Announcing: The Grinnell Colloquium, August 23
Dear Grinnellians,
I write to invite you to what will be a set of convening conversations at the start of every academic year: as we gather into our community of inquiry, we have the opportunity to take time to delve together into consequential topics for our experiences of the College as these connect to higher education and our global, multi-cultural society at large. In a continuing effort to render senior leadership work more visible, these topics will purposefully intersect with on-going considerations and processes of senior leadership members and their campus partners.
This year’s sessions will be held on Wednesday, August 23, and distributed throughout the day. All faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend all sessions either in person or virtually. All sessions will also be recorded and posted to the Senior Leadership GrinnellShare site. A Q&A period is reserved at the end of each session, and we welcome questions afterwards as well.
This year’s three topics are:
Colloquium Topic 1: College Finances: FY24 Budget, New Endowment Formula, Philanthropy
11 a.m.-Noon HSSC Auditorium
This session will present the FY24 budget (its process, its allocations and revenue sources); the new endowment spending formula (how it works, its protections for the endowment); and the philanthropy in our business model (comparative data; metrics).
Colloquium Topic 2: Responding to the SCOTUS Decision on Affirmative Action
1-1:45 p.m. HSSC Auditorium
This session will discuss the result of last year’s preparations for the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action by ASFAC and senior leadership; a legal summary of the decision; and what we are doing this year and going forward in response to the decision.
Colloquium Topic 3: Renfrow Hall, Civic Innovation, and Student Housing
2-2:45 p.m. HSSC Auditorium
This session will trace how Renfrow Hall came to be as well as plans for student housing over the coming years; it will feature the research findings by students working on Black history in Grinnell; and it will delineate civic innovation and this year’s working groups for Renfrow Hall.
We look forward to seeing you at this year’s Grinnell Colloquium, and to shaping these consequential topics with you and through your questions. Many thanks for being a part of this community and for making Grinnell College a meaningful and impactful institution.
Anne F. Harris
President
Faculty and staff and your families are invited to the following all campus events following the Colloquium:
- 3:30-7:30 p.m. Festival – Kington Plaza
- 6-7:30 p.m. All Campus Welcome Dinner – 8th Avenue in front of the Rosenfield Center