Faculty Meeting Minutes

April 7, 2017
Gannett Auditorium

MINUTES

President Philip A. Glotzbach called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

President Glotzbach asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held March 3, 2017.  Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

President Glotzbach welcomed everyone to the meeting and indicated that his remarks will be kept at a minimum due to the full agenda.    He congratulated Associate Professor Heather Hurst on her Guggenheim Fellowship award. A round of applause was given to Associate Professor Hurst.

Thereafter, on behalf of the Faculty Development Committee, Associate Professor Rachel Roe-Dale announced that Professor Mary Odekon was chosen as the Edwin M. Moseley Faculty Lectureship for 2017-18.  Associate Professor Roe-Dale thanked all those faculty members who put forth a nomination and those faculty members that chose to stand for consideration.  A congratulatory round of applause was given to Professor Odekon.

President Glotzbach reported on the status of the three Cabinet searches.  He reported that the search consultants for the positions have been secured and that the search committees are now complete. The search committees for the Collyer Vice President for Advancement and the Vice President for Communications and Marketing have met and those searches are now underway.  The search committee for the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs has also been constituted and the search will begin shortly.   

Thereupon, Joshua Woodfork, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, directed everyone’s attention to a website with further information on the search committees for the three positions (https://www.skidmore.edu/president/secure/index.php) and reviewed the composition of the membership of the search committees for the Collyer Vice President for Advancement; the Vice President for Communications and Marketing; and the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs.  VP Woodfork thanked everyone who indicated a willingness to serve on one of the three search committees.

VP Woodfork then thanked everyone for attending the screenings of Hidden Figures and hoped everyone had a positive experience.  He also called everyone’s attention to “In It”, a suite of diversity and inclusion programming designed to raise our cultural fluency and strengthen our community (https://www.skidmore.edu/diversity/init/), and highlighted upcoming events over the next few weeks.  Finally, VP Woodfork shared information concerning college demographics which can be found on the Institutional Research webpage.

President Glotzbach reminded everyone that Accepted Candidates’ Days will be occurring over the next few weeks (April 7, April 12, and April 17).  Our Discovery Program dinner was held last night with 142 students in attendance; they were a very strong and lively group and about 40 percent are interested in the sciences.  President Glotzbach thanked Dean Mendes and his team for coordinating this program.

President Glotzbach reminded everyone of his concerns about international students given our current political environment.  About 10 percent of our class is international, so any drop in international students would be significant.  This year, about 10 percent of our Early Decision class is comprised of international students, compared to 6.2 percent last year, so that is one hopeful sign.  President Glotzbach urged everyone to give even more effort and attention to our Accepted Candidates program this year than we have in the past.  


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

There was no report from the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

OLD BUSINESS

On behalf of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, DOF/VPAA Beau Breslin read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):

MOTION:  The Dean of the Faculty’s office moves to alter the Faculty Handbook to allow departments and programs to hire faculty with tenure.

DOF/VPAA Breslin reminded everyone of the reason for bringing the Motion.  A few faculty members rose to express their support of the Motion.  There being no further discussion, the Motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.


On behalf of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, DOF/VPAA Beau Breslin read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):

MOTION:    The Dean of the Faculty’s office moves to alter the Faculty Handbook to eliminate the second year review.

DOF/VPAA Breslin reminded everyone of the reason for bringing the Motion.  Following brief discussion related to the implementation of the new process, the Motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.  

On behalf of the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning (CEPP), Associate Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):

MOTION:    The Committee on Educational Policies and Planning moves that the faculty adopt the new General Education Curriculum for Skidmore College as detailed in the February 28, 2017 Proposal.

Associate Professor Erica Bastress-Dukehart thanked everyone for their input into the proposed general education curriculum.  She reminded everyone that this proposal has been worked on for over four years; everyone has had an opportunity to see the proposal and to shape it.  This is a curriculum that is intentional and seeks to improve the areas where students are not meeting our goals for student learning.  While this proposal is not perfect, it is more intentional in asking students to integrate their learning experience and makes our current curriculum better.   

Associate Professor Bastress-Dukehart further indicated, that since the last faculty meeting, CEPP accepted a friendly amendment relating to the CODA to include the language “one course or one capstone experience.”  This amendment was requested in part because studio art has a senior capstone experience which has not been a course, and because it is not a course, the art department would need to change the structure of their major to make that experience into a course.

Thereafter, Dorothy Parsons, Student Government Association (SGA) President, spoke in support of the proposed curriculum.  She indicated that Henry Jaffee, SGA Vice President for Academic Affairs, brought the proposal to the SGA senate, and the students voted to support the proposal.  As the proposal is beneficial to the students, Ms. Parsons strongly urged the faculty to support the proposal.

Thereupon, Associate Professor Bastress-Dukehart opened the floor for comments.  Lengthy discussion ensued regarding the language requirement that would allow some international students to take EN 103 instead of a language other than English when EN 103 had not been designed for English language learners.  

Associate Professor Jeremy Day-O’Connell then made a motion to amend the General Education curriculum to stipulate a 3-credit minimum for the First-Year Experience, the Bridge Experience, and the Foundations and Inquiries requirements (see attached).  Associate Professor Day-O’Connell explained the rationale for his motion, indicating that having a credit-based requirement will help to ensure the balance and integrity of the proposed curriculum, especially as Skidmore begins to experiment with non-traditional course paradigms that carry various sorts of credit.  The Motion was seconded.   Thereafter, discussion of the amendment ensued.  Associate Professor Bastress-Dukehart indicated that CEPP chose to use the language “courses” rather than “credits” to allow for flexibility. Several faculty members spoke in support of the amendment while some spoke against the amendment.  Following discussion, the Motion to amend was voted on and defeated by majority vote.

Thereupon, discussion returned to the EN 103 language requirement.  Professor Sarah Goodwin made a friendly amendment to revise the second requirement under language study to read “successful completion of EN 100, EN 103, or an appropriate ELL course to be developed for the purpose with broad consultation.”  CEPP accepted the friendly amendment.  Several faculty members spoke in opposition to the friendly amendment indicating that this requirement should be discussed at length and not tweaked on the faculty floor and, further, that there are currently no ELL-specific courses. Several other faculty members indicated they believed the issue could be resolved in the implementation phase and encouraged everyone to support the proposal. Following lengthy discussion about the language requirements, Professor John Brueggemann moved to table the discussion until the next faculty meeting so this issue could be discussed further.  The motion to table the discussion was voted on and passed by majority vote.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business.


OTHER

Associate Professor Pat Oles provided an update on the trustee dialog on the investment philosophy.  Associate Professor Oles reminded everyone that the Board accepted the Divestment Task Force’s recommendation against divestment but not other recommendations, most notably the recommendation that the College align institutional values and investment philosophy. At the April 2016 faculty meeting, Associate Professor Oles proposed a motion asking the board “to develop a meaningful process for aligning investment philosophy with institutional mission and values.” The motion was withdrawn when President Glotzbach offered the opportunity for further discussion about this with the Trustees.  Associate Professor Oles reported the discussion took place but provided little reason to believe the trustees are interested in aligning institutional values and investment policy and that there were no plans for additional discussion. This means that absent faculty action, the matter is settled. Associate Professor Oles indicated a willingness to continue to press the issue if there was sufficient interest among the faculty. President Glotzbach indicated this was an open conversation and was willing to think about how one might do this in a way that is responsible to all the different demands placed on our endowment and budget, and the Investment Committee and Trustees have agreed to explore our investments. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• On behalf of the Athletic Council, Associate Professor Amon Emeka reported that the Athletic Council had discussions about the email exchange concerning the name of the Thoroughbred Society that occurred a few weeks ago.  He indicated that this year’s annual report will include a summary of the initial exchange and letters of support.  He asked anyone wishing to voice their opinion in support or opposition to respond directly to him via email with “Mascot” in the comment section.
• On behalf of the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer and Project VIS, Professor Jeff Segrave invited everyone to a reception in the Scribner Library immediately following the faculty meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:02 p.m.