Faculty Meeting Minutes

December 7, 2018
Gannett Auditorium

MINUTES

Membership: Five faculty members, two of whom must be tenured, each from a different department and with at least one member from each of the four Divisions of Disciplines, elected to serve three year terms; the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs or his/her designated representative; the Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs or his/her designated representative; two students selected by SGA; and the faculty director of assessment who, as an ex officio member, serves as liaison between CEPP and the IPPC subcommittee on institutional effectiveness. CEPP may appoint such subcommittees from among its members or from the College community at large as it deems helpful to facilitate its work.

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

NEW BUSINESS

The Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) ran a poll regarding faculty governance/service for four cohorts of faculty: non-tenure-track faculty, assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors (see attached for poll questions).  FEC will gather the results from the poll and will bring the results back to the faculty.

 

REPORTS

Sean Campbell, Collyer Vice President for Advancement, shared a PowerPoint presentation regarding the current campaign.   The full presentation included information concerning the timeline of the campaign, the fundraising goals along with the six funding priorities, funds raised to date by funding priority, national campaign events that have been held since November, 2017, the FY ’18 and FY ‘19 Performance by the Advancement Division, the “Campus Campaign,” and the philosophy and brief examples of Faculty and Advancement Partnerships, and ways for faculty to participate.  The full presentation is attached (see attached).

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

President Glotzbach reminded everyone that on January 1, 2019, Skidmore will become a smoke-free and tobacco-free campus.  He then introduced Cerri Banks, Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs, to provide an update.  Dean Banks stated that the full policy and other helpful information can be found at https://www.skidmore.edu/smokefree/ .  Dean Banks reported that one of the changes that was made to the policy since last semester concerned personal vehicles, with smoking no longer being allowed in personal vehicles while parked on campus.  Dean Banks also expressed thanks to Glens Falls Hospital for supplying all of the promotional materials and new signage for the policy.  

Dean Banks reported that the Implementation Committee is working to develop smoking cessation information, programs, and opportunities. She thanked Communications and Marketing for their help in developing key messages that will be used for updating various handbooks and communicating with various departments and constituents.  Dean Banks invited anyone who would like the Implementation Committee to come and talk to their department to let her know.  

With regard to enforcement of the policy, while no one will be actively seeking to identify violators of the policy, members of the community are expected to follow the policy.  If there are challenges to complying with the policy, current institutional structures in place for faculty, staff, and students will be used to address those challenges.  Dean Banks noted that schools that have already adopted smoke-free campus policies have not reported major problems with enforcement.  Dean Banks concluded by announcing that a kick-off event to publicize the new policy and promote the health and wellness of our community will be held on January 28, 2019.  More information about this event will be forthcoming.  

A question was raised concerning the use of electronic cigarettes on campus and whether or not they are included in this policy.  Dean Banks confirmed that electronic cigarettes are included in the policy and indicated that current disciplinary structures would be used to address any violations of the policy.  

Professor Rik Scarce thanked Dean Banks for her leadership on this policy, noting that this policy has been a very long time in coming.   A round of applause was given to Dean Banks.  

President Glotzbach thanked Dean Banks for her update and leadership on this policy.  He concluded his report by extending a warm invitation to the annual Skidmore Cares reception at Scribner House. President Glotzbach thanked everyone for their efforts in supporting Skidmore Cares.

Thereafter, President Glotzbach opened the floor for questions.  Associate Professor Linda Hall stated that she had a couple of questions about diversity and explained that those questions required some background.  She indicated she is on a search committee that was recently praised by the Dean and the Associate Dean of the Faculty for selecting a robustly-diverse short list of candidates.  However, in the course of developing that list, it was hard not to notice that, though many candidates revealed in their application materials that they were members of under-represented groups, not a single person claimed to have any kind of disability.  She indicated this was not surprising, given that there is still a stigma attached to disability.  She noted that the Deans had not encouraged the committee to think of disability as part of the fabric of diversity or sent any names of people who deserved a closer look.  

After stating that her department’s advertisement did not discourage the disabled from applying, Professor Hall pointed out that the same could not be said of another department's advertisements.  Without naming the department, she indicated that this department has more than once in the past year advertised for a professor with "good communication and interpersonal skills." Professor Hall posed the question, “What is wrong with that –  don't we all need those skills?” Yes and no, she said: we all need to communicate, but you can be an excellent professor without having the interpersonal skills of a flight attendant. And, she stated, if you have what used to be called Asperger’s, and many people in higher education do (Hans Asperger once referred to the children he studied as “little professors”), you may be a great scholar and teacher, but be less skilled in the areas of social interaction and interpersonal communication. Which is probably why, she asserted, not a single college in the New York Six Consortium, with the exception of Skidmore, has advertised this year for a professor with good interpersonal skills.  Professor Hall then stated that on November 26, she wrote to two members of the administration about this issue but her e-mail had not been acknowledged. An email she sent to HR last May was also not acknowledged.  In contrast, Professor Hall praised several faculty and staff colleagues who had been responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful regarding this issue.

Professor Hall then posed the following questions:

First, will you call for an immediate end to faculty job ads that in any way discourage qualified applicants or are in any way at odds with the fine print about our commitment to diversity?  Will you insist that when ATC and PC undergo diversity training, the training not gloss over disability?   If we can no longer afford this training, there are plenty of excellent free articles in Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education that can be made available.  You may say that you aren't that powerful, but you are.  You can and do overturn tenure and promotion decisions.  You can and do override recommendations from the Committee on Academic Freedom and Rights.  This is publicly available information.  And, citing the criterion of fairness, you can and do override our employment contract--the Faculty Handbook.

After noting that faculty meetings are recorded, Professor Hall requested that the minutes of the meeting reflect her remarks in detail.  In concluding her comments, Professor Hall stated that we currently have 406 students with documented evidence of a disability – some 15 percent of the student body.  They need mentors and models and we all need a just and humane Skidmore. Her remarks were greeted with a round of applause.

President Glotzbach responded by confirming with Professor Hall that he was the person referred to as the “you” in her questions.   He agreed that this is an issue that should be examined and that what Professor Hall had asked for seemed reasonable.  He stated that he will look into it further.  He also reminded everyone that we are in the process of hiring a new Chief Human Resources Officer and that he expected we would be updating our HR policies.  He thanked Professor Hall for bringing this issue to his attention and asked that she forward her written comments to Debbie Peterson so that they could be accurately summarized in the minutes, as she had requested.

Joshua Woodfork, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, invited Professor Hall to bring her concerns to the Committee for Intercultural and Global Understanding (CIGU). VP Woodfork stated that CIGU would be very supportive of her concerns regarding disability and would be happy to partner with HR in working to address them.

Lastly, Dean Banks noted that Student Affairs does a lot of work around disability.  While most of their work is with students, they have on occasion provided advice and assistance to faculty and staff.  While she couldn’t speak specifically to faculty hiring practices, she said that she believed that addressing disability formed a significant component of our efforts to further diversity and inclusion at the College. Furthermore, those members of the community that do scholarly work on diversity and inclusion definitely include disability.  She believes there are lots of individuals on campus interested in having this discussion.

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

Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, announced appointments to endowed chairs, effective June 1, 2019:  

• The Robert Davidson Chair in Art: Associate Professor Deb Hall
• The Douglas Family Chair in American Culture, History, and Literary and Interdisciplinary Studies: Professor Dan Nathan
• The Ella Van Dyke Tuthill ’32 Chair in Studio Art: Associate Professor Sang Wook Lee
• The Courtney and Steven Ross Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies: Professor Mao Chen
• The Quadracci Chair in Social Responsibility: Professor Kristie Ford
• The Class of 1948 Chair for Excellence in Teaching: Professor Corey Freeman-Gallant
• The Susan Kettering Williamson ’59 Chair in Neuroscience: Associate Professor Denise Evert
• The Charlotte Lamson Clarke ’53 Chair in Art History: Associate Professor Mimi Hellman

DOF/VPAA Orr thanked the outgoing holders of these chairs and congratulated the new holders.  A round of applause was given to these holders.

SKIDMORE CARES

Dean Orr asked Eric Morser, Associate Professor and Director of Civic Engagement, to say a few words about Skidmore Cares. Professor Morser stated that he has had the pleasure and privilege to work as one of three team leader coordinators for Skidmore Cares this year and invited everyone to attend the Skidmore Cares Open House immediately following the faculty meeting.  He reminded everyone that President and Marie Glotzbach started Skidmore Cares in 2006 to give Skidmore faculty and staff a chance to contribute to the broader community beyond campus.  Since then, Skidmore Cares has raised over $90,000 for community causes and distributed to local non-profit agencies more than 28,000 items of food, provisions and school supplies to assist folks in need throughout Saratoga County.  This year, these agencies include the Corinth Central School District, the Franklin Community Center, the Latino Community Advocacy Program, Mary's Haven, the Salvation Army, the Saratoga Center for the Family, the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council, the Saratoga Springs City School District PATH's program, Shelters of Saratoga, and Wellspring.  Professor Morser pointed out that tonight's open house is an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of giving and to acknowledge our membership in the local community.  He concluded his remarks by showing a video that demonstrated the impact that Skidmore Cares has had on the community.

 
The meeting was adjourned at 4:51 p.m.