Faculty Council to Circulate Core Review Paper

The Faculty Council yesterday decided to circulate to the full Faculty the Core Review Discussion Paper which it debated during its last two meetings.

"We will circulate a kind of analytical report to the community sometime near the end of the month," said Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba, chair of the Core Review Committee and the council's guest yesterday.

The council also decided that the committee should continue their discussions.

The Core Review Committee will meet in the next few months with faculty members who teach in the Core and departments, which Professor of Chinese History Peter K. Bol, a council member, described as "a process of great, great importance."

The council also reviewed a Resource Committee report on retirement in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), but took no substantive action.

"Basically I think at the moment it's clear we don't have any serious problems," Bol said. "But who knows what the future holds."

Retirement at the University became a serious issue two years ago when federal law struck down mandatory retirement ages.

Since then, some in the University have expressed concern that faculty will not turn over quickly enough.

Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles began the meeting by informing the council of several reports it will review during the year.

Besides Core review, information technology and retirement, the Resources Committee will also present reports on junior faculty and on the financial relationship between the FAS and the University's central administration.

The council also filled one of its vacancies with Assistant Professor of Literature and of English and American Literature Shannon Jackson.