APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Dean Taylor asked if there were any corrections to, or comments on the minutes of the May 1st Faculty Meeting. There being none, she moved to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded and the minutes were approved as distributed.  

CONFERRAL OF DEGREES AND HONORS

A. Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees

Dave DeConno, Registrar, read the following resolutions into the record:

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 415 students of the Class of 2026 to be awarded on May 16, 2026.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 191 students of the Class of 2026 to be awarded on May 16, 2026.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to 41 students of the Class of 2026 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2026.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Science degree to 12 students of the Class of 2026 upon satisfactory completion of the degree requirements by August 31, 2026.

RESOLVED, that the faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Baccalaureate in memoriam degree to Amadou Thiam of the Class of 2026, to be awarded on May 16, 2026.

The total number of graduates of the Class of 2025 is 695 as follows: 36 for January completion, 606 for May completion, and 53 for August completion.

There was no discussion. The resolutions were voted on and passed with a large majority.

B. All-College and Departmental Honors

Corey Freeman-Gallant, Associate Dean of the Faculty for Student Academic Affairs, read the following resolutions into the record:

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve College Honors for members of the Class of 2026, as presented at the May 13, 2026 Faculty Meeting: 98 students for summa cum laude distinction; 130 students for magna cum laude distinction; and 70 students for cum laude distinction.

RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve Department and Program Honors for 265 students from the Class of 2026, as presented at the May 13, 2026 Faculty Meeting.

There was no discussion. The resolutions were voted on and passed with a large majority.

OLD BUSINESS

Associate Dean of the Faculty David Cohen read the following motion into the record on behalf of the Office of the Dean of Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs (DOF/VPAA):

MOTION: The Office of the DOF/VPAA proposes revisions to the Faculty Handbook as follows:

New Language (revision in italics):

Part One, Section VIII.E.5.d, p. 122 and j, p.123 [For Tenure]

• Unsolicited letters received by ATC must be signed and must address themselves to one or more of the evaluative criteria for continued service as delineated in the Faculty Handbook. Such letters will be stored in a confidential file labeled "Unsolicited Letters" and kept in thePresident's Office as required by law. Within seven days of the date stipulated by the annual ATC calendar for receipt of all letters, the Chair of ATC will give the candidate a list of names of those who have written unsolicited letters about the candidate.
• Candidates recommended for tenure shall have access to written materials in the tenure file immediately after the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs has made the recommendation known to the candidate, with the exception of solicited letters of evaluation written by department colleagues, departmental colleagues required to write in accordance with department or program personnel procedures, colleagues internal to the college, or colleagues external to the college, and unsolicited letters written by departmental or program colleagues which shall remain confidential. These materials may only be reproduced by hand written notes.
• Part One, Section VIII.F.2.a.ix, p. 127 and xiii, p. 128 [For Promotion]
  • xiii. Candidates (recommended or not recommended) for promotion shall have access to written materials in the promotion file immediately after the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs has made the recommendation known to the candidate, with the exception of solicited letters of evaluation written by department colleagues, departmental colleagues required to write in accordance with department or program personnel procedures, colleagues internal to the college, and colleagues external to the college, and unsolicited letters written by departmental or program colleagues, which shall remain confidential. These materials may only be reproduced by hand written notes.

Current Language 

Part One, Section VIII.E.5.d, p. 122 and j, p.123 [For Tenure]

• Unsolicited letters received by ATC must be signed and must address themselves to one or more of the evaluative criteria for continued service as delineated in the Faculty Handbook. Such letters will be stored in a confidential file labeled "Unsolicited Letters" and kept in the President's Office as required by law. Within seven days of the date stipulated by the annual ATC calendar for receipt of all letters, the Chair of ATC will give the candidate a list of names of those who have written unsolicited letters about the candidate.
• Candidates recommended for tenure shall have access to written materials in the tenure file immediately after the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs has made the recommendation known to the candidate, with the exception of solicited letters of evaluation written by department colleagues, departmental colleagues required to write in accordance with department or program personnel procedures, colleagues internal to the college, or colleagues external to the college, which shall remain confidential. These materials may only be reproduced by hand written notes.

Part One, Section VIII.F.2.a.ix, p. 127 and xiii, p. 128 [For Promotion]

xiii. Candidates (recommended or not recommended) for promotion shall have access to written materials in the promotion file immediately after the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs has made the recommendation known to the candidate, with the exception of solicited letters of evaluation written by department colleagues, departmental colleagues required to write in accordance with department or program personnel procedures, colleagues internal to the college, and colleagues external to the college, which shall remain confidential. These materials may only be reproduced by hand written notes.

ADOF Cohen explained the motion’s rationale before soliciting questions and comments from the faculty. A faculty member identified himself as a co-chair of Skidmore Faculty Forward, the non-tenure track (NTT) faculty union, and clarified that the NTT union has a neutral position on the motion.

A faculty member asked representatives from ATC, PC, and the Office of the DOF/VPAA for their perspectives regarding the potential consequences of unsolicited letters being kept confidential, when they may have a significant impact on a tenure or promotion case. ADOF Cohen said that the only unsolicited letters that will be kept confidential are those submitted by department colleagues; unsolicited letters from individuals external to the department have not and will not be confidential. In the event of an unsuccessful tenure or promotion case, the candidate will have the right – as they do currently – to review both unsolicited and solicited letters in person. He stated that he cannot speak to how ATC and PC weight unsolicited letters.

There being no further comments or questions, the motion was moved and seconded. The motion was voted on and passed.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business.

PRESIDENT'S YEAR-END REMARKS

President Conner congratulated the faculty on their hard work over the course of the academic year. He noted the remarkable breadth and depth of faculty-led programming developed this past year to help Skidmore students make sense of the rapidly changing global landscape. This year was one of Skidmore’s best for fundraising, and the college’s reaccreditation process one of its most successful.

The President updated the faculty on budget and enrollment matters. While the deficit remains significant, we have closed the gap considerably over the last six months. On behalf of Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid/Vice President for Enrollment Jess Ricker, President Conner shared that Skidmore has enrolled 675 incoming students, with a final goal of 680. Admissions will work to grow that number over the coming weeks to combat the inevitable “summer melt” of committed students. The Opportunity Program has been fully enrolled and we will be welcoming more international students than in recent years.

The search for a new DOF/VPAA has begun and the search committee formed. When finalized, the position description will be shared with the full community. After interviewing three executive search firms, the committee has selected DSG to conduct the search. Input from the faculty will be solicited throughout the search and in myriad formats to ensure a comprehensive understanding of what we need from this role.

Our next comprehensive campaign is on the horizon. It begins with a silent phase of fundraising, and will be publicly announced when the majority of our goal has been reached. The President will provide updates to the faculty on the campaign frequently as it progresses.

President Conner closed his remarks with a message of optimism. Skidmore remains in an unusually good position amongst its peers, and we will continue to meet each challenge with bravery and determination. He then invited Dan Konstalid, Vice President for Finance and Operations, to the podium to update the faculty on the college’s budget.

VP Konstalid began with the status of the closing year’s budget. We are on track for a balanced budget, and are projected to finish the year with a modest surplus of about 1.2% or $2.4 million. The expected or acceptable range for a budget surplus would be about 2-3%, and we are tracking under that. This is indicative of the tighter environment we are in. We were over-enrolled this year, which has also led to a below-the-line surplus, leaving us in a relatively good position as we close the fiscal year.

The proposed 2027 budget will be presented to the Board in the next few days. We are proposing a budget of $190.6 million, a little more than 1% larger than last year. It is a low-growth budget, similar to the last two years. Consistent with prior years' net tuition revenue, our tuition less the amount of aid that we provide to students at the same time, will be roughly 50% of our revenues in next year's budget.

The absolute amount of net tuition revenue that we've planned to earn in 2027 is lower than the current year, by about 3.7%. While we expect growth in our other revenue sources, which is primarily what's making our budget pencil out to a 1% increase over the year, that growth is not enough to do more to offset lower net tuition revenue for the year.

In order for the college to achieve a balanced budget, while continuing to support the GSA and our benefit commitments, as well as address market-driven cost increases in areas such as utilities and insurance, we were forced to make significant reductions elsewhere in the budget. We've made adjustments to capital spending, which will be lower than it was this year. We have reset our contingency, although we're still maintaining a contingency in the budget of about $1 million. We’ve also made expenditure reductions across the college of approximately $2.6 million.

Notably, of that amount, the majority of it is in budgeted compensation expenses. The budget for 2027 reflects the elimination of 10 vacant budgeted staff positions, the restructuring for savings of an additional 5 vacant staff positions, and the elimination of 5 vacant or vacating faculty lines, which Dean Taylor had taken questions on at a prior meeting. In addition to that, we've also reduced other operating costs in the budget year to year by about $700,000.

Overall, given the environment higher education finds itself in, we're certainly pleased to be bringing the board a balanced budget. This was not without considerable efforts across the college to bring it into balance, which we greatly appreciate. He closed his remarks with thanks to the faculty for their work towards this effort.

President Conner then took questions from the faculty. A faculty member exhorted the faculty to understand recruitment as a collective effort and to act more collaboratively and imaginatively in its interest. She then asked President Conner and VP Konstalid to speak about the likely material consequences of continuing shortfalls in class numbers. President Conner affirmed the need for faculty and Admissions to work together, and said that workforce attrition and fewer capital expenditures will be where the college absorbs the majority of the impact of smaller class sizes.

A faculty member asked if the President sees a need for additional scaffolding and policies to help guide faculty regarding AI in the classroom, suggesting the possibility of a policy committee or group that has a permanent or semi-permanent place in faculty governance. President Conner shared that the Institutional Policies and Planning Committee has recently endorsed a baseline community-wide AI policy governing issues such as data use and cybersecurity.  He noted that the CEPP statement on AI provides guidelines for faculty.

A faculty member requested an opportunity in the fall for the community to discuss the Report of the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education. President Conner agreed that it was an excellent and relevant report, and said he would be happy to convene discussions on its findings.

A faculty member asked for more information about the process of the baseline AI policy recently endorsed by IPPC. She said that, while not a policy-making body, the AI Working Group seems to have had a consultative role on this policy and noted that many faculty members who were not in the WG would have liked more of a representative voice in this process. President Conner explained that the initial draft of the policy was written by Cabinet members, as is the standard operating procedure. The policy, additionally, is primarily written from an IT perspective and does not touch on pedagogy or the classroom. The policy was reviewed by a diverse array of stakeholders and a two-week open public comment period was held as well, which brought in a large variety of perspectives from the faculty and across the community.

A faculty member asked if the GSA rate that will be proposed to the Board will be shared with the faculty in advance of its approval. She also asked if there will be an updated pay equity analysis. President Conner answered that pay equity analysis is an ongoing practice at the college, and that the GSA recommended to the Board is 2%.

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

Dean Taylor opened her remarks by affirming that faculty salaries are analyzed each year by the Dean’s Office and Human Resources, with a focus on pay equity. She then outlined the work that faculty have done over the last years to help the college through its financial challenges; including working groups, forums, and finding efficiencies within their departments. Compensation costs remain the largest obstacle to a balanced budget and the work of reducing full-time employees in Academic Affairs will continue during the summer. Academic Affairs has returned 5 full-time faculty lines and one staff position to next year’s budget. Dean Taylor reminded the faculty that lines do not belong to any one department, and will be allocated based on the needs of the curriculum.

Over the course of this year, faculty working groups have been reexamining our compensation framework for chairs and program directors.  They have been primarily compensated in the form of course releases. If we are able to return a fraction of those course releases, we will be able to bring chairs and program directors back into the classroom and protect our curriculum.

Departments and programs have also been asked to consider how they might revise their curriculums in order to prepare for a potential loss of faculty. Over the summer the Office of the DOF/VPAA will be looking at plans that departments and programs submit in addition to the report produced by the Compensation Working Group.

Several proposals for tenure-track positions were submitted in the previous year's allocation process and only two will go forward. Not all vacant lines have been returned to the college’s budget. Once we have a chance to see the results of the curriculum changes, Academic Affairs will be able to deploy our resources more strategically.

A final way in which the division is hoping to meet the needs of the budget is through a voluntary separation incentive program (VSIP). This intervention was originally proposed by the Summer Working Group after their analysis of the Huron data.

A VSIP can be very costly and requires Board approval. It is also very labor-intensive, even in terms of assessing its viability for Skidmore. After finding that it could help alleviate our budget concerns, the Office of the DOF/VPAA will be recommending a VSIP to the Board at the upcoming meeting. Dean Taylor invited Sarah Delaney Vero, Vice President for Human Resources and General Counsel, to the podium to speak to the faculty about what a VSIP program is and what to expect.

VP Vero explained that a VSIP essentially adjusts some of the retirement guidelines that we currently have, and provides an incentive for retirement. The President’s Cabinet has been considering the merits and challenges of a VSIP since the beginning of the Academic Year, including bringing in consultants to help them work through a number of different models.

If the VSIP is approved by the Board, all details will be communicated with the faculty over the summer. The individuals that are eligible for the VSIP will be electing it in the upcoming fall semester and would retire at the end of the academic year [May 2027]. This provides some flexibility for department chairs and program directors to think through their curriculum, and allows for a more collaborative approach to the curriculum then would be available if retirements were to occur more gradually.

There were no questions for VP Vero and Dean Taylor returned to the podium. She solicited questions and comments from the faculty. A faculty member asked if there were plans to address those faculty whose pay remains out of step with their colleagues. Dean Taylor said that there are ongoing efforts to adjust the salaries of any faculty whose salaries are below where they ought to be, but that with a limited compensation budget those adjustments may need to be more gradual. There were no further questions.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:19am.

Respectfully submitted,