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Faculty Meeting Minutes

September 4, 2020

Michael Orr, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:33 p.m.  He reminded everyone of the procedures to be followed during the Zoom meeting, including that closed captioning was available and that voting would take place through theSpring.  DOF/VPAA Orr also noted that, due to changes to the class meeting schedule, some faculty now have classes scheduled at the same time as the Faculty Meeting. The Faculty Executive Committee has recommended that whenever possible the voting mechanism should remain open beyond the end of the faculty meeting so that those faculty members who are not able to attend Faculty Meetings can review the Faculty Meeting recording, listen to the discussions, and then cast their votes.  The results of the vote will then be reported to the faculty via email after the weekend. 

DOF/VPAA Orr also reminded everyone that Faculty Meetings are open to members of the staff as well as SGA student representatives.  Student representatives invited to attend this Faculty Meeting include Rachael Borthwick, SGA President; Jai Gil, SGA VP for Academic Affairs; Sean Heaney, SGA Executive Vice President; and Sophia Paulino Adames, student member of CEPP.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

DOF/VPAA Orr asked if there were any corrections to, or comments regarding, the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held May 15, 2020.  Hearing none, he announced the minutes were approved.

OLD BUSINESS

There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS

Affirmation of the College’s Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Joshua Woodfork, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, called on Janet Casey, Associate Dean of the Faculty, and Marta Brunner, College Librarian, to read the College’s Diversity and Inclusion Statement (/diversity/about.php).  VP Woodfork provided some background about the statement, noting that it is considered a living document and subject to modification.  VP Woodfork invited anyone interested in potentially modifying this document to email him, and he will form a working group for that purpose.  VP Woodfork then asked the faculty to join him in affirming this statement.   The faculty signaled their acclimation by virtual applause. 

Faculty Executive Committee

On behalf of the Faculty Executive Committee, Associate Professor Casey Schofield introduced the following Motion (see attached):

MOTION:  The Faculty Executive Committee moves that the 2020-2021 Faculty Handbook be adopted.  The following link takes you to the 2020-2021 Faculty Handbook (showing tracked changes) as well as handbooks from previous years: /dof-vpaa/faculty-handbooks.php

Professor Schofield then highlighted some of the changes to this year’s Faculty Handbook, including revisions to Part Six intended to bring the Faculty Handbook into alignment with the newly revised Title IX policy and New York human rights law, and to bring policies into alignment with the College’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.  There being no discussion, the Motion will lie over until the next meeting.

Committee on Educational Policies and Planning

On behalf of the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning, Associate Professor Feryaz Ocakli introduced the following Motion (see attached):

MOTION: The Committee on Educational Policies and Planning (CEPP) moves that Student Ratings and Feedback surveys (i.e., all-college quantitative forms and departmental long forms) be administered online in Fall 2020, and, furthermore, that the results of these Student Ratings and Feedback forms be provided not only to instructors but also to department chairs and program directors, and, when appropriate, ATC, PC, and the college administration.

Professor Ocakli explained the rationale for bringing this motion before the Faculty, noting that CEPP has concluded that students should have the opportunity to provide ratings and feedback on their courses this semester, and that it is important for instructors to receive those ratings and feedback. CEPP does, however, recognize the concerns of many faculty members that the unusual circumstances of the semester are placing exceptional demands on them as teachers and acknowledges concern with how student ratings and feedback may be may be impacted by those circumstances.

Lengthy discussion ensued concerning the Motion, with many attendees stating their objection to or support for the motion.  Discussion topics included:

• The process for administering the evaluations and the possible impact on response rates;
• Whether the decision to suspend evaluations last spring will stay in place if the motion does not pass;
• Whether evaluations for fall 2020 should be required to be submitted in tenure and promotion materials and how the Appointments and Tenure Committee and the Promotions Committee would interpret those evaluations;
• The need to ensure that there are mechanisms for students to provide feedback on instruction and classroom climate;
• Concern about the retention of marginalized faculty at Skidmore, particularly relating to research showing biases in student evaluations;
• The flexibility that departments and programs have to revise the questions on their long forms;
• Concern about how evaluations may unevenly affect tenure-track, tenured, and non-tenure-track faculty across different divisions, how such variances would be addressed, and whether evaluations would be fair and honest;
• Whether evaluation forms originally designed for in-person classes can be applied to other teaching modalities and whether using them in this way would raise legal concerns; and
• The importance that faculty colleagues, committees, and the administration take into account the unusual circumstances of the fall 2020 semester in reviewing a faculty member’s file for reappointment, contract renewal, tenure, and promotion.

Following discussion, a motion was made and seconded to postpone consideration of the Motion to the next Faculty Meeting. The Motion to postpone was voted on and passed by majority vote.

REPORTS

Joel Aure, Title IX Coordinator, shared a PowerPoint presentation on the updated Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Policies for Faculty (see attached).  He explained the reason for the new policy, noting that in November 2018 the U.S. Department of Education proposed new Title IX regulations. Colleges and universities were given an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed regulations.  Based upon the feedback received, the U.S. Department of Education released the final regulations in May, 2020, giving all colleges and universities until August 14, 2020 to bring their policies into compliance.  A small working group then spent the summer reviewing the new regulations and bringing Skidmore’s Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Policy into compliance with the new regulations. Mr. Aure thanked Dean of Students Cerri Banks, Associate Dean of the Faculty Janet Casey, Interim Director of Human Resources Sarah Delaney Vero, and the other committee members for all their work on the updated policy, as well as members of the Faculty Advisory Board and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Rights for their consultation.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Conner wished everyone a wonderful start to the new year, despite the difficulties of this semester. While the start to the new academic year has been unlike any others, President Conner expressed his excitement for the start of the year and thanked everyone for the work that has been done to get to this point.  He reported that over 7,000 COVID tests of students and on-campus employees have been conducted by the Broad Institute in three cycles and that, so far, we continue to only have two positives that showed up the very first day.  We have a handful of students still in quarantine, and those students remain very positive and cooperative.  We are very pleased about how well the opening has been going, but still have an immense sense of caution as we proceed. 

President Connor reported that the Co-Verified App is now available for our students, and they will start to use the app on Monday, September 7.  As far as student behavior goes, the institution has faith and confidence in that students will make the right choices, and so far, our faith in our students has been rewarded.  At the same time, we are trying to reinforce safety in every way we can, and our Safe Skidmore Ambassador program is working well. Dean Banks has also sent some effective messages to our students, reminding them to keep up their best behavior or there will be consequences. 

President Conner stated that we currently have almost 2,600 students fully enrolled this semester, with about 1,760 on campus, including those in hotels.  Approximately 430 are living in the vicinity and another approximately 300 are fully remote. Of our international students, 141 are on campus or living in the vicinity.

While it is typical at the first meeting of the academic year for Mary Lou Bates, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, to provide a profile of the first year class, President Conner noted that Dean Bates had done this during the online Convocation, which he described as a very poignant and wonderful ceremony that captured the sense of the start of the year.  President Conner encouraged everyone to view the online convocation to hear Dean Bates’s remarks.  While we did have more summer melt than ever before, President Conner reported that we still opened the year with a larger first year class than originally projected. Admissions and Financial Aid is now hard at work bringing in the next class.

President Conner reminded everyone of the Racial Justice Initiative, the details of which were shared earlier in the week.  This initiative centers on 12 different projects in 3 clusters, the goal of which is action oriented, achievable, true institutional change. He highlighted a few of the projects, including the hiring of two leadership positions in diversity, the creation of the Board of Trustee’s committee on diversity, equity and inclusion, and improving the college’s response to bias incidents.  The Racial Justice Initiative came into being not only in response to national issues but also to address local issues and conflicts on campus and in Saratoga Springs, and to respond to a powerful sense of dissatisfaction with our campus climate among some of our students.  While President Conner indicated that he finds Skidmore an impressively diverse, welcoming and supportive place, all of us (like the nation) can be better and do better, and that is the goal of this initiative.  The projects are measurable, and there will be monthly updates on the website.

President Conner noted that during the first IPPC meeting of the year the committee had spent the bulk of the meeting discussing the expectations and goals for the committee, how the committee functions, and what its expectations are, supported by an outside facilitator. He noted that the discussion provided an opportunity to think very intentionally about the responsibilities of the committee members to one another and to the community.

President Conner then addressed the student complaints that had been received in the last few weeks, particularly those on various social media regarding certain faculty members.  He reminded everyone that our commitment to First Amendment principles, the right to assemble peacefully, and the right to freedom of expression, is absolute. This protects every member of our community, regardless of political position and regardless of activities. He also stated that everyone needs to think hard about how our actions and words impact others, and the need for understanding and empathy is more profound than ever.  This is a fraught time--with a pandemic, with racial tension, and with a national election. This is a very challenging time, and our need for community and for kindness is more powerful than ever.

President Conner then briefly mentioned some of the other key goals for the fall – the successful conclusion of our capital campaign, the continuation of our Strategic Plan, and planning for the spring semester – before concluding by noting that he would shortly be reaching out to department chairs and program directors to set up short meetings to allow him to get acquainted with all departments and programs.

The floor was then opened for questions and comments. Lengthy discussion focused on the following:

• Skidmore’s commitment to First Amendment rights and freedom of speech, and how the institution can remind our students that holding certain political opinions does not constitute bias;
• how the Racial Justice Initiative will (1) address the retention of faculty and staff of color; (2) ensure that Skidmore will be a safe place for transgender faculty, staff; (3) make certain that the work of the Racial Justice Initiative will not fall on already-marginalized faculty; (4) how the use of anti-racist training will improve the workplace or learning environment for marginalized faculty and students, when research has shown that such training has proved ineffective; and (5) the consultative process followed in creating the Racial Justice Initiative.

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

After noting the late hour, DOF/VPAA Orr then introduced the new faculty members for this academic year (see attached for complete list). At the conclusion of his remarks, a virtual round of applause was given for the new faculty. 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,