December 10, 2004

President Wilson convened the fourth meeting of the 2004-05 Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) at 11:40. Professor Gardner passed out a compiled list of comments and new theme suggestions that had been received as of that morning. The President asked for feedback from Committee members on what they had heard from constituents about the SPSC’s recent written communications with the campus. Staff representatives reported that colleagues with whom they had spoken were happy to be asked to participate in the setting of priorities and generally pleased with materials that the SPSC had sent, finding it quite possible to respond with their preferred themes and offer comments about them. Student members summarized a discussion at the most recent Student Senate meeting. Although a few students were confused by the format in which the SPSC had asked for feedback, most were glad to have a voice in planning the future of the University, particularly with regard to issues such as student-faculty interaction, admissions policies and practices, and institutional image.

Faculty responses were more mixed. While many faculty had positive suggestions for specific themes and goals, others expressed concern about the survey form itself and the strategic planning process in general. Because the themes were phrased in general terms and some bulleted items appear under more than one category, some faculty felt that it as not possible to give meaningful input: two people might both express a preference for the same theme but mean something completely different. Others wanted more input into the process at the very earliest stages--the dreaming stage, as it were, of conceiving the categories--rather than relying on documents that had been produced for purposes other than strategic planning. In general, the faculty feel that the process is moving too fast, all the more so because the end of the semester is a particularly difficult time to devote sufficient attention to such important matters. Finally, some faculty members were reported to be uneasy because they don’t feel they know about the full planning process from beginning to end.

SPSC members noted that both the general phrasing and the placing of bulleted items in multiple categories were deliberate attempts on the part of the SPSC to leave the themes as open to community input as possible. Some argued that, given the mismatch in the SPSC's understanding of the document and that of many faculty, it is necessary to allow for very open input at an early stage and to be very specific in phrasing at later stages when we again bring the themes to the wider community. Other members pointed out that it would be impossible for 2,000+ people to have substantial input into the plan and that the Committee had been designed to be representative so that all groups, but not necessarily each individual person in the community, would be heard.

Having heard the constituent reports and subsequent discussion, the President stated that he felt that some of the faculty’s concern was a result of his desire to move the planning process along as quickly as possible. He noted that the SPSC had begun by using existing documents at his request, but that he was certainly willing to step back a bit and ask for fresh ideas from the "ground up." He then asked the Committee’s reaction to his sending an open letter to the community in early January, inviting members to submit their ideas for strategic goals. He also proposed forums and meetings at which community members could share their ideas. The committee enthusiastically agreed, and the President then sketched out a process and revised timeline that he would communicate to the campus in this letter.

The President stressed that he did not think that the SPSC had spent its time and energy unwisely this term, even though some community members’ reaction to the documents was not as favorable as the SPSC might have hoped. Several members, citing the compiled feedback from 95 respondents that Professor Gardner had distributed, noted that the SPSC had already received a lot of good comments and suggestions and was likely to receive more before the December 13 deadline for responses.

While in agreement with President Wilson’s plan to seek additional input from the community before choosing planning priorities, SPSC members also agreed that the action on the diversity planning goal (already adopted by the Trustees) should not be postponed. The President indicated that he would make this intention clear in his letter.

In closing, the President said that he would bring a draft letter to the SPSC’s next meeting (December 16). The Committee asked Professor Gardner to distribute any additional community feedback before the next meeting, and the President asked all members to be prepared to discuss the resulting comments and suggestions at that meeting.

Distributed to all faculty and staff: 12/16/2004