Faculty Meeting Minutes

 

President Conner began his report by highlighting the three main points he wished to touch on: the Strategic Action Agenda (see attached), the Board of Trustees meeting, and the Israel-Hamas conflict and its impact on Skidmore’s campus and community.  He then took a moment to express his appreciation for all participants in the President’s Open Office Hours and the ongoing faculty dinners at Scribner House.

President Conner’s report on the Strategic Action Agenda outlined its purpose and formation: five overarching, guiding goals for the academic year.  This agenda was formed in collaboration with the President’s Cabinet, reviewed and then recommended by IPPC, and approved by the Board of Trustees at their October meeting.  President Conner reviewed last year’s SAA before presenting this year’s Strategic Action Agenda items to the faculty.

First, President Conner spoke about the Racial Justice Initiative.  He stated that this has been and will probably continue to be one of the pillars of the SAA.  He highlighted the work of Associate Professor Oscar Perez-Hernandez and Senior Teaching Professor Diana Barnes on this Fall’s series on the US-Mexico Border and the series’ success.

The second agenda item is a focus on improving the student residential experience at Skidmore.  The College will assess both the physical aspects of the residences and the more social aspects of residential community-building.

Institutional planning will be the third item and will encompass strategic planning, visions and values work, the Middle States reaffirmation of accreditation and, eventually, the next capital campaign.

President Conner stated that speech and expression will repeat on the SAA, and that it feels more important than ever.  He expressed his enthusiasm for this as a guidepost for the campus community. The final item on the SAA will be an evolution of health and wellness; Cabinet and IPPC pushed to make this item more expansive, and it is now a focus on fostering a community of care at Skidmore.

Moving on to the Board of Trustees visit, President Conner spoke about the panel on the Philip Glotzbach presidency, describing it as a combination of tribute, interpretation, and history lesson.  He also referred to it as an excellent jumping off point for the next steps of strategic planning.  President Conner mentioned that 5 of our current trustees were new this year, and were welcomed in at the start of the visit. 

Then, President Conner made note of the many groups and individuals who contributed their efforts to conversations with and presentations to the board:

• Professor Beck Krefting spoke about AI
• Vice President for Enrollment Jess Ricker, Vice President for Student Affairs Adrian Bautista, and students spoke about admissions and student life
• The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee spoke about the college’s efforts
• The five new Vice Presidents interacted with the board at the lunchtime plenary
• DOF/VPAA Mosby spoke about the reaccreditation process with Middle States
• Vice President for Finance and Administration Dan Konstalid presented on the College’s financial state and its top-level rating from Moody’s

President Conner stated that the Board of Trustees’ Strategic Planning Committee then discussed and voted to approve the Strategic Action Agenda for this academic year.  Following this, on Thursday evening, the Board and faculty who had been promoted and/or received tenure in the past 4 years had dinner together in the Payne Room at the Tang.  This was a purely social opportunity without a formal structure, which allowed for greater connection and increased familiarity between trustees and faculty.  Such opportunities for interaction will be a priority for future Board visits. 

President Conner reported that there were two actions of governance undertaken at the Board Meeting: the current version of the faculty handbook was approved, as was the conferral of degrees.  While these may not be fraught decisions, President Conner noted, it can be useful to see the part that the Board plays in our shared governance model.

The last day of the Board Meeting was devoted to discussion of the conflict in the Middle East, said President Conner, noting that the naming of this conflict is fraught in itself. He observed that this has been on many people’s minds every day since October 7^th, and then highlighted the actions taken to care for the student body by DOS/VPSA Bautista, Parker Diggory, and Martina Zobel in the hours following the crisis’s eruption. He reiterated that the focus here is on supporting the students. 

President Conner spoke about the efforts the college is making to connect students to faculty members and institutions, both in terms of community care and education on the history and political realities of the region.  He spoke emphatically about the positive impact that faculty are having as mentors on the students in political moments such as this one.  President Conner noted that he had made a statement to the Skidmore community on Tuesday, October 10^th, that there have been a wide variety of responses, and that most of the critiques are frustrated that the statement did not perfectly represent the individual critics’ beliefs.  He acknowledged that the desire to see one’s worldview reflected in the public discourse is understandable, but that as a representative of an institution made up of thousands of individuals with their own personal values means,  he must respect each perspective and be as inclusive as possible. 

President Conner then related that his recent meetings with NY6 and other college presidents have all been focused on how to handle communications and community care around the crisis in the Middle East.  He reiterated that a focus on community care and freedom of expression will carry the Skidmore community through, speaking in admiring terms of the conversations that students are having with one another.  This will continue, said President Conner, through upcoming educational events led by faculty.  Though other institutions have already been holding these events, he stated that the more deliberate pace being taken at Skidmore seems most likely to have the desired outcomes. He also reiterated that the faculty have the support of the administration with regard to their speaking on this issue.

President Conner invited Vice President for Strategic Planning Joshua Woodfork to make two announcements to the faculty.  VP Woodfork informed the faculty of the incoming NACCC (National Association of Collegiate Campus Climates) survey about the racial climate on campus, also mentioning that the survey is being administered by NACCC in part to ensure confidentiality for survey participants. If a survey participant is part of an identity group small enough to be automatically identifying, he said, NACCC will not release that data to Skidmore. 

VP Woodfork’s second announcement was about the reconstitution of the Space Planning Working Group.  He explained that the group was re-formed with a new charge from the President and Cabinet in order to help manage the layered moves initiated by the completion of the Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences, and that the group is composed of stakeholders from across the institution.  VP Woodfork asked the faculty to be prepared to speak with the working group about their space needs in the coming months.  He then spoke about the work IPPC will be doing with regard to strategic planning, and asked the faculty to begin thinking about what they would like the future of Skidmore to look like, and what resources these various futures might require.

President Conner then opened the floor for questions.

• A faculty member asked about where one might find information on the racial justice initiative, as the webpage for the initiative hasn’t been updated since Spring 2022. President Conner agreed that the site needs to be updated to accurately reflect all the robust work going on at Skidmore under this initiative, and shared that Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Elizabeth Stauderman, and VP Woodfork have been discussing those updates, and that we may see it updated in December.
• It was asked that the administration provide additional guidance to faculty who are trying to help students understand what is happening in the Middle East. President Conner thanked the faculty member for their work with students, and for reaching out. He referred to DOF/VPAA Mosby and the work that her office is doing to create a series of colloquia, pop up classes, and other informational events in collaboration with faculty. He stated that the administration is committed to funding these efforts. He asked that any faculty member interested in being involved in such efforts contact DOF/VPAA Mosby’s office.
• A faculty member requested a status update on IPPC’s annual reports. President Conner acknowledged that there has not been an annual report since 2019, and explained the impact of COVID on the work of IPPC and his reluctance to press the faculty vice-chairs (who have shouldered a major work-load during that time) to furnish their year-end reports.  He  referred any interested faculty to the IPPC meeting minutes, which are a near-transcript of each meeting and are readily available on the website.  He then stated a goal to have the lagging annual reports published by the end of the year.

No other questions from the faculty were forthcoming.

There being no further business, President Conner adjourned the meeting at 4:33 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Nora E. Graubard

Senior Administrative Coordinator