President Conner, College administrators provide updates at October staff meeting
President Marc Conner and College officials briefed staff about important initiatives, including planning for the spring, the Racial Justice Initiative, employee health care, a major upgrade to software for finance and human resources functions, changes to Skidmore’s Equal Employment Opportunity, Diversity and Anti-Harassment Policies and Procedures, and this week’s In It 5 programming.
Conner and other administrators provided the updates at the second meeting of all College staff on Oct. 2. The president noted that the monthly meetings, which were launched last month, have been well received and aim to provide a sense of community among all employees.
“My biggest takeaway after three months on the job is how well poised Skidmore is for the next decade,” Conner said. “This is a tough time in higher education. … We will get to the other side, and I intend for us to be well positioned when we get there.”
The president also gave an update on the Racial Justice Initiative, which was unveiled in September. Searches are ongoing for two important equity and inclusion staff positions: the director of the Office of Student Diversity Programs and the director of The Center, who will also serve as deputy chief diversity officer. A new Board of Trustees Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, chaired by Linda Jackson Chalmers ’73, has been created and will participate in the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting, Conner said.
As of Oct. 2, more than 17,500 COVID-19 tests had been conducted and there had been a total of five positive tests. Conner described Skidmore’s efforts to contain COVID-19 as successful so far but also urged the community not to lower its guard.
“It’s working remarkably well, but — as we all know — it could change in a heartbeat,” he said.
Planning for next year is now underway, and Skidmore is proceeding with the assumption that the current health conditions will continue to hold. Additional outreach to employees will continue as planning for next year progresses.
The president also noted that health insurance costs have continued to increase sharply, but Skidmore would cap employee contributions at 10%, although the actual costs were more than double that number — at 24%.
“We need to explore ways to contain those costs,” the president said, adding that the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee (IPPC) Health Care Working Group would continue to review the issue and seek robust input from employees before delivering recommendations to IPPC in the spring.
Donna Ng, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, also provided information about Skidmore’s switch to a new Oracle Cloud system for many administrative functions, including human resources, benefits, payroll, accounts payable, purchasing and recruitment.
Whereas the current process of processing payments was a very paper- and labor-intensive process, the new system would be more automated and allow users to track the progress of a payment as it goes through the approval process.
Employees would have access to a single landing page for many administrative functions. A variety of training opportunities and materials would be made available ahead of the January 2021 rollout of the new system.
Sarah Delaney Vero, interim director of Human Resources, also provided an overview of recent updates to Skidmore’s Equal Employment Opportunity, Diversity and Anti-Harassment Policies and Procedures.
The new policies reflected recent changes to New York state Human Rights Law, Title IX and the College’s own diversity and inclusion goals. The new policies expand the definition of harassment and eliminate the previous 60-day window to file a report, in addition to other changes. Skidmore employees will receive updated training on the changes in the coming weeks.
Joshua C. Woodfork, vice president for strategic planning and institutional diversity, also invited members of the Skidmore community to participate in this year’s In It 5 program, which was designed with the specific needs of the Skidmore community in mind.
The Committee on Intercultural and Global Understanding (CIGU) also invites staff to a presentation of the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey 2019 findings on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
In It 5 programming continues through Friday, Oct. 9.