Assembly meeting, Sunday 4/1, 4:15

The Assembly of Shimer College will meet from 4:15 PM to 6 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer on Sunday, April 1.  The official announcement is here; however, it appears that the agenda and ancillary documents will not be provided to the external community this time around.

Update: Here is the agenda:

ASSEMBLY AGENDA
April 1, 2012

I. Questions on committee reports

II. Presidential Address on the State of the College (Ed Noonan: 30 minutes)

III. Response from Susan Henking (5 minutes)

IV. Motion from the ad hoc committee on governance (20 minutes):

That the Shimer College Assembly invite the Board of Trustees to consider the formation of an Assembly-Board Relations Committee. This committee would be a permanent joint committee of both the Assembly and the Board of Trustees.

The Assembly-Board Relations Committee shall be responsible for maintaining an open dialogue between the Assembly and the Board of Trustees by engaging elected representatives from both bodies in discussion on matters relevant to the College in general.

Membership of this committee shall be composed of members of the internal community elected by the Assembly and an equal number of members elected by the Board of Trustees. It shall be chaired by one of these members to be determined at the committee’s first meeting of the fall semester. Additional members of the community may be invited to meetings at the committee’s behest.

V. Motion on Governance committee (Eileen Buchanan: 20 minutes):

That the Shimer College Assembly thank the ad hoc committee for its work and officially appoint those members who can continue working over the summer, in addition to others who may wish to join them, as a working sub-committee on Governance. This committee will study and reflect upon the governance of the College, the role of the Assembly and its committees, and the Constitution of the Assembly, with the purpose of preserving meaningful and substantive shared governance at Shimer College. The committee will make preliminary recommendations to the Assembly at the first meeting of the fall, 2012 term at which time the Assembly will elect a standing committee to continue its work.

VI. Discussion Item from the Administrative and Budget Committees (20 minutes):

The Administrative and Budget Committees have been engaged in a semester long examination of our role in the management and oversight structure of the College.

On the practical level, we’ve had discussions with the Directors about their views of how shared governance impacts their goals and the impressions of how the committees can help or hinder their work. On the theoretical level, we’ve taken a careful reading ofour definitions in the Assembly Constitution and talked about ways for the committees to maintain relevance. Options on the table for consideration range from no changes to the possible integration of the two committees into one super-oversight, management and assessment body. The committee members still hold diverse views on the issues and look for insight from the community.

With great faith in the momentum we’ve built as a community this semester and with expectations of continuing the work this summer and in the fall semester, we look to engage the Assembly this afternoon in a twenty-minute conversation about how these two committees can grow and change along with Shimer in the coming years.

VII. Announcements

VIII. Adjournment