Though the faculty meeting had officially adjourned, the discussion on potential Winter Term changes continued well afterward.
The Winter Term proposed changes were a hot topic among faculty, and discussion began during the faculty meeting.
Larry Stimpert, vice president of academic affairs, began his remarks on possible Winter Term changes during yesterday's faculty meeting with the idea of writing a narrative for DePauw.
"If we don't write our own narrative, others will," Stimpert said at the meeting.
The proposal, which will be modified and discussed in future open forums, features a two week long Winter Term and be optional for students.
During the meeting, Stimpert said that he sees the main problem being consistency with the value of on-campus offerings.
"It's surprising how many times a remarkable Winter Term experience comes up as one of the best experiences that [students] had at DePauw," Stimpert said. "And yet that's not always the case. You're well aware of other experiences at the other end of that extreme."
Stimpert was alluding to binge drinking on campus during Winter Term, known to students as "The Winter Term Challenge."
"One faculty member told me, somebody's going to die before we do something about this," Stimpert said. "That's pretty dramatic, but there is a serious drinking problem associated with Winter Term on campus."
During the meeting, Stimpert proposed a "minimally invasive procedure" of assigning grades, instead of pass or fail, to Winter Term classes to combat the heavy drinking culture.
"If you can accomplish a lot by not doing much, that's always a great course of action," Stimpert said.
He noted that of the radical options, while eliminating Winter Term altogether has not been a serious proposal, making it a full course has been. He referred back to his previous experience with Colorado College, in which all courses are taught in three and a half week modules, each for one credit.
"You'd be surprised what you can teach in a three and a half week course that's intensively taught," Stimpert said. "When I came, that's actually what I thought Winter Term looked like."
Faculty members did not seem satisfied with the closing discussions though. After the meeting concluded, faculty members stayed for an informal discussion of the Winter Term proposal.
Political science professor Brett O'Bannon, had difficulty seeing how shortening Winter Term would addressed the problems.
"The reason I'm concerned is that international travel takes time and particularly international travel off the standard path," O'Bannon said. "I don't quite see what problem gets addressed by shortening it."
Stimpert recognized the frustration and said, "The sense is take everything that's good and squish it."
It was suggested, both in the proposal and the forum, that the weekends before and after Winter Term be used for travel.
Kevin Kinney, professor of biology, noted that the Winter Term he leads has airfare that is several hundred dollars cheaper if they go after Jan. 6.
On the other hand, Susan Hahn, professor of English, was in support of the new proposal because of the flexibility of it for both faculty and students.
"I know schools that have gone to this model after having very successful required Winter Terms, but then over time it sort of degenerated and lost some of its pizazz and intensity," Hahn said.
Hahn, however, did not specify which schools have successfully implemented an optional Winter Term.
The faulty also attempted to address the distinction between students who can or cannot afford to go on a Winter Term trip.
"It seems unfortunate that only some can afford to participate and others not," Clarissa Peterson, professor of political science said.
Anne Harris, professor of art and art history, said Winter Term becoming more flexible and optional may be good, but she also noted the inability for some students to participate.
"I don't know how we can make students not pay tuition but be responsible for the cost of travel and fees be anything but turning this into tour guides for the wealthiest students," Harris said.
She suggested approaching a donor and writing a narrative of DePauw in which each student gets to go on one of these off campus trips.
Her comments received a "here here" from fellow faculty members.
"I would like to see a more conscious linking of fall courses to Winter Term experiences," said Debbie Geis, professor of English.
The idea of encouraging students to take a semester abroad instead of a short three week trip repeatedly came up too.
Joe Heithaus, professor of English, noted that having more students involved with off campus study would help another goal of the university.
"If we get a bunch of students away from here, then the 3-2 load becomes a hell of a lot more doable," Heithaus said. The 3-2 system, which has only been talked about as a goal of Stimpert's, would have professors teaching three classes one semester and two the next.
Stimpert said that he thought that the meeting was civil and raised some good points to consider.
Throughout October, there will be additional meetings for faculty as well as an open forum for students to raise their concerns about potential changes to Winter Term.