least one year, and students must be in good academic and social standing to serve. After the first election, members are elected for overlapping two-year terms at the first Assembly meeting of the spring semester. Trustees whose terms on the Board end during their term on the Committee cease to be members and are replaced by election. The Chairperson is elected by the Committee membership at its first meeting. When the Committee is without a Chairperson, the Committee is convened by the most senior member from the internal community.

II) Procedure for Plenary Elections of Committees Whose Members Serve Two-Year Overlapping Terms

At the first election of a committee whose members serve two-year overlapping terms, or in the event that all seats in such a committee are vacant, up to 60% of the members elected (four in the case of seven-member committees) may opt for one-year terms. If fewer than 40% (three in the case of seven-member committees) do so, additional members, selected in last-name alphabetical order, will have one-year terms until the proportion of single-year members reaches 40% of the total elected.

To be inserted after the first paragraph of section V of the Constitution:

III) To be inserted after the first paragraph of section V of the Constitution:

First election of New Committees

At the discretion of the Agenda Committee, the first election of a newly constituted Assembly committee may take place
at a time of the academic year different from the time prescribed in the committee’s constitutional description.


MOTION FROM THE FINANCIAL AID POLICY COMMITTEE:
5 minutes

That the Financial Aid Policy Committee remain as a body except for necessary replacements until elections in the spring of 2014.

Elections:

Speaker of the Assembly
Parliamentarian
Ombudsperson
Agenda Committee
APC
JAG
Student nominees to the Board of Trustees (students only)

Election to new committee if passed by the Assembly

Replacements on the Governance Committee
Replacements on the Financial Aid Policy Committee

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Shimer "financially responsible", feds say

In the State of the College address yesterday, president Susan Henking delivered the news that Shimer's composite financial responsibility score for the previous year was 1.82, bringing it over 1.5 for the first time in 3 years.

This has a considerable positive effect on the school's ability to receive federal financial aid, as detailed on the Department of Education website:
The composite score reflects the overall relative financial health of institutions along a scale from negative 1.0 to positive 3.0. A score greater than or equal to 1.5 indicates the institution is considered financially responsible.

Schools with scores of less than 1.5 but greater than or equal to 1.0 are considered financially responsible, but require additional oversight. These schools are subject to cash monitoring and other participation requirements
This is a significant accomplishment, especially given how thoroughly rigged this entire system is against small nonconformist schools like Shimer.  Kudos to all who helped to make this happen.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Prez Henking to give State of the College address Wednesday, 1 PM

Just a note that Shimer president Susan Henking will be giving the State of the College address in Cinderella Lounge at 1 PM this Wednesday, April 17.  Transcript and possibly video to be available thereafter.