FACULTY MEETING 

APRIL 6, 2001
GANNETT AUDITORIUM

MINUTES

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the March 2, 2001 faculty meeting minutes were approved as written. 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Studley shared good news with the faculty:

Sue Bender, Bernie Possidente, Dick Wilkinson, and Ian Berry were thanked for their extraordinary job in mounting the mapping show at the Tang Museum.

Sue Rosenberg and Suma Rajiva were thanked for organizing and moderating the recent environmental forum, which was sponsored by the Campus Environment Committee.
Starting with the 2001-02 academic year, smoking in residence halls has been banned. This ban was recommended to the President by the Student Government Association and unanimously by the All-College Council.

Safety Department Officers have been disarmed upon the recommendation of Dennis Conway, Director of Campus Safety, and Larry Britt, Associate Director, with support from the All-College Council and the Business Affairs Office.

Professor Jackie Azzarto was congratulated for winning Hudson Mohawk Association’s Community Service Award. She was chosen from 21 schools and 7,500 faculty members. Professor Azzarto received the award for contributions to the economic well being and quality of life of the Saratoga Springs and Skidmore communities.

The next step in the Strategic Planning process is the identification of concrete objectives that will make Skidmore a better institution in five years. IPC has asked groups on campus to help reinforce, refine, or reject the suggestions made during the fall. These groups will also determine whether the working goals should be modified. Once the groups have generated ideas, members of IPC will discuss, merge, prioritize, and refine the lists into a working document, which will be cycled back to the entire campus for consideration and comment.

President Studley went on to say that the faculty travel and professional development allocation has been increased from $400 to $500 per person starting in the 2001-02 academic year.

Professor Mehmet Odekon expressed his pleasure with the decision to disarm the Safety Officers. In addition, he expressed his disappointment with the selection of Senator Bruno as a recipient of an honorary degree at commencement. President Studley commented that the Board of Trustees Nominating Committee made the decision last spring, it was reviewed by CAPT, and approved by the Board. There are many people who felt that this award is a reflection of a commitment to a diversity of viewpoints, which is at the heart of the liberal arts College mission.

In response to the faculty observers’ report of the February Board of Trustees meeting, Professor Paty Rubio questioned what was meant by the Board’s concern about the "generous nature of our benefits." President Studley responded that health and other benefits have become increasingly expensive and have grown at a faster rate than many other expenses at the College. Any segment of the budget that grows rapidly will be looked at to make sure that it is the wisest investment of capital during a time of limited resources. Benefits will be considered in the overall context of financial planning and resource allocation, in conjunction with FPPC and the Benefits Committee. There is no separate process to look at benefits.

DEAN OF THE FACULTY’S REPORT

Dean John Berman is pleased with the increase in faculty development funds. The Dean of the Faculty’s and President's Offices are funding two workshops in support of faculty work in the area of curriculum development this summer. The workshops are scheduled for the week of May 29-June 1 and will focus on writing in the disciplines and the development of courses designed to fulfill the new all-college cultural diversity requirement. One workshop will be "Writing in the Disciplines." The second workshop will be "Workshop on Infusing Diversity Content into Courses." Details will be released via email shortly.

He announced that the museum conference at the Tang on April 6-7 is completely subscribed. However there will be a simulcast of the keynote address on April 6 at 7:30 p.m. from another room at the Tang and admission to is free for Skidmore community members.

Dean Berman also announced that the last faculty meeting of the year has been changed from May 16 at 10:00 a.m. to Tuesday, May 15 at 3:00 p.m. in Gannett.

NEW BUSINESS

On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Professor Hugh Foley introduced the following motion:

MOTION:

That Skidmore College create a Neuroscience major to replace the current Biology-Psychology interdepartmental major, which will be deleted (effective 08/31/03) if this motion is passed.

The complete proposal will be available at the Library and hopefully on the Curriculum Committee web page. A short synopsis was handed out. (See Attachment A.)

Professor Mehmet Odekon, for CFG, brought two motions to the faculty to be voted on at the April 27 meeting.

MOTION 1: Replace "Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the Faculty" in the membership language of EMAC (External Masters of Arts Committee), ACC (All-College Council), and AC (Athletic Council) in the Faculty Handbook by "Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the Faculty or his/her designee."

Rationale: This language provides continued representation of the VP/Dean’s office on the committee even if the VP/Dean is not available.

MOTION 2: Replace "the Dean of Student Affairs" in the membership language of the Athletic Council in the Faculty Handbook by "The Dean of Student Affairs or his/her designee."

Rationale: This language provides continued representation of the Dean of Student Affairs’ Office on the committee even if the Dean of Student Affairs it not available.

Professor Odekon announced that the Academic Integrity Board and the Social Integrity Board are student governance committees, and the student body decided to merge these two committees into one committee, the Integrity Board. CFG approved the merger of these two boards. 

OLD BUSINESS

Professor Odekon presented two motions that were introduced at the March 2 faculty meeting. (See Attachment B and Attachment B1.)

Motion 1 carried with all voting in favor.

To clarify Motion 2, Professor Odekon presented the following two amendments.

Amendments to clarify CFG Motion 2:

i. The committee amends V.A.5 as follows:

5. A person may speak once on a motion and may speak a second time only after all other persons wishing to speak have spoken once. The only exception is that the maker of the motion has the privilege to be the final speaker before the vote.

ii.The committee amends V.A.8 as follows:

8. When a motion is presented, it is customary that there be a period of questionsand answers to clarify the motion before it is more formally debated. Explanatory comments and clarifications at this time are not considered speaking to a motion. AT any time, the faculty may entertain a motion to consider a motion, subject, or problem informally (see V.C.1).

After a lengthy discussion, Motion 2 carried, with amendments, with all voting in favor. 

Professor Susan Kress presented the three proposals that were introduced at the March 2 faculty meeting. (See Attachment C.)

After a very lengthy discussion, Proposal 1, regarding accepting unsolicited letters, passed with a majority voting in favor. An alternate Proposal 1, not to accept unsolicited letters, was withdrawn.

Proposal 2 regarding faculty governance passed with all voting in favor.

Proposal 3 regarding first-year review procedures passed with all voting in favor.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• On behalf of the Campus Environment Committee, Susan Van Hook called the faculty’s attention to a recent email regarding a graduation pledge. The senior class will hold an information session on Wednesday, April 11 in Emerson at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the commitment involved, and a pledge ceremony will take place on May 14 around Haupt Pond. The faculty is encouraged to join them in taking this pledge. Students from 70-100 colleges will take this graduation pledge.
• Professor Barbara Black and Lauren Roberts-Fairbank ’01, on behalf of the Academic Festival Planning Committee, presented the logo for this year’s Academic Festival, which was designed by Paul Walsh ’01. On May 1 a kickoff party will take place at the Tang from 5:30-6:30, and a full day of activities will start on May 2. A record number of proposals were received this year.
• Karl Broekhuizen, Vice President for Business Affairs, invited the faculty to the reception at the Faculty/Staff Club. This reception will honor Professors Jolly and Kuroda who were recently awarded the Kenan and Porter Chairs, respectively. The President’s Office and the Office of Business Affairs are sponsoring the reception.

Respectfully submitted,

  

Claire Demarest
Executive Secretary
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Dean of the Faculty