FACULTY MEETING

April 1, 2011
Gannett Auditorium

MINUTES

Acting President Susan Kress called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Acting President Susan Kress asked if there were any corrections or comments to the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held March 4, 2011. Hearing none, she announced the minutes were approved.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Acting President Kress noted that the community had experienced some difficult moments this year. She provided a brief report on the recent death of a Boston College student, Alexander Grant, who was visiting Skidmore friends and died in the early hours of March 6th after leaving a party at an off-campus location. There is an ongoing investigation into this matter, and we do not yet know what happened that evening. But, whether or not drugs or alcohol were involved, this issue brings to light other incidents involving drug and alcohol abuse on campus; and Student Affairs, under the leadership of Jen Burden, Director of Health Promotion, has been working to address these issues by providing students with research, education, and information on the consequences of excessive drinking and drug use. Both Acting President Kress and Dean Rochelle Calhoun have sent letters to the students about these issues, and the institution is reviewing its policies to determine if they need to be strengthened and increasing programming. The letter that Dean Calhoun sent to the student body will be shared with the faculty, and Acting President Kress urged the faculty to encourage their students to participate in the upcoming programs. Acknowledging that the problem of student drinking and drug use is a national issue, Acting President Kress said, as an institution of higher education, Skidmore can do better; in another initiative, Student Affairs is convening a small working group consisting of members of Student Affairs, the IPPC subcommittee, and the Bias Response Group to focus on student culture. Acting President Kress called on Dean Rochelle Calhoun to elaborate on the work of this group.

Acting President Kress also provided an update on the efforts to build a more open and tolerant campus climate (including another successful student-only meeting, faculty and staff discussion groups, and outreach to community leaders). She drew attention to recent posts in the Skidnews online comment boards that have become increasingly disturbing, particularly when individuals are directly and personally targeted. She said we needed to foster an intellectual and social environment in which we could disagree with integrity, civility, and empathy. She urged everyone to work together to encourage respect and civility in the community.

Dean of Admissions. Mary Lou Bates, Dean of Admissions, provided an update on the incoming Class of 2015:

• Regular decisions were mailed last week; the applicant pool was nearly 5,800 applicants which was down about 4 percent from last year.
• This year’s class target range is 580-630, which is smaller by about 25 from last year’s target and 120 less than last year’s class size.
• Twenty-six percent of students have self-identified as students of color in the admissions process.
• 260 students enrolled through early decision, with 250 indicating a preference for on campus and 10 for the London program.
• Summer melt is projected at 50 students; last year’s melt was 45 and the year before that was 69.
• Sixty-one percent of applicants indicated an intent to apply for financial aid; our enrollment model projects that 42 percent of them can be on grant assistance. This is where we need to be need-sensitive; we reached a point where we have allocated all of the financial aid and have to put some students we very much like to have here on the waiting list for admissions until we know if we have grants left after May 1.
• Last year’s spring yield jumped by 3 percent, which was due to an increase in students receiving financial aid. This year’s yield will be lower as we are not anticipating as many students receiving aid.
• Compared to last year’s class, we admitted 414 fewer students and offered financial aid packages to 215 fewer students; our acceptance rate was 42 percent while last year’s was 47 percent.
• The 340 students who expressed an interest in London have been offered either option, but they have been advised that the London spots are limited and may be gone by the May 1 deadline.
• There will be over 30 Filene finalists on campus for a day-long competition on April 9, and we have had 7 of the Porter Math/Science winners visit campus and a number are in the process of planning to visit. In addition, 13 students with outstanding backgrounds in the sciences and math have been offered S3M scholarships.
• We will be hosting three Accepted Candidates Days on April 8, April 15 and April 18 as well as the Discovery Tour.

Dean Bates extended her appreciation and thanks to everyone for all the support in helping to enroll another terrific class. A round of applause was given to Dean Bates.

Faculty Development Committee. On behalf of the Faculty Development Committee, Associate Professor Pete Stake announced that the 11th Annual Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching has been awarded to Associate Professor Grace Burton. A sustained congratulatory round of applause was given for Associate Professor Burton.

Cabinet Q&A

A question was raised seeking clarification on the type of outreach to community leaders in response to campus climate concerns. Acting President Kress indicated that the outreach was made to community leaders in the City of Saratoga Springs; the first of these meetings was a community breakfast held March 31st. The second is a meeting of some Cabinet members with several city leaders on April 11th, and the third is a panel of international faculty and students hosted by the Chamber of Commerce on April 21st. Several more meetings are in the planning stages.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS’REPORT

Muriel Poston, Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs, discussed the post-legal draft of Skidmore’s Intellectual Property Policy (see attached) that was distributed earlier this week. The creation of this policy was triggered by a faculty colleague and a student working on a project in 2007-08 that had promising patentable opportunities. Inasmuch as the institution had no framework for addressing this matter, a committee was formed to develop such a policy. The committee looked at multiple policies from liberal arts colleges and comprehensive institutions to find ways to address patent issues; following their deliberations, the policy was reviewed over the last three years by several college committees, including Academic Staff, Science Planning Group, Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), Committee on Educational Policy and Planning (CEPP), Faculty Development Committee (FDC) and was finally brought to the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee (IPPC) for endorsement. After a request was made for additional time to review the policy, Acting VPAA Poston indicated she will work with FEC to schedule an open forum to discuss this policy.

Acting VPAA Poston also indicated that a draft of the Standards of Business Conduct was distributed to academic staff this week, and she encouraged the document to be shared with department members. As this document will be discussed at IPPC shortly, Acting VPAA Poston encouraged feedback on this document.

Dean of the Faculty. Paty Rubio, Acting Dean of the Faculty, reminded everyone that the Discovery tour is scheduled to take place April 13-15, 2011. This is an important event, particularly as it links to the diversity initiatives of Goal II of the Strategic Plan. Last year, we had 145 students from 26 states visit the campus, of which 97 enrolled. Traditionally, 50 percent of the first year class of students of color attend this event. Dean Rubio thanked the faculty in advance for their participation in this event and encouraged everyone who was invited to the dinner to attend. Dean Mendez also thanked the faculty for their support of this program.

OLD BUSINESS

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Reg Lilly read the following motion that was introduced at the March 4, 2011 meeting (see attached):

MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves to change the membership of the Faculty Executive Committee and its function in the following way:

“Membership: Six members of the Faculty elected to serve three year terms, together with the three elected faculty members of the IPPC.”

As the last paragraph describing the function of the Faculty Executive Committee, add the following:

“The Chair of the Faculty Executive Committee and the faculty Vice-Chair of the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee shall meet regularly throughout the academic year so that each committee can be apprised of the other committee’s work.”

After discussion on the enhancements on faculty governance that this motion would create, the motion was voted on and passed with all in favor.

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Reg Lilly read the following motion that was introduced at the March 4, 2011 meeting (see attached):

MOTION: The Faculty Executive Committee moves to reduce the membership of the Faculty Executive Committee from six elected members to five.

After brief discussion concerning the chairship of FEC, the motion was voted on and passed with all in favor.

NEW BUSINESS

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Reg Lilly introduced the following motion (see attached):

MOTION: To reconfigure and re-describe the Honors Forum Council in the following manner:

Function: The ongoing responsibilities of the Honors Forum Council include reviewing applications for membership and inducting new members, monitoring the eligibility standards for current members, planning and sponsoring academic and co-curricular events, developing a sufficient number of courses and co-curricular events for inclusion among the "honors" resources, communicating with the wider community of students and faculty regarding Forum opportunities and the achievements of honors (and other) students, and assessing the effectiveness of the Honors Forum in achieving its goals. Annually the Honors Forum Council will constitute the Periclean Scholar Award Sub-Committee as follows: one faculty member chosen from the Honors Forum Council and three members chosen in consultation between the Honors Forum Council and the Faculty Executive Committee. The four members of the Periclean Scholar Award Sub-Committee shall elect a Chair from their membership.

Membership: Four faculty, three elected for three-year terms and one who chairs the Council and serves as Director of the Honors Forum for a four-year term; the Associate Dean of Student Affairs; the Director of First-Year Experience and Assistant Dean of the Faculty; the Associate Dean of the Faculty for Academic Advising; the Associate Dean of the Faculty; the President or a designated representative of the Periclean Honor Society; twothree students appointed from members of the Forum. , one student selected by SGA.

After discussion on student representation, a friendly amendment was made to indicate that two students will be appointed by Honors Council to serve on the Periclean Scholar Award Sub-Committee. After further discussion concerning the membership of the Honors Forum Council, another friendly amendment was made to specify that the Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Campus Life be a member (as opposed to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs). The Motion will lie over until the next meeting.

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Reg Lilly introduced the following motion (see attached):

MOTION: That the college's CAFR reduce its faculty membership by one.

After brief discussion, FEC indicated it would provide proposed language for changes to the Faculty Handbook to go along with this Motion. The motion will lie over until the next meeting.

REPORTS

On behalf of IPPC, Professor Hugh Foley shared a PowerPoint presentation on role the IPPC plays in developing the College’s budget. He advised that IPPC is a college-wide committee that includes students, faculty, staff and administrators, and it serves as a sounding board for the President. Further, he noted that various polices are brought to IPPC, and it is IPPC’s responsibilities to make recommendations that influence the ultimate decisions that are made. He urged the faculty to trust those colleagues serving on IPPC to make the decisions that are in the best interest of the institution. A round of applause was given to Professor Foley for his presentation.

Thereafter, Mike West, Vice President for Finance, Administration and Treasurer, shared a PowerPoint presentation on the preliminary operating budget for fiscal year 2012. His presentation included:

• Skidmore’s A1 financial rating by Moody’s Investors Services and its comparison with other institutions;
• a comparison of revenues and expenditures for past fiscal years; the composition of operating budget revenues (i.e., tuition, auxiliary, investments, gifts, grants, etc.); and the composition of operating budget expenses (i.e., compensation, student aid, services/supplies, debt, utilities, etc.);
• a comparison of the College’s tuition and fees for 2011 with our peer group;
• information concerning Skidmore’s ranking for full, associate and assistant professor salaries from the AAUP faculty compensation survey for 2010-11;
• the types of financial pressures facing Skidmore due to the economy (decrease in the number of applications received, pressure on increases in tuition and fees, projected increase in student financial need, uncertain financial markets, likely reduction in federal and state support and potential changes in solicitation support); and the effect of the financial downturn of the last several years on the value of the endowment;
• key areas of comprehensive financial planning (operations, endowment, physical plant, gifts for operations and capital, debt service); the basic guidelines for the College’s budget process (balance budgets annually, balance projected income and expenses, preserve human resources values, preserve useful life of physical plant and preserve the purchasing power of the endowment); and the factors used in budget construction;
• Preliminary operating budget parameters for fiscal year 2012 showing inflation of 2 percent, tuition/fee increase of 2.9 percent, student enrollment at 2,280, return on endowment of 5 percent, endowment spending rate of 5 percent, financial aid growth of 3.2 percent, services and supplies of 2 percent, general salary adjustment of 2 percent with a market adjustment salary pool of $600,000, and a reserve for new initiatives (yet to be determined) of $572,000. Also, an additional .1% endowment spending rate that will support certain costs of the upcoming comprehensive fundraising campaign. Current estimates are overenrollment of 135 students. These key budget parameters will be presented to the Board of Trustees at its May meeting for final approval.

Vice President West concluded his presentation by stating that to sustain the financial health of the institution, we need to meet our target for the entering class, maintain and improve retention and continue to find ways to reduce our expenses; the admissions picture is challenging with intense competition for students and increasing financial needs for families. The financial markets continue to be volatile and the fundraising environment remains difficult, and we must achieve our budget targets. Vice President West thanked everyone for their support during the recent economic crisis.

Vice President West welcomed comments and questions about his report:

• In response to questioning concerning the yearly increase in financial aid, Vice President West indicated our long-term target in the tuition discount rate is 35 percent. He further noted that the tuition increase in this year’s recommendation would be 2.9 percent increasing in our current financial modeling to 3.9 percent in 2015.
• Upon questioning whether there are projections in the coming years to increase faculty salaries to our desired range in our peer group, Vice President West indicated that prior to the downturn in the economy, Skidmore was able to make significant progress in faculty salaries with some improvements to staff salaries. He reported on current financial modeling including the General Salary Adjustment and market adjustment pools and for the years 2013 - 2015. He further noted that it has yet to be determined how the $600,000 in the current market adjustment pool will be allocated.
• Further detail was requested concerning how changes in the federal and state budget might affect Skidmore. Vice President West indicated that both the Federal and State government provide sources of revenue to the College in the form of financial aid as well as grants that help some departments and programs.
• Discussion was held concerning the process in which Moody’s rates institutions, which is partly driven by the number and quality of student applications, the related acceptance and yields, net tuition revenues, and financial results.
• In response to questioning about the strategy to balance the budget in the coming years, Vice President West indicated the possibility of decreasing our current forecasts of operating budget transfers of capital to the physical plant and information technology, higher tuition increases, changes in enrollment, as items that would need to be reviewed along with the other key budget assumptions.
• In response to questioning about the decision-making process between the Board and the Cabinet, Vice President West indicated that the Cabinet, IPPC and the IPPC Budget and Finance subcommittee develop the budget and those recommendations are submitted to the Board at a special meeting with the Board’s Budget and Finance Committee in early February. Thereafter, those recommendations are presented to the full Board for discussion and approval.
• A question was raised whether the College has data concerning the perceived value of a Skidmore education and how do people outside the institution perceive Skidmore. Acting President Kress discussed her conversation with a former student wholeheartedly supporting the value of a Skidmore education.
• A question was raised concerning the use of overenrollment funds and whether once our ideal number is determined, will the College continue to overenroll. Vice President West indicated that those funds are generally used to address deferred maintenance and other one-time expenditures and that our current plans are to reduce enrollment levels over the next several years from current levels.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• On behalf of the CEPP, Associate Professor Bob Turner announced that the Department of Management and Business has developed articulation agreements between Rochester Institute of Technology and the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University; both these agreements were modeled by existing agreements with Clarkson and Union College.
• On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Associate Professor Pat Hilleren introduced the updated faculty governance website and encouraged all faculty committees to develop their own website.
• On behalf of Curriculum Committee, Associate Professor Lisa Aronson reported that Curriculum Committee is going digital. Associate Professor Aronson indicated that anyone submitting items to the Curriculum Committee must have a digital signature and provided information on how one could create a digital signature (see attached).
• On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Professor Reg Lilly announced the FEC will hold an open forum on April 15, 2011 from 3:00-5:00 in Gannett Auditorium to discuss the topic of Transition and Transformation. As this is a very significant initiative, Reg encouraged everyone to attend the forum and indicated that an informational packet will be forwarded shortly.
• Professor Sarah Goodwin announced an open meeting will be held on April 15, 2011 to discuss the Middle States Periodic Report; information concerning the time and location will be sent shortly.
• Assistant Professor Eric Morser announced the Kuroda Symposium will be held April 8-9, 2011; this year’s speaker will be Virginia Scharff from the University of New Mexico.
• Jeff Segrave, Dean of Special Programs, encouraged everyone to participate in this year’s challenge grant. He noted that if the College receives 12,500 gifts in any amount, the College will receive $1 million. To date, we have received approximately 7,000 gifts.
• On behalf of the Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, Professor Michael Mudrovic announced that Skidmore will be hosting the national convention of the AGLSP on October 13‑15, 2011 at the Gideon Putnam Hotel. This year’s theme will be Source of Life and Strife, and the two keynote speakers will be Deborah Cramer of MIT, speaking on the Atlantic Ocean, and Tom Lewis, speaking on the Hudson River. All colleagues are invited to submit an abstract to present a paper at the conference; the deadline for submissions is May 15.
• Mike West, Vice President for Finance, Administration and Treasurer, invited everyone to a reception in the Murray Aikins dining hall immediately following the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:28 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Debra L. Peterson
Executive Administrative Assistant