Faculty Meeting Minutes
November 6, 2020
Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m. After welcoming everybody, he expressed his appreciation for all that is being done to support our students. He acknowledged the extra demands being placed on faculty to assist our students with managing stress, isolation, and anxiety, and noted that this past week had been particularly demanding and challenging with several incidents occurring that had exacerbated student anxiety and safety concerns.
DOF/VPAA Orr then briefly reviewed the procedures to be followed during the Zoom meeting and emphasized that, as the Chair of the Faculty Meeting, it was not possible for him to run the meeting and simultaneously monitor the chat function. He requested that anyone wishing to contribute to the meeting use the raise hand feature so that they could be called upon to address the meeting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
DOF/VPAA Orr asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held October 2, 2020. Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Conner began his report by addressing recent events that have occurred on campus during the past week, including a large off-campus party on Friday and an on-campus party on Saturday, both of which violated the College’s COVID policies. He noted that the Saturday on-campus party was particularly concerning because it involved an altercation between students that resulted in a female student of color being injured and requiring treatment at the hospital. President Conner stated that any act of violence is unacceptable in our community; however, the fact that the victim was a student of color was particularly concerning given our recent conversations and efforts regarding racial justice and anti-racism.
President Conner acknowledged that what has been happening on our campus and in our community during the past week has taken place against the backdrop of a history of challenges and problems at Skidmore and in the larger local and national communities. He then summarized the administration’s immediate response and noted that the disciplinary process and investigations were proceeding. President Conner then reported that on Monday, he had held a Zoom conversation with the student body that had been planned for several weeks. The original plan for the conversation was to more fully introduce himself to the students, to talk about our vision and values, to address some of the key issues that Skidmore been grappling with since the summer and then take some questions. He also wanted to address the events of the prior weekend as well. President Conner stated that he had tried to address all these issues in the single meeting and that it became clear this was more than the format of the meeting could accommodate, with the result that a number of students became frustrated at what seemed to be an inadequate response to the current situation.
Since that Monday night meeting, President Conner reported that he has been in very intense listening sessions, particularly with students of color, and that what he is hearing is that our students of color need opportunities and forums for their voices to be heard and, in particular, they want him to listen to their experiences and to hear their concerns. President Conner expressed regret that he had not scheduled intensive listening sessions with students of color weeks ago but he indicated that it is now his highest priority for the coming weeks.
Thereupon, President Conner acknowledged the challenges we are facing with internal campus communications. He understands that students have been approaching faculty and staff for support but that many faculty and staff either don’t really know what is happening on campus or have a fragmentary understanding, depending upon their own network of communications and level of involvement. While there are challenges in communicating information when matters are confidential, incidents are subject to disciplinary processes, or facts need to be verified, President Conner acknowledged that he is acutely conscious that a lack of information hinders the ability of faculty and staff to respond to students and provide them with the support they need. This is an area in which we need to do better.
President Conner then opened the floor for discussion. Many faculty indicated their support for President Conner during these challenging times and expressed appreciation for his willingness to shift course and listen to different constituencies. Many faculty also indicated concerns for the safety of students of color, both on campus and in Saratoga, as well as security concerns with regard to the open access to the campus, and questioned what might be done to address these issues.
Faculty also voiced concern about student reports of uneven enforcement of COVID safety rules on campus by Campus Safety and expressed appreciation for the students who intervened to stop the unsolicited party in Case Center. Many faculty members requested that they be provided with more details about such incidents, including information about ongoing investigations and the disciplinary process, without violating confidentiality, which would enable them to provide better support to their students.
Discussion then ensued concerning the status of conversations with the Saratoga Springs Police Department and the Commissioner of Public Safety with regard to ensuring better protection of Skidmore students. President Conner stated that a new police task force has been created to review and reform policing and that Skidmore faculty and students are involved in that work. He further noted that part of the Racial Justice Initiative is to engage with the local community to find ways to improve and inform the relationship with local law enforcement.
Several faculty members also expressed their concern that, based upon past experiences, after a racial incident occurs on campus, workshops are often offered and then the campus moves on to other issues. Discussion ensued about the need for meaningful and lasting structural changes. One faculty member suggested that faculty be given tools, such as active bystander training, to help them make necessary interventions for incidents that are happening on a smaller scale between a small number of individuals. Another faculty member recalled that email notifications were previously distributed when bias events occurred on campus and questioned what the threshold was for sending those types of notices out to the community. Mariel Martin, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, reported that the Bias Response Group used to send emails alerting the community to bias events but shifted to annual reports based upon community feedback. She then shared the following link for viewing bias incidents that have been reported on campus and encouraged anyone with questions or concerns to reach out to her or the Bias Response Group: https://www.skidmore.edu/bias/secure/reportedbiasincidents.php.
Thereupon a discussion ensued concerning policies on contract tracing, as faculty members believe students have some confusion about when they should self-isolate. Julia Routbort, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, clarified that contract tracing is under the authority of the Saratoga County Board of Health and that Skidmore follows their procedures and guidance. She then explained the basis and process for placing students in quarantine. She encouraged any students with questions concerning the quarantine process be directed to her or Health Services.
Lastly, Malchijah Hoskins ‘22 invited faculty to join the student government’s site on Instagram to keep up-to-date with what is happening in the student body.
President Conner thanked everyone for their comments and indicated that he appreciates everyone’s engagement in this hard work this semester.
Thereupon, President Conner provided an update on the plans for winter, spring and summer. He reported that the majority of students will move out on or around November 20, with about 200 students staying on campus until the formal end of the fall semester on December 5. Additionally, about 35-40 students will remain on campus for the duration of the winter break; those students will be provided with support and wellness support during the break. For students remaining on campus, testing will continue through the winter break,. With regard to plans for the spring semester, President Conner reported that we will continue to partner with the Broad Institute and testing will follow the same regimen as the fall semester. Pre-quarantine requirements continue to change and it appears, at the moment, that students coming from hotspot states will likely need to quarantine for a week or less.
President Conner stated that he has asked the Cabinet to think about how we can thank staff and faculty for the amazing work this fall. He then announced that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will be a holiday for all employees, as a day of recognition and thanks for everything that everybody has done in so many ways.
He then invited Sarah Delaney Vero, Interim Director of Human Resources, to provide an update on testing over the break. Ms. Vero announced that Skidmore will be continuing its relationship with the Broad Institute to continue testing over the winter, but with a more narrow scope of testing required for those on campus. She stated that individuals who come on campus sporadically, or are regularly scheduled to work on campus, and work alone in an office and are not in close proximity with other individuals, are not required to be tested. Those individuals working on campus in close proximity with others, will be required to be tested on a weekly basis. Testing will occur on Mondays and Tuesdays during the break, with the exception of the two-week Holiday break. As far as the Spring semester, Ms. Vero indicated that testing is likely to be similar to that in the fall and students will be tested before they arrive back to campus. In the meantime, supervisors will be encouraging those individuals who are able to work remotely to work remotely whenever possible or develop staggered work schedules so individuals are not in close proximity during their work schedules. Ms. Vero indicated that she will be sending an email summarizing the testing requirements during the break.
Brief discussion was held regarding the date on which students are required to leave campus, which is a regularly-scheduled teaching day. President Conner stated that a deadline needed to be set for planning purposes; however, if for some reason a student is unable to move out by that date, the College is able to provide some flexibility. Cerri Banks, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, stated that students were advised that they should not miss any classes or assignments due to leaving campus and any students that needed additional time to move out beyond November 20 are being accommodated. The goal is to try to stagger when the students move out so that there are not a lot of people moving out at the same time.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
Faculty Development Committee
On behalf of the Faculty Development Committee (FDC), Associate Professor Silvia Carli introduced the following Motion (see attached):
MOTION: The Faculty Development Committee (FDC) moves to revise the Faculty Handbook language describing its membership to enable untenured tenure-track faculty and non-tenure track faculty to serve on this committee. Two members of the committee must be tenured at the time of service.
Professor Carli explained the rationale for bringing the Motion, noting that under the current criteria for membership, it is becoming difficult to recruit faculty to serve on the committee. Professor Jennifer Delton, as previous chair of the FDC, clarified that the FDC is a committee that has very stringent conditions for membership and the proposed Motion would lessen those conditions. Brief discussion was held concerning the reason FDC’s current membership requires tenured faculty to serve and that the Motion, which initially originated with a concern about representation, will also alleviate the effects the new governance system has on the pool of eligible candidates required to serve. There being no further informational questions, the Motion will lie over until the next Faculty Meeting.
Committee on Academic Standing
On behalf of the Committee on Academic Standing, Professor Hassan Lopez introduced the following Motion (see attached):
MOTION: The Committee on Academic Standing (CAS) recommends that Skidmore College extend the current three-tiered grading policy for S/U courses through the Spring 2021 semester. This policy specifically states that students who choose the S/U option will be governed by the following three-tiered grading structure:
- Students whose coursework merits a grade of C or above will receive an “S”
- Students whose coursework merits a grade of C-, D+ or D will receive “CR” (which designates “Credit”)
- Students whose coursework merits a grade of F will receive a “U”
There being no informational questions raised, the Motion will lie over until the next Faculty Meeting.
REPORTS
Committee on Educational Policies and Planning
On behalf of the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning, Associate Professor Feryaz Ocakli shared a report (see attached) on the temporary change to the attendance policy that was enacted for the Fall 2021 semester. Professor Ocakli reported that, after discussions involving members of the faculty, students, and the administration, CEPP is recommending that the temporary attendance policy expire at the end of the Fall 2020 semester. On behalf of CEPP, Professor Ocakli stated that, ultimately, decisions on attendance policies will be left to individual faculty members, but encouraged faculty to be flexible and understanding with their students as we navigate through COVID-19 issues during the Spring 2021 semester.
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
The Faculty Executive Committee had planned to hold a Committee of the Whole to discuss email listservs. However, as the meeting was running late, the discussion was postponed to the next Faculty Meeting. To prepare for the discussion, Associate Professor Casey Schofield, as Chair of FEC, shared a PowerPoint presentation (see attached) that detailed the relevant listservs primarily used for faculty communication and those parties that are eligible to post messages to the listservs, both pre-April 2020 and post-April 2020. The presentation also listed several possible approaches to the listservs, including retaining the current system, moving to a moderated listserv, maintaining multiple listservs with possible opt-in or opt-out options, or a return to the unmoderated single listserv model, as well as the advantages and disadvantages to each of these models.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS’ REPORT
DOF/VPAA Orr acknowledged the very difficult and challenging time we are facing and recognized the need for the discussion held at the beginning of the meeting. He noted that there are a number of challenging issues that need to be addressed and highlighted the importance of providing more fine-grained information to faculty so that they are well place to serve as a resource to our students while at the same time recognizing the need to ensure the accuracy of information provided while also respecting confidentiality.
DOF/VPAA Orr then provided an update on planning for the spring semester, noting that the spring semester will be very similar to the fall semester with a balance of online and in-person options. Not counting independent studies and private music lessons, the breakdown of classes indicates that approximately 47 percent will have some in-person component and 53 percent will be fully online. He reported that toward the end of the registration period, Associate Dean of the Faculty Pat Fehling will be reaching out once again to the departments and programs with regard to the need for specific technology, software, and hardware, so that those needs will be met before the semester starts. In addition, she will be soliciting input about classrooms, especially non-traditional classrooms, to make sure we have the technology necessary to support instruction. DOF/VPAA Orr also indicated that he has reached out to department chairs and program directors requesting feedback as to how the fall semester went given the mix of remote and in-person teaching, so that the DOF/VPAA office can provide the necessary support for the spring semester as needed.
DOF/VPAA Orr then provided an opportunity for questions. Discussion then ensued about the need for better communication with faculty so that they can be prepared to support the students and actions that will be taken to provide more communication. DOF/VPAA Orr indicated he would be working with Student Affairs to get more information to faculty about resources that faculty members can provide students. President Conner acknowledged the challenge is the balance of action items and carefully listening; in some ways, he believes the cause for the distrust is the lack of listening and attention. He further believes that balancing these and providing the necessary resources and support is an important action step.
Dean Banks then provided an update on the interim suspensions from the Saturday events, noting that the purpose of an interim suspension is to bring everything to a halt, so that there is time to investigate and provide due process to the students. Every student involved in the events over Halloween weekend were issued no contact orders, which were issued to stop significant harassment and bullying on social media Dean Bank indicated her appreciativeness for everyone’s patience as they worked through these conduct cases this past week and noted that, unfortunately, there is a level of confidentiality and information that just cannot be shared. She further indicated that, during this process, social media exploded with all sorts of false information and that has been difficult to manage that at the same time as working through the actual processes. Dean Bates then advised that her team is preparing a letter that will be sent to all faculty with information on ways to partner with Student Affairs on some of these issues. Appreciation was then given by faculty to Dean Banks and her staff for keeping faculty informed about changes in student policies.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,