Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning Committee
Minutes/Notes - Monday, May 13, 2002
712 College Ave.

Present: Rick Foreman, Wes Miller, Paul Ogren, Sara Penhale, Bob Southard, Monteze Snyder, Margaret Hampton, Newell Pledger-Shinn, Doug Bennett

1. We approved minutes from 4/29 and 5/2.

2. We reviewed the notebooks that Darlena and Kirsten had compiled for us: working documents for the summer. We focused on the 'bibliography' that Kirsten had compiled of materials that we had generated. We noted items on the bibliography we needed to look over again, and agreed we need to compile a second bibliography of data and reports consulted by the SPC.

3. We discussed our schedule for the summer and early fall. We agreed to make use of opening convocation (September 4) to present the report and to invite faculty, students and staff into discussions about it. We will make the draft report available on the website at the time of faculty retreat (inviting comments).

4. We had lengthy discussions of Athletics, Quaker identity, and liberal arts to puzzle through how and where we talk about these important topics in our report. We agreed on the following:
-- On athletics, we believe we have the right basic strategy. We need to be sure there is a good, full discussion of athletics in the student life white paper. The continuing issues we have involve athletes and coaches not feeling respected.
-- On Quakerism, we agreed we need to find more opportunities for students (and others) to learn more about Quakerism, and not just treat it as history or heritage. Doug will write up a short treatment of his expectations for the Center for Quaker Thought and Practice.
-- We need to touch on 'liberal arts' and 'Quakerism' in the report's opening section, making clear we are committed to both, but that both are terms that prospective students and families can misunderstand. We must communicate those key values in other words.

5. We discussed how we set priorities, settling on these. An action or resource commitment should be a priority if:
(1) it strengthens our performance relative to our mission; and
(2) it increases the likelihood that students will enroll or remain at Earlham.
We should consider accepting funds for a purpose beyond these priorities if:
(3) it is consistent with our mission and will not weaken other aspects of the college.

6. We discussed the Performance-Importance Matrix again. We focused especially on what materials and notes we had not looked at carefully in relationship to the matrix. We divided up responsibilities to look at these again before Monday.

7. We looked briefly at the draft report we had been working on in April, before deciding we would not try to finish and distribute it to the faculty before the end of the spring term. We agreed it still provides a good basis for our report, and noted several things we wanted to change.

Next Meeting
Next meeting will be Mon., May 20, 9:00 to 12:00 at 712 College Ave.