In the faculty meeting Monday afternoon University President Brian Casey presented to the roughly 86 members present changes he proposed regarding DePauw admissions strategies.
While not yet set in stone, Casey said over the next three years the university will aim to increase tuition to put the institution in line with peer institutions.
The proposed increase along with changes to merit scholarship distribution, need-based aid distribution and minimum grade point average of incoming first-year students will be factors considered this spring as DePauw recruits the class of 2018.
"In many ways the market has spoken," Casey said during his presentation. "We've been lagging behind stated tuition for a long time."
Casey said increasing tuition and providing less merit-based scholarship money will increase the perceived value of the DePauw experience and will create future classes with higher grade point averages. He believes such changes will put DePauw in competition for students with institutions like Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. and Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
Joe Heithaus, an English professor, asked Casey whether the change in admissions practices would change DePauw's identity as an institution.
"Are you asking for a sort of change in personality?" he asked.
Casey replied that a change in personality was not his aim.
"I'm not interested in becoming Grinnell," Casey said. "I'm interested in becoming a really good DePauw."
Faculty members also disputed problems with recently amended Winter Term proposals.
Melanie Finney, professor of communication and theatre, said her proposal to lead the 2015 Winter Term trip to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico had been questioned because she submitted the trip as a University Studies credit. Initially, members of the Extended Studies Implementation Team said she might not be the most qualified faculty or staff member to lead the trip.
Finney also mentioned that some of the terms and conditions she discovered in submitting the application had not been fully explained prior voting on the changes to Winter Term in the February faculty meeting.
"I just feel like the rug has kind of been pulled out from under my feet," Finney said.
Director of the Extended Studies Implementation Team Dave Berque said in no way did the team mean to confuse faculty members or to hide information about proposed changes prior to voting. He also said the new system may have initial kinks, but these will likely be worked out soon.
Berque noted that 30 proposals for off-campus study opportunities had already been submitted for consideration for Winter Term and May Term 2015.