February 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting Summary
Dear Grinnell Community,
The Board of Trustees gathered for its winter meeting on campus February 6-8, 2025. Board leadership arrived early to meet in person with the Executive Council, Staff Council, and Student Government Association leadership. Connecting with these groups shapes Board discussions and is an important part of the Board engaging with campus.
Trustees were deeply inspired by the Endowed Chair ceremony; it was such a joyous time for our community, honoring the distinction of those faculty who are selected to hold these positions and the donors who have made these chairs possible. Congratulations to Shuchi Kapila, professor of English who was honored with the Maxeiner/Baumann-Payne Endowed Chair and Nicole Eikmeier, assistant professor of computer science who is the first recipient of the new Luebke-Sproehnle Endowed Junior Faculty professorship.
Trustees also had the pleasure of dining with the faculty from the Division of Social Studies and learning from Sarah Purcell ‘92, the L.F. Parker Professor of History, who shared the MAP (Mentored Advanced Project) being researched by Maya Albanese ’26, Hayden Davis ’25, Jackie Harris ’26 and Bowen Wei ’25 that focuses on the life and work of legendary Grinnell College staff member, Georgia Dentel. In addition to the Georgia Dentel webpage, students have created another page chronicling the history of Grinnell concerts from 1960-2001. Thank you so very much for sharing this MAP with the Grinnell community, Dr. Purcell! In what has become a tradition in recent years, trustees gathered after dinner with students in the HSSC atrium for cookies and conversation.
Friday morning began with breakfast with members of the Residence Life staff. JC Lopez, vice president of student affairs, shared brief remarks about G-Core and the Board transitioned to their first session for reports from President Harris, Chair Michael Kahn and committee chairs.
Following the reports, Washburn & McGoldrick with vice president of development and alumni relations Bernadine Douglas led a session on Campaign Training. This session continued the dialogue and provided training for the Board’s role in philanthropic leadership at Grinnell College. For lunch Laurel Scholars were invited to dine with Board members.
During the afternoon session, President Harris and senior leaders presented the College’s strategies for financial sustainability: the Board reviewed base case assumptions and budget projections; core priorities; categories and timelines of revenues and expenses, along with a range of their financial impact; and a prioritization framework, all of which will enable and safeguard financial sustainability, while maintaining the need-blind admission policy of the College. Attached is the prioritization framework presented by members of the leadership team and endorsed by the Board of Trustees. President Harris and campus partners will discuss this framework and financial sustainability strategies, during regularly scheduled meetings with faculty, staff, and students.
The final session of the afternoon hosted Frank Harty and Fran Haas, legal counsel from the College from Nyemaster. Attorneys Harty and Haas delineated the role of Trustees in relation to campus speech and academic freedom, with a discussion of the latter’s definition in the Faculty Handbook and education about both protections for faculty and the Board of Trustee’s role in the College’s dismissal for cause process for faculty members. President Harris presented our legislative strategy at the state and federal level within a civic education approach focused on rights and legislation. Members of senior leadership are partnering with legal counsel to monitor legislation and consider institutional readiness and response. Please direct any questions you may have about state or federal legislation to Sarah Smith, Director of Outreach Programming and Events in Community Partnerships, Planning, and Research.
Saturday morning, the Board met in Executive Session with President Harris to vote to confirm honorary degree recipients. The Board of Trustees also voted to endorse the proposed financial sustainability strategies, affirmed the continuation of need-blind admission for domestic students, and ended the standalone triennial review cycle of the need-blind admission policy. The annual budget process will now provide continuing analysis of our collective financial sustainability goals. The votes for both resolutions were unanimous.
Board members were greatly encouraged by their time spent in community on campus. Thank you to all of the students, faculty, and staff who spent time with Trustees and shared their ambitions for the College. We look forward to hosting Trustees again when they return to campus in May.
Sincerely,
Meg Jones Bair
Director of Board Relations
Secretary of the College