Faculty Meeting Minutes
March 3, 2023
Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. He welcomed everyone to the second faculty meeting of the spring semester and noted the meeting was being held in Murray Aikins as part of an exploration of alternative venues for holding the faculty meeting. He then asked that any feedback on the two meeting locations (the Payne Room at the Tang versus Murray Aikins) be shared with him and/or the chair of the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC). DOF/VPAA Orr then thanked Beth DuPont and the staff in Media Services for all their work in relocating the sound system to Murray Aikins for this meeting and for their continued support to improve the quality of the technology for the hybrid faculty meeting. Thereupon, DOF/VPAA Orr reminded everyone of the procedures to be followed during the hybrid meeting and that there were two items to be voted on, noting that those attending remotely should have theSpring open in the background of their computers.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
DOF/VPAA Orr asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held February 3, 2023. Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.
OLD BUSINESS
On behalf of the Committee on Academic Standing (CAS), Senior Teaching Professor Maryuri Roca read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):
MOTION: require all students to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000.
There was no discussion and the motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.
Next, Professor Roca read the following Motion that was introduced at the last Faculty Meeting (see attached):
MOTION: require all students to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000.
There was no discussion and the motion was voted on and passed by majority vote.
NEW BUSINESS
On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Associate Professor Chris Vecsey introduced the following Motion (see attached):
MOTION: The Curriculum Committee (CC) moves to revise the Faculty Handbook language describing its membership. There are three proposed changes: (1) Reduce faculty membership from five members (including a Chair) to four members (including a Chair), (2) Adjust administrative roles on the committee, and (3) Reduce student membership from two to one.
Professor Vecsey explained the rationale for the motion and read the proposed language of the committee membership that would appear in the Faculty Handbook.
Brief discussion was held regarding whether the number of voting members would be moving from an odd to an even number of voting members (in response, it was noted that the number of voting members would not change as it would remain an even number) and whether the divisional representation requirement is beneficial or could be eliminated.
There being no further discussion, the Motion will lie over until the next Faculty Meeting.
OTHER
President Marc Conner, Interim Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Charles Ingram, and DOF/VPAA Orr presented a preliminary budget update. President Conner began by noting that the presentation was part of a continuing effort to share with transparency the budget situation as it develops for next year, and to build on his comments at last month’s Faculty Meeting, when he gave an initial overview of the College’s fiscal situation. President Conner then briefly reviewed the budget process and its timeline, noting that the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee (IPPC) has been working in detail on the budget since December, the Board of Trustees held a budget workshop in mid-January to review the preliminary budget parameters, and the Board conducted a preliminary budget review at their meeting in February. The Board gives the final approval of the budget at the May meeting. During the time period between February and May, the budget continues to be shaped. President Conner reported that this year’s budget is coming in balanced and that we are anticipating a surplus of one-time revenue that will be available for one-time, non-ongoing expenses. President Conner announced that, similar to last year, an end-of-year budget and finance town hall presentation would be offered during the week after Commencement (scheduled for Tuesday, May 23rd), but that he wanted to share the ongoing budget work in advance of that, to gain input and make sure people recognize the end-of-year results.
Commenting on our fiscal situation, President Conner stressed that our financial position continues to be enviable for most liberal arts colleges, including most of our peer schools. We are not laying off faculty and staff, are not cutting programs, or slashing benefits; we continue to provide compensation increases, fund new initiatives, maintain health care costs; and our mission continues to be supported and we continue to thrive. In addition, our admissions results continue to be better than expected in a climate where many struggle to make the class. However, President Conner explained that our pattern of balanced budgets, including this year’s budget, depends upon over enrollment and a year-end surplus. He reminded everyone that demographic decline in the northeast in the near future is a statistical certainty and pointed out that we continue to project multi-million dollar budget deficits, starting in three years, and that we have a student-faculty ratio that is among the lowest of liberal arts colleges, nearly all of whom have significantly larger endowments than Skidmore. President Conner noted that it was this portrait of our financial situation that he was describing when he said at the last faculty meeting that Skidmore’s fiscal news is good. It is certainly good news, but it's good news in this realistic context.
In developing the budget for next year, President Conner sees two driving priorities: (1) to continue to find ways to grow need-based financial aid and funding for student opportunities and (2) to address cuts in staff positions (not faculty positions) that may not have been sufficiently strategic, have been damaging to morale, and have cut to the bone service levels in some areas that are essential to our mission. As we continue budget planning, he reported that we will seek to explore ways to adjust certain budget levers, such as the “above-the-line” number of budgeted students and the increase in tuition and fees, to see if there are other ways we can address the projected budget deficits in further years without having to make further staffing cuts and perhaps even allow us to restore select lost staff positions.
Thereupon, DOF/VPAA Orr and VPFA Ingram shared a PowerPoint presentation detailing the preliminary budget parameters for FY ’24 (see attached) and budget projections through FY ‘28. The presentation included a comparison of this year’s current budget with next year’s proposed budget parameters, including income and expenses; a review of the difference between “above-the line” and “below-the-line” revenues and expenses; budget modelling through FY ’28 showing projected revenues, expenses, and operating surplus/deficits. The presentation concluded by showing the impact on the operating budget of (a) increasing the comprehensive fee by 3.5%, 4% or 4.5% and (b) increasing the budgeted net fiscal enrollment (NFE) “above-the-line” by moving 15, 20 or 25 students from “below-the-line.
Following the PowerPoint presentation, the floor was opened for questions and comments. A wide-ranging discussion then ensued, including questions and comments concerning whether Skidmore had ever experienced an operating budget deficit that the College was not able to be balance by moving “below-the-line” funds to balance the budget (answer: not in recent memory); the process for increasing the NFE “above the line” and whether there has been faculty input in the past (answer: the most recent increase occurred in 2018 when IPPC approved adding 20 NFEs and concluded that a larger optimization study was not required for that number); whether Admissions would seek to increase their enrollment target if Skidmore were to move a certain number of NFEs from “below-the-line” to “above-the-line” (answer: in a few years time, if we cease to have any overenrollment, we may need to increase the incoming class by 7-10 students); whether increasing the number of NFEs “above-the-line” would impact our commitment to meeting the full need of all admitted students (answer: no); concern whether increasing “above-the-line” NFE would require increased staffing in student support services (answer: we’re continuing to evaluate staffing levels in the hope of restoring some of the recent staff cuts); anxiety caused by seeing continual forecasted budget deficits in the out years each year, only to see that the budget deficit never seems to materialize; and a reminder that supplies and services budgets that were cut in past years have not yet been fully restored. Several faculty members voiced support for increasing the NFE “above-the-line.” A request was also made to provide a longer history of increases in student enrollment over the last 40-50 years. DOF/VPAA Orr agreed to provide that information. President Conner thanked the assembly for the excellent and open discussion of Skidmore’s financial standing.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Conner thanked everyone for the great discussion following the budget presentation and encouraged anyone wishing to discuss any aspect of the budget presentation to reach out to him, by either stopping in during his upcoming office hours or via email, or by reaching out to DOF/VPAA Orr or VPFA Ingram.
President Conner then provided an update on the recent Board of Trustees’ meeting, which had been very positive and supportive:
- The Board is in the midst of conducting a year-long self-study with the firm Spencer Stuart. At the Board meeting in February, Spencer Stuart presented their findings and recommendations, and the Board will be considering those recommendations. President Conner stated that it is a very healthy practice for the Board to be engaged in this kind of self-study, just like a department conducting its own self-study.
- The Board voted for a new Board chair, given that the current Board Chair, Nancy Hamilton, is stepping down at the end of this year after serving as Chair for four years. An announcement of the new Board Chair will be made in the next several weeks.
- The two big themes that pervaded the meetings were Health and Wellness, and Employee Support writ large.
- Significant progress has been made on this year’s Strategic Action Agenda and our five goals for the year. The goals for this year’s Strategic Action Agenda can be found on the website: https://www.skidmore.edu/planning/agendas.php,
- The Academic Affairs Committee received a presentation on the Bridge Experience program from three faculty members, who were also invited to join the Board for lunch. The Board values this kind of interaction very highly and we are trying to find ways to increase the Board’s interaction with members of the campus community when they are next on campus in May.
Next, President Conner introduced the idea of creating a new cabinet-level, vice presidential position, which would oversee and support human resources and also serve as general counsel. He explained that the concept for this new position originated out of a major self-study of human resources undertaken last year and has since developed during the search for a new Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer. President Conner indicated that he has had a series of ongoing conversations about this concept and about the role of human resources on campus with the Cabinet, IPPC, the Appointments and Tenure Committee, Human Resources, the Board, and staff, and he is now eager to discuss the idea with faculty. To that end, President Conner invited the faculty to a faculty-only forum to discuss the concept for this new position to be held on March 24 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium.
In concluding his report, President Conner announced that the Board gave full approval for the health, wellness, fitness and athletics construction project at their meeting in February. He reminded everyone that the Board initially approved the project in October, pending further progress with fundraising. Since October, 50% of the fundraising goal has already been achieved and, thus, the Board felt able to give its approval for construction to go ahead. The project has now been named: the McCaffery-Wagman Tennis and Wellness Center. There will be other naming opportunities within the Center and the public fundraising campaign has begun. The following promotional video was then shared: https://www.skidmore.edu/advancement/mw-tennis-wellness.php.
Following the finance discussion and President Conner’s remarks, he invited any additional questions to be sent to him via email, or in person at his office hours, or by other invitation.
DEAN OF THE FACULTY AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS’ REPORT
Following up on the earlier budget presentation, DOF/VPAA Orr confirmed that the College would be continuing to implement equity adjustments this year, based upon last year’s compensation study. In addition, our consultants, Segal, are currently conducting a series of regression analyses to determine whether any additional equity adjustments are warranted. He anticipates being able to include a report on the results of this work as part of the end-of-year budget presentation on May 23rd.
DOF/VPAA Orr reported that we continue to make excellent progress on our many tenure-track searches that are underway. Since the last faculty meeting, we have concluded another 6 additional tenure-track searches. We continue to make outstanding hires, with more than 50 percent of those hires being faculty of color. We have five tenure track searches remaining as well as the Harder Chair, with offers for several of those searches likely to be made in the next few weeks.
Next, DOF/VPAA Orr introduced Nathaniel Lowell, ’24, President of the Student Government Association (SGA). President Lowell announced a new laptop loan program for students that the SGA has been working on for the past few months. Thanks to the Dean of Students’ Office and the Library, 24 laptops will be made available for students to borrow for short periods of time. The logistics are still being determined, but President Lowell anticipates that the program will be implemented by the end of the semester.
DOF/VPAA Orr then announced that Dr. Dorothy Mosby, our incoming Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, will be visiting campus at the end of March. Dr. Mosby will be attending the staff and faculty meetings on March 31, and faculty will have an opportunity to meet with Dr. Mosby at the reception following the faculty meeting. In addition, Dr. Mosby will have an opportunity to meet with direct reports and department chairs and program directors in informal meetings to be scheduled during her time on campus. Dr. Mosby is looking forward to her visit and is eager to get to know the community better.
In concluding his report, DOF/VPAA Orr announced that Professor Winston Grady-Willis has been chosen as the recipient of the Quadracci Chair in Social Responsibility and that Associate Professor Karen Kellogg has been chosen as the recipient of the David H. Porter Chair. A round of applause was given to Professors Grady-Willis and Kellogg.
There being no further business, DOF/VPAA Orr adjourned the meeting at 5:01 p.m. and invited everyone to the reception in the Murray Aikins balcony immediately following the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,