By Julie Steele

Staff Writer

At Monday evening's Faculty Senate meeting, the Senate addressed several items of old and new business.

The first order of business after opening in prayer -- and some preliminary announcements that included reviewing the minutes from the Oct. 8 meeting -- was to vote on the new Faculty Handbook.

In May, the Senate had provisionally approved a new version of the handbook, which has been updated with a few minor changes, and reorganized slightly (for instance, it now has a numerical structure instead of an outline structure). The last revision of the Handbook occurred in 1995.

Academic Dean Mike Stob clarified that the policies in the Handbook were not being voted on, only the handbook's representation of current policies. He added that the handbook would be updated more often than every six years, despite the recent lapse. The online version, if not the print version, should be updated much more regularly than that, he said. The Senate voted in favor of the new handbook.

The next item on the agenda was to discuss a proposal for the new Strategic Plan. The Senate expressed continuing concern over faculty salaries, and discussed Calvin's financial situation.

Chip Pollard of the English department pointed out that Calvin is $50-75 million below other schools as far as endowment, and $20-50 million below with grants taken into consideration. Calvin is ranked 384 out of 568 institutions, he said, 100-125 spots lower than our peer institutions.

Academic Dean David Diephouse gave updates on some minor changes regarding the listing of variable credits for music ensembles, as well as the renaming of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures to the Department of Germanic and Asian Languages and Literatures.

There was also a brief discussion about online tools, and whether or not students are really benefiting and learning more via online methods. A suggestion was made to change the wording of section 5.5.1, which had previously proposed to ``enhance and expand'' online tools, to ``evaluate and monitor.'' The rationale was that students might not necessarily benefit from more online technology, but that the goal should be to assess the technology, not student participation.

Shirley Hoogstra, vice president of Student Life, gave a brief report touching on several subjects. She reminded the Senate of the Grand Rapids ordinance that forbids the residence of more than four unrelated persons in the same house. At least five different houses of Calvin students have been forced to move because of neighbors complaining about violations. Hoogstra asked that professors help make students aware of the rule, since landlords sometimes neglect to mention it.

She also made announcements about the upcoming introduction of Jazz Vespers to Calvin, and the multicultural leadership conference that will be happening on campus this weekend. Some people had apparently been asking about Broene Center statistics after the events of Sept. 11. Hoogstra reported that there has been no particular increase in visits to the center, although some of the students who have seen counselors there were reporting increased levels of stress.

Hoogstra informed the Senate of her meeting with student leaders after the prank last week, and reported the plan they had worked out together to distribute the Names and Faces books as they are, but with an added letter to be composed by Student Senate.

Henry DeVries, Vice President of Administration, Finance, and Information Services, proceeded to give his report. He reported that 1365 students currently subscribe to Resnet. He congratulated the faculty on the recent audit that came out completely clear, and reported that the Board of Trustees recently passed the current year's budget.

DeVries also talked about the new orientation program for staff. The program was initiated this summer, when newly and recently hired staff came to campus for an orientation curriculum that included reading the new DCM primer.

According to new standards issued by the state of Michigan, said DeVries, Calvin's lap pool is now too shallow to allow the use of the starting blocks. The old requirement was 60 inches, but pools must now be 79 inches deep to meet regulations. It would cause approximately one million dollars to add the needed depth to the pool, Byker said.