Faculty Meeting Minutes

 

Dorothy E. Mosby, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Dean Mosby asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held November 3, 2023.  Hearing none, she called for a vote on approving the minutes, which were then approved unanimously.

DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS’ REPORT

Due to some technical difficulties with the hybrid voting, Dean Mosby gave her report earlier in the meeting than anticipated.  Dean Mosby acknowledged that she has now been at the College for six months, and thanked the faculty for their part in bringing her into the Skidmore community through their invitations to classes and department meetings.  She indicated her intention to continue making her rounds in the spring semester.

Dean Mosby noted that the weight of the conflict in Israel-Palestine on Skidmore’s community could not have been anticipated, and thanked faculty for the myriad ways they have offered support to their students.  She stated that she would speak more on the college’s response to these events during the President’s report, while making note of the successful faculty panel on the matter that occurred in December.

Dean Mosby then reported out on the two meetings she had attended in November; the NY6 Deans/Provosts Meeting and the Northeast Deans Meeting.  She noted that they spoke at length about artificial intelligence, grading, college service, and other challenges facing higher education.  Examples included administrative paths to service, and adjusting institutional policies to reflect changing faculty and student bodies.  She noted that at the Northeast Deans Meeting, the president t of Colby College, David Greene, had made a compelling case for small, private liberal arts institutions to take the lead in innovation and risk-taking in higher education.  Dean Mosby reflected on her recent visit to Skidmore’s Management and Business 107 final presentations to executives in that light. She celebrated the innovation and risk-taking – both from the faculty and the students – in a course that teaches students about business from the very basics at the start of the semester, to making professional presentations to executives at the semester’s close.  Dean Mosby said that she sees this kind of risk-taking, innovation and transformative learning across the campus. 

Dean Mosby then celebrated those professors who received tenure and promotions in 2023.

 Tenure:

• Paul Benzon, English
• Mary Kate Donovan, World Languages and Literature
• JooWon Park, Anthropology
• Aarathi Prasad, Computer Science
• Madushi Raththagala, Chemistry
• Bernardo Rios, Anthropology
• J. Schneller in Environmental Studies and Sciences
• Adam Tinkle, Media and Film Studies

 Promotions to Full Professor:

• Dan Curley, Classics
• Sarah Day-O’Connell, Music
• Tim Harper, Management and Business
• Xiaoshuo Hou, Sociology and Asian Studies
• Heather Hurst, Anthropology
• Karen Kellogg, Environmental Studies and Sciences
• Andrew Lindner, Sociology
• Corinne Moss-Racusin, Psychology
• Jess Sullivan, Psychology

Non-Tenure Track Promotions:

• Mike Paulmeno, Scribner Library
• Caitlin Jorgensen, English
• Ruth McAdams, English

This was followed by Dean Mosby reporting on the progress of the non-tenure track union negotiations: the teams continue discussions of non-economic items, and the following meeting of the bargaining teams would be December 15, 2023.  She thanked the Faculty Executive Committee for co-hosting 2 forums for tenure line faculty in November, which generated a number of questions, which she intends to provide thorough responses to in January.  A thank you was also forthcoming for participation in the NACCC survey.  She concluded her report with a final thank you to the faculty for their work throughout the semester.

CONFERRAL OF DEGREES AND HONORS

A. Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees. Dave DeConno, Registrar, read the following resolutions into the record (see attached):

    RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 36 students of the Class of 2024 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by January 31, 2024.

    RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 11 students of the Class of 2024 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by January 31, 2024.

There was no discussion, and the motions were voted on and passed with all in favor. 

B. All-College and Departmental Honors. Corey Freeman-Gallant, Associate Dean of the Faculty, read the following resolutions into the record (see attached):

      RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve College Honors for the following 12 members of the Class of 2024: 3 students for cum laude distinction, 7 students for magna cum laude distinction, and 2 student for summa cum laude distinction.

    RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve Departmental and Program Honors for 12 students from the Class of 2024.

There was no discussion, and the motions were voted on and passed with all in favor. 

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business.

FACULTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Committee of the Whole

Chair of FEC, Professor Dominique Vuvan, invited Senior Teaching Professor Lisa Grady-Willis to introduce the Committee of the Whole. On behalf of the HHMI Working Group on Inclusive and Accessible Teaching and Learning, she asked the Committee of the Whole to consider the working group’s five guiding principles, and how they are at play in the faculty’s classrooms, mentoring and pedagogies.  Each table and Zoom breakout group was asked to consider these questions and prepare notes as feedback for the working group.  At the close of the Committee of the Whole, Senior Teaching Professor Grady-Willis thanked the faculty for their efforts, reiterating that the notes will be helpful to the working group and the campus as a whole.  She then notified the faculty that a second survey would be distributed in the future via email, to continue the working group’s process.

OTHER

A. May 1, 2024 Transition to TIAA as Service Provider for Retirement Plans

Dean Mosby invited General Counsel and Vice President for Human Resources Sarah Vero and Director of Human Resources Julie Delay to speak to the faculty about the transition to TIAA as the sole service provider for retirement accounts. 

VP Vero noted that they had received a recommendation from Associate Professor Ting Li, a member of the Retirement Oversight Committee, to present to the faculty in more detail about the transition.  VP Vero stated that an email had been sent to the faculty and staff with a detailed announcement about the decision of the Retirement Oversight Committee to consolidate service providers and switch to using TIAA solely, starting in May of 2024.  VP Vero cautioned that not all questions will have answers, because the transition had not started yet.  It is anticipated that the transition will start in January and end by May 1.  She said that the office of Human Resources has already received a number of questions, the answers to which are included in the presentation to the faculty.  She noted that, while the service provider will change, the Skidmore retirement plan will not change in terms of how those benefits are allocated.  She acknowledged that this is still a change to an important benefit, and that questions are natural in that circumstance.

VP Vero explained that the reason for the reassessment of plan providers was done in response to changes in governmental oversight requirements for such plans.  The two providers that the College has currently are Vanguard and TIAA.  One of the changes to federal requirements is that the institution create an oversight body to take fiduciary responsibility for the management of the retirement funds and ensure that all decisions are made with the best interests of the plan participants at the forefront.  VP Vero said that Skidmore’s Retirement Oversight Committee is a designee of the Board of Trustees, and its membership consists of VP Vero, VP of Finance & Administration Dan Konstalid, Assistant VP for Finance and Controller Kyle Bernard, Associate Professor Ting Li, Director of Human Resources Julie Delay, and Assistant Director of Benefits Administration Laura Goodwin. 

VP Vero said that the committee also works with an investment advisor, meeting on a quarterly basis to review the plan, the plan options, the fees, the service providers, and the other legal responsibilities.  She reiterated that, due to the upswing in legal oversight requirements, the amount of administration required to maintain these plans has grown significantly in the last five years, making the administration of two plans more burdensome.  Additionally, VP Vero pointed out, the funds that had previously been available only on Vanguard are now available on TIAA as well, while not all TIAA options are available on Vanguard. Additionally, she said, economies of scale mean that combining the monies in both accounts could reduce the administrative costs paid by employees and other plan participants.

Another consideration made by the ROC, VP Vero said, was the ease of use of the two platforms.  She noted that having clarity on the full menu of investment options is important with regard to plan holders’ ability to make meaningfully informed decisions about their investments.  The CREF annuities available on TIAA, she mentioned, are not available on Vanguard.  Because they are so popular with plan holders, VP Vero said that it was important to the committee to maintain access to those annuities in order to cause the least possible impact on our retirement investments.  In addition to the potential cost savings to plan participants, VP Vero also noted that one of the final considerations leading to the transition decision was the retirement planning tools provided by the TIAA platform and the resultant increase in transparency.

VP Vero said that the next step in this is largely work for HR, Payroll, and IT as they handle the administrative pieces of migrating plan holder accounts.  VP Vero said that detailed transition guides will be sent in the coming months, which will also clarify name changes of investment accounts that are not themselves changing.  She reminded the faculty that any questions they have before the distribution of the transition documents are welcome, and that HR will do their best to provide detailed answers for any questions or concerns; anything they cannot answer can be referred to Skidmore’s retirement investment adviser. Once the technical part of the transition is complete, VP Vero said, there will also be opportunities to have one-on-one consultations with a representative from TIAA.

VP Vero then invited questions from the faculty.  A faculty member who served on the Retirement Oversight Committee noted that her assessment of the TIAA fees is that they are more onerous than those from Vanguard, and that she has registered her concerns with the ROC.  She noted that she has shared her concerns with the previous IPPC co-chair.  A faculty member registered his opposition to the transition; stating that he strongly prefers Vanguard to TIAA due to the differing fee structures.  Vanguard’s fees on his preferred investment account are 8 basis points, and on TIAA 68 basis points.  He asserted that, on the same balance, in the same fund, he would be charged a difference of about $600 on a $100,000 investment.  Due to compounding interest, over time, the money taken for fees becomes an exponential loss in the form of smaller returns.

VP Vero answered that the Vanguard funds highlighted by the faculty member will retain their original fee structure, and if there is a TIAA fund that is very similar but with a more expensive fee structure, that will likely be removed from the offerings in favor of the Vanguard fund.

The faculty member then asked if the college will guarantee that fund fees will not increase in the move.

VP Vero responded that her understanding is that fees are projected to decrease with the transition, but that it does depend on the individual investments because each fund has a different fee structure.

The faculty member asserted that, of the TIAA funds that are comparable to Vanguard funds, a single TIAA fund that is not more expensive. He noted that this is due to Vanguard’s strategy of low- to no-management investment funds.

VP Vero noted that HR intends to engage in a great deal of investment education as part of the transition, and that, because the funds themselves will remain the same, the fees should as well.  She stated that the purpose of this transition is to lower fee costs for all plan holders, which is part of the College’s fiduciary responsibility.

The faculty member asked when the new fee structures will be available to plan holders.  Director Delay noted that the Vanguard funds are available currently on the TIAA platform, and that plan holders can log in to the investment platform and look at the funds’ performance on the TIAA platform.  The faculty member stated that he has not been able to do that.  Director Delay offered her assistance in helping him get logged on, and described that TIAA’s platform includes access to fund performance metrics, while noting that some of the Vanguard funds have slightly different names in TIAA.

A faculty member on Zoom stated that the hidden nature of the ROC is at odds with the college’s previous Governance Benefits Committee, which generated publicly available minutes.  The faculty member said that the IPPC minutes from April 2023 indicate that the decision to transition to a single service provider was made at that meeting, and stressed that the IPPC Annual Report had not been made public for the last four years. The faculty member asked about the lag between the decision being made and the faculty and plan holders being informed of it.  VP Vero stated that the ROC does maintain minutes, and that the committee is a Board of Trustees designee as opposed to an IPPC subcommittee.  This distinction, she said, leads to a difference in protocols for information sharing.  She noted that the ROC’s recommendations were presented to the IPPC subcommittee on Budget and Finance, which supported the transition, as well as to IPPC.  VP Vero also stated that the concerns being brought forth by faculty were also addressed in IPPC.  She said that IPPC recommended that any announcement be held until the fall semester, as it might not be seen by as many plan holders if it were to be released over the summer.  Another consideration, she said, was that ROC, IPPC, and HR wanted to have as many answers about implementation as they could before introducing the transition, which required that more work take place before the faculty was notified.  VP Vero invited further questions.  None were forthcoming, at which point she reiterated that faculty are welcome to direct any questions or concerns to HR.

B. Faculty Development Committee

On behalf of the Faculty Development Committee, Professor Pushkala Prasad announced that Associate Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart had been awarded the Phyllis A. Roth Faculty Distinguished Service Award for 2023.  She then presented a citation honoring Professor Bastress-Dukehart (see attached). The faculty showed their support with a standing ovation.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Marc C. Conner reminded the faculty of his remarks in the previous faculty meeting regarding the first four weeks after the events of October 7^th, 2023.  He stated his intention to now reflect on the following four weeks, and to update the faculty on how Skidmore is handling this significant challenge to higher education.  He said that the college’s emphasis, since October 7^th, has been on the students and helping them to navigate this complex global crisis.  Beyond helping them to understand it, he said, the college must help them to understand how to engage in discourse about such a weighty topic, as well as how to manage encounters with passionately held views that differ from their own.  President Conner noted that the faculty are in the thick of that work every day in class.  He expressed that he feels that the students are doing well with it, but that parents and alumni are perhaps struggling, as they look at the strife on other campuses and imagine that it must be replicated here.  He noted that Dean Bautista’s team and the president’s office have been holding zoom outreach sessions, and communicating via email and letter to assuage these fears and reiterate that institutional care for the students remains the top priority. 

President Conner stated that there has been some confusion about why certain language and phrasing has not been banned from campus, and stated his belief that a basic right denied to some will eventually be denied to all.  He asserted that Skidmore takes those rights very seriously, and also categorically repudiates anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.  The speech we hate, President Conner said, is not therefore the same as hate speech.  He noted that contested speech has its place in an institution of higher learning, just as sensitivity and respect are.  He noted that the college is trying to help the students understand these nuances, as well as the potential consequences to their community of speaking without sensitivity and respect.  He emphasized the need to humanize conflictual relationships, and commended the faculty for fostering that process.

President Conner noted that the full house at the faculty panel on Israel-Palestine shows the students’ hunger for complicated, nuance discussion, and that they are up for the challenge.  President Conner reiterated that institutional support of Skidmore faculty is absolute: in terms of freedom of speech, of expression, and academic freedom.  These freedoms, he said, have never been more under threat.  He recalled that in his opening comments on the Israel-Palestine faculty panel he had said that attendees are likely to hear things with which they disagree, and that we can only hope that that understanding underpins every discussion we have as a campus.  That, he said, is our challenge, and what we are all engaged in. 

President Conner then invited Dean of Student Affairs Adrian Bautista to the podium.  Dean Bautista said that the majority of November and December was spent on ensuring campus safety and responding to reports of bias.  He said that his office has been working with students around the large demonstrations, to make sure that they have a plan and understand the larger campus context of those plans.  He took a moment to thank Campus Safety and the Office of Campus Life and Engagement, which also houses the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life – which was immediately responsive to students in the aftermath of October 7^th.  Dean Bautista said that his office has spent a great deal of time responding to things like torn down posters and social media comments, while also following up with affected students and helping them access resources at the Counseling Center.  He noted that his office has been leaning on groups and committees that are already in place, such as the Bias Response Group and the Student Assessment Intervention Group, to respond to reports and provide students who may need it with additional support.  Dean Bautista celebrated the ways in which different parts of the institution have come together in this moment, and noted that we are transitioning from a more responsive model to one focused on proactive programming and fostering dialogue. 

On that note, Dean Bautista pointed to a conversation he had the day before with the SGA executive committee, discussing what these dialogues look like for SGA, and thinking through their responses and how the Office of Student Affairs can support them.  He stated that he believes this has been a good moment for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to come together, highlighting the CLTL conversation that OSA was invited to in order to talk about the resources they can provide.  Dean Bautista then turned the podium over to Dean Mosby.

Dean Mosby began her remarks by expressing her gratitude to the Center for Leadership, Teaching and Learning for the two sessions held in the Test Kitchen, both to provide institutional resources and for faculty to share their own resources and guidance for one another.  She then gave her thanks to the five faculty members who participated in the Wednesday night faculty panel on Israel-Palestine: Saleema Waraich in Art History, Greg Spinner in Religious Studies, Pushkala Prasad in Management & Business and International Affairs, Nurcan Atalan-Helicke in Environmental Studies and Sciences, and Sarah Friedland in MDOCS.  She noted that they did a terrific job presenting clear information and thoughtful perspectives to the students.  The panel, she said, was held in Davis Auditorium, though she expressed regret that they had not had a larger venue.  The capacity of Davis, she noted, is about 150; every seat was filled, and students were standing 3 deep in the back and lining the walls.  She restated her gratitude to these faculty for their intellectual bravery in sharing their perspectives and work.  Dean Mosby noted that similar events on other campuses have been quite fraught, and stated her pride in the faculty and students for their demonstrations of mutual respect, and their willingness to ask difficult questions.  She then thanked OSA, Campus Safety, and the Office of the President for their part in supporting the faculty’s work on this in the background.  In the spring, Dean Mosby said, there will be some courses targeting these issues.  She expressed her hope to have some more speakers on campus to encourage greater dialogue in the spring semester.  She encouraged the faculty to continue to attend these events, and to encourage their students to attend as well. 

President Conner invited Vice President for Finance and Administration Dan Konstalid to report to the faculty on two of a host of measurements that the Trustee Investment Committee uses to track the performance of the college’s endowment portfolio.  VP Konstalid began by reminding the faculty that the oversight of Skidmore’s endowment portfolio is ultimately a responsibility of the Trustee Investment Committee.  The Committee, he said, selects a portfolio adviser to assist it in managing the portfolio.  VP Konstalid noted that our portfolio advisers have been with the college for more than a decade.  He stated that these advisors, in turn, recommend investment managers that are each allocated a portion of the endowment portfolio to fill with funds that they manage, making individual security selections for those funds.  VP Konstalid clarified that all portfolio advisors and investment managers operate within guidelines that are established by a board-approved investment policy. 

VP Konstalid stated that he will be reporting on two measures that are related to what proportion of our fund managers use ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors in the construction of their portfolios, and to what extent do we have diversity among our investment managers.  ESG, VP Konstalid explained, builds upon the movement in investing known as SRI or Socially Responsible Investing.  It differs, he went on to say, in some important respects; ESG factors are not based on moral or ethical criteria, but on the realities of risk factors such as climate change.  VP Konstalid explained that this investment approach does not result in the application of broad screens preventing certain investments to the portfolio but does allow investment managers using ESG to focus on these types of risks when making selections for our portfolio.  He noted that this method is the vanguard for institutional investing, and highlighted that over 11% of the endowment’s dollar value is with investment managers that use ESG factors.  Additionally, VP Konstalid stated that over 11% of the endowment’s value is invested with firms whose equity ownership is held by 50% women and people of marginalized identities.  VP Konstalid pointed out that in the industry of investment management overall, approximately 1.4% of the dollar amount industry-wide is being managed by firms with majority ownership of women and ethnic or racial minorities, making us substantially ahead of the industry standard. President Conner noted to the faculty that these reports on the endowment will continue to be made each year.

President Conner invited Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity Joshua Woodfork to report on the Strategic Plan (see attached). VP Woodfork stated that, through the Visions and Values and campus master planning process, some distinctive characteristics of Skidmore have emerged, to be included in the next Strategic Plan.  He explained that those involved in the Strategic Planning process wanted to share them with the faculty before break, so that everyone can come back in the spring and engage with them.  VP Woodfork also noted that another priority will be thinking about how faculty, staff and students coming together is meant to be a hallmark of this upcoming planning process.  Please see attached for the slides.

President Conner then took a moment to reflect on some of Skidmore’s highlights from the fall semester: Skidmania, the Arboreal Art Exhibit, the Winter Dance Concert, Fall athletics, the upcoming play Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs, MB 107’s executive presentations, Scribner seminars, the US-Mexico Border project, the work of the new VPs, the Tang’s exhibition of Himalayan art, and so much more.  He stated that, despite the challenges facing higher ed, Skidmore remains well-positioned for the future.  He then wished the faculty a magnificent time away with their communities, and noted that he would stay for questions after the faculty meeting. 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:22 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,