Faculty Meeting Minutes

April 3, 2020

Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order via Zoom at 3:33 p.m. Given the experimental nature of holding the Faculty Meeting via Zoom, he asked for everyone’s patience as the meeting proceeded.  He then explained the procedures to be followed during the meeting and then conducted a quorum poll.  Brief discussion was held concerning the desire to ensure that only those eligible to vote were able to vote,

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

DOF/VPAA Orr asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held February 28, 2020.  Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved, with the addition of one correction regarding tuition remission.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Philip A. Glotzbach thanked the faculty and staff for responding to all the challenges that we are facing and expressed his appreciation for the experimental spirit in which this Faculty Meeting is being conducted.  He acknowledged that the current situation going on in the country right now can produce a lot of anxiety and noted that the burden can fall disproportionally on more disadvantaged members of our community.  The administration is aware of this and is trying to do what it can to mitigate those kinds of effects.

President Glotzbach referenced the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee notes that were sent out prior to the meeting and noted a few highlights:

• There are currently 155 students residing on campus, and dining services is providing food for them in Case Center.  We are continuing to support all of our students online, through Health Services, the Counseling Center, Student Academic Services, Religious and Spiritual Life, and Career Development Center.
• The Coronavirus situation has resulted in significant financial challenges. As would be expected, our endowment is currently down about 11 percent.  We will be refunding part of the room and board fees for all of our students, even for students who are on full scholarships.  This is not an inconsequential amount but the administration believes it is the right thing to do for our students and their families.
• President Glotzbach reported that we are looking to realize savings in our services and supplies budgets between now and the end of the fiscal year in May.  To that end, budget managers have received a memo asking them to suspend any spending in their Services and Supplies budget that is not necessary for the delivery of the curriculum.  Those unspent funds will be recovered, and it is anticipated that these savings, together with surplus funds from over-enrollment, will help us balance this year’s budget.  Cabinet is finishing up the budget work for next year and is close to achieving a balanced base budget for next year. However, the President cautioned that the base budget does not take into account the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on summer programming.  If we aren’t able to run our summer programs, we will lose a significant revenue stream.
• Regarding campus construction, Governor Cuomo has recently expanded the stay-at-home mandate to include construction.  Thus, construction on the Center for Integrated Sciences and the Annex has ceased.  The project is ahead of schedule by a couple of weeks, and we are hopeful that, when we are able to continue the construction, we will be able to have the building ready as projected.
• With regard to admissions, ouracceptances went out electronically on March 16. Unfortunately, like every other school in the country, we can no longer host any accepted candidates days. Typically, approximately 60 percent of our applicant pool would not have visited campus prior to being accepted and a good proportion of them would attend Accepted Candidates Days.  Our yield on Accepted Candidates Days has been between 40-50 percent.  This year, we will be hosting a virtual Accepted Candidates Day, and a number of departments have contributed to that effort.  President Glotzbach encouraged anyone who can help with the virtual Accepted Candidates Day to contact Admissions or Communications and Marketing.  There is so much uncertainty around Admissions right now that it is enormously important that we do everything we can to bring in the class for next year.
• President Glotzbach reported that Advancementhas been working with members of the Student Government Association and other concerned students to create a student emergency fund.  To date, we have raised about $31,000.  The students will decide how those funds should be distributed.
• Referring to a previous announcement, President Glotzbach noted that Commencement and Reunion have been postponed.  Working groups have been established to develop plans for rescheduling Commencement and Reunion events.  The president emphasized that we are trying to be sensitive to the disappointment of our seniors and recognize that the postponement was a significant issue for them and their families.

President Glotzbach concluded by stating that the College is well positioned to get through this crisis; we have sufficient cash reserves to handle the challenges we are dealing with, certainly in this semester and hopefully for a while longer.  How well we get through this crisis, however, will depend upon all of us.  We all have our own individual perspectives and individual challenges.  But this is a crisis—a National crisis, an international crisis, and a crisis for higher education in general.  We are going to have to make some difficult decisions to get through this crisis and we are going to need people to take a broader institutional perspective, to understand what's going on, to participate, and, where possible, to provide feedback and suggestions.  We will manage all of this while, at the same time, ensuring a successful presidential transition. 

Following his report, President Glotzbach then opened the floor for questions. In response to questions raised about summer programming, DOF/VPAA Orr stated that a decision will be forthcoming shortly as to whether summer programming will proceed. However, at this point, it seems likely that summer programming will be significantly disrupted and probably largely cancelled. In response to questions raised about contingency plans for the fall semester, President Glotzbach stated that there are many uncertainties at this moment, but that the administration is planning for various scenarios for the fall semester, including a possible delay to the start of the fall semester.

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

DOF/VPAA Orr acknowledged how difficult and challenging the present moment has been for everyone and recognized the enormous effort that everyone has undertaken to respond to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, to manage the transition to remote learning and to adjust to the social isolation. He also noted that, in addition to professional work-related demands, everyone is working under a variety of unanticipated personal circumstances and pressures.  He pointed out that it was important to recognize that those pressures and burdens were unequally distributed amongst us due to differences in personal circumstances and disparities in resources. He reminded everyone that this is especially true for our students, who are being deeply affected by the current situation. Many of us have heard harrowing tales from individual students about how the virus is impacting their lives and their ability to continue with their studies.  He encouraged everyone to show flexibility and empathy as we work with one another, with our students, and with others in the community.

DOF/VPAA Orr reported that overall the transition to remote learning has gone quite well and that he has continued to be deeply impressed by the flexibility and creativity demonstrated by everyone in adapting their courses to this new environment.   He reflected that we are all learning a lot from this experience, both from the successes as well as the challenges, and noted that two principal concerns seem to be emerging among students and parents. On the one hand, students are reporting feeling incredibly stressed and overwhelmed by what they describe as a dramatic increase in assignments and workload in their courses.  On the other hand, some students are reporting being insufficiently challenged by their courses and feeling very isolated from their classmates due to a lack of interaction.  DOF/VPAA Orr, recognizing both the challenge of teaching remotely and balancing both personal and professional demands, encouraged everyone, where possible, to continue to solicit input from students and to make adjustments as necessary. 

Next, DOF/VPAA Orr addressed some of the challenges that the entire education community is experiencing with using Zoom, namely security issues with the platform.  In response to those challenges, the LEDS team has developed a web page and created useful guidelines on how to safeguard Zoom sessions.  DOF/VPAA Orr then reminded everyone that LEDS has created an online faculty discussion forum to facilitate discussion of matters of common concern among faculty.

DOF/VPAA Orr concluded his report by acknowledging that there is a lot of regular business, both in the Dean’s Office and elsewhere in the College, that has been put on hiatus as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  He hopes to be able to be able to return to the regular work in the Dean’s office as soon as possible but asked for everyone’s understanding as we navigate the uncertainties of the present moment.

DOF/VPAA Orr then opened the floor for any questions.  In response to a question raised as to whether the administration has considered automatically extending contracts for non-tenure-track faculty, DOF/VPAA Orr indicated that this issue raises a host of questions and challenges, especially in light of the overarching budget pressures we are likely to face this year, as well as other differences between and among non-tenure-track faculty. Going forward, we are going to have to look very carefully in terms of the overall scope of issues and financial challenges that we're facing and will have to prioritize among a host of competing interests.

Discussion then occurred regarding a student petition circulating among many institutions of higher education requesting that institutions adopt an “AA Grading Option” in which the only two grades that would be given out this semester would be an A or A-.   DOF/VPAA Orr indicated that we would need to address the petition through our faculty governance structures and noted that, according to the Faculty Handbook, adopting a new grading scale such as the “AA Grading Option” would require a vote of the faculty.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

On behalf of the Promotions Committee, Associate Professor Beck Krefting introduced the following Motion (see attached):

            MOTION:  to revise the function of the Promotions Committee (PC) following a recent policy change that couples tenure with promotion to Associate Professor, to clarify FHB language around the Appointments and Tenure Committee (ATC) and PC membership, and align language for PC membership with the language employed for ATC membership.

Professor Krefting explained the rationale for the Motion, noting that it will provide updated language regarding the function of PC and clarify who is eligible to serve as a PC or ATC member.   Brief discussion followed concerning the variety of reasons why pre-tenure faculty are not eligible to serve on the PC or the ATC and whether it would be beneficial to allow them to serve.  A question was also raised whether the membership criteria should acknowledge that faculty may be affiliated with interdisciplinary programs as well as academic departments.There being no further discussion, the Motion will lay over until the next meeting.

REPORTS

On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Associate Professor Michael Marx reported that the Curriculum Committee has approved the Black Studies minor, with the minor being available to students starting with the fall 2020 semester.  He thanked Professor Winston Grady-Willis for crafting the minor and all the faculty for volunteering their courses and making comments on the discussion forum. He also acknowledged the work of the Registrar’s Office, particularly Sharon Clemmey, for making sure all requirements were accessible and reachable for students.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,