just a minute

New Hobby: perusal of the meeting minutes from past committee meetings.

If you’re interested in understanding how our college is run, and finding the rationality behind certain decisions, they’re a great place to look.  They’re also a great resource for finding out whether something was (or was not) on the table of discussion at a certain point in time.  I’m kind of lame, but I really enjoy reading this kind of stuff.

Plus, due to their nature as a summary from long-past events, you can find lots of great, out of context quotations, which were probably actually completely benign, logical comments when said in the meeting, but turned into awesome or outrageous statements when transcribed into minute-form…

“in 1991, the portfolio path option was created. It was a marketing ploy.” (Honesty FTW!)

“Do we want students who cannot use the computer or who cannot afford $125 for a test?” (Can’t tell if this was rhetorical, facetious, or both… fun to guess though)

“[...]about the Committee on Standards and Progress. No one seems to know the composition of that committee” (there should probably be some standards about the composition of… oh my god who will set the standards?)

“The Subcommittee on Petitions and Waivers referred a student’s petition to waive physical education (PE) credits in lieu of previous military service to the AAAS Committee.” (this committee is raising a militia right under our noses)

“The lack of communication with the family is sad.” ( :-(  )

“Dean Sexton then announced that Lewis & Clark College was selected as one of the top 50 colleges in the U.S. by Cosmo Girls” (Why was Dean Sexton reading Cosmo Girl?)

“It was decided that information sent to the faculty should be kept simple.” (professors are actually frightened by big words….)

“Bret said IT doesn’t have a strategic plan because he doesn’t believe they work.” (I think IT may actually take pride in not working.)