Faculty Meeting Minutes
April 26, 2024
Murray Aikins Dining Hall, 2nd Floor
Dorothy E. Mosby, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Dean Mosby read a proposed correction to the minutes of the Faculty Meeting held April 5, 2024. In VP of Enrollment Jess Ricker’s report, the sentence “Because Skidmore will rely more heavily on FAFSA when enrollments are being completed, there is time for accurate data to be collected and the internal FAFSA issues to be rectified,” will be replaced with “While Skidmore released formal aid offers to all admitted students mid-March, other institutions to which students have been admitted may be reliant on the FAFSA and students may not have aid information from other institutions.” There being no objections or additional corrections, the minutes were then approved unanimously.
RECOGNITION OF RETIREES
On behalf of the Appointments and Tenure Committee (ATC), Associate Professor Marketa Wolfe read the following resolution into the record (see attached):
BE IT RESOLVED, That the faculty of Skidmore College expresses its profound appreciation and admiration for the following members of the Skidmore Faculty who have this year expressed their determination to retire:
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Kate Kelly Bouchard, Department of Theater
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Giuseppe Faustini, Department of World Languages and Literatures
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James Kennelly, Department of Management and Business
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Elaine C. Larsen, Department of Biology
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Patricia B. Lyell, Department of Art
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Monica Raveret Richter, Department of Biology
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Patti M. Steinberger, Department of Biology
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David Charles Vella, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
The faculty further resolves that the biographical highlights of these members contained in the Retirement Citation booklet distributed at this meeting be included in the Faculty Meeting Minutes of April 28, 2023 in recognition and celebration of their distinguished service and achievement.
The assembly signaled their acclamation with applause.
Thereafter, Associate Professor Lisa Jackson-Schebetta delivered a tribute to Kate Kelly Bouchard; Professor Maria Lander delivered a tribute to Giuseppe Faustini; Associate Professor David Cohen delivered a tribute to Jim Kennelly; Senior Teaching Professor Erika Schielke delivered a tribute to Elaine Larsen; Associate Professor Sarah Sweeney delivered a tribute to Trish Lyell; Professor Bernie Possidente delivered a tribute to Monica Raveret Richter; Associate Professor Sylvia McDevitt delivered a tribute to Patti Steinberger; and Professor Dan Hurwitz delivered a tribute to David Vella. A congratulatory round of applause was given to each retiree.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Professor Rachel Roe-Dale, Director of the First Year Experience, announced a change in the new student orientation calendar. Convocation will now be on Tuesday morning, under the large tent on Upper South Park, which is the lawn behind the library. Professor Roe-Dale then announced this year’s summer reading for the class of 2028; Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, by Suleika Jaouad.
Becky Mattison from the SkidShop reminded faculty of the April 30 deadline for book adoptions, a crucial part of the effort to keep costs down for students.
Associate Professor Nick Junkerman, Chair of CEPP, announced that CEPP is withdrawing the motion to adopt a recording policy in order to revise the policy. It will be reintroduced in its revised form at the October Faculty Meeting.
Professor Pushkala Prasad, on behalf of the Faculty Development Committee, announced this year’s recipient of the Ralph Ciancio Award for excellence in teaching as Professor Tillman Nechtman of the History Department. The faculty responded with applause.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Marc C. Conner opened his remarks with congratulations and appreciation for this year’s retiring faculty. His report continued with discussion of strategic planning and strategic resources (see attached). He noted that the financial forecast predicts an increase in revenues that is outpaced by an increase in expenditures. President Conner pointed out that this is not the first time that the college has received a challenging financial forecast, but that Skidmore’s ability to strategize in the face of these forecasts has prevented the more dire predictions from coming to fruition. He acknowledged that the difference in the current situation is due to major demographic shifts and economic realities facing students and their families, particularly the decline in full-pay applicants to the college—an industry-wide phenomenon.
President Conner outlined some of the key ways that the college can work together to respond to these financial headwinds: using existing shared governance structures as opposed to creating new ones; communicating and sharing options with the college community as early as possible on major decisions, as well as soliciting input before the decision-making stage; committing to regular information and collaboration sessions in addition to the monthly faculty and staff meetings. One of our current vehicles for shared governance is the IPPC and its Subcommittee on Budget and Finance. This group has stakeholders from all parts of campus, and President Conner has proposed for the short term (fall semester 2024) adding two additional faculty and two additional staff members to increase the breadth of perspectives on the subcommittee. These are all part of building the roadmap to Skidmore’s future. President Conner shared a phrase with the faculty: We can do anything we want at Skidmore, but we cannot do everything we want. He reiterated that the key to doing this work well will be doing it collaboratively.
This connects, he said, to strategic planning. President Conner stated that the process is about a third of the way complete, meaning there is substantial opportunity ahead for involvement by our community. A finished draft will be brought to the Board in February of next year, and the finished plan will be reviewed and hopefully approved by the Board in May of next year. The Visions and Values project has been going on for about two years, and the themes that have emerged from it center on close faculty-student connections, creativity, exploration and innovation. President Conner noted that he sees alignment to the developing strategic plan between creativity and academic excellence, and that this alignment will be very generative for institutional planning.
President Conner closed by speaking about the current political climate with regard to the Middle East. He said that this is a particularly challenging time on college campuses, as students want to make sense of the violence and make a difference. He noted that there is a tremendous diversity of views amongst the students, and that views are held with a great deal of moral intensity. He stated that the college will continue to hold to the two core principles of supporting all students as much as possible, and upholding our commitment to freedom of speech and expression. He noted that the Students for a Free Palestine group on campus has brought increasing nuance, thoughtfulness and effort to be understanding to their activities. He highlighted the work of Dean of Student Affairs Adrian Bautista, Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Parker Diggory, and Coordinator of Jewish Student Life Martina Zobel, Associate Director of Student Affairs Brooke Paradise, the other members of the student affairs team, and the gathered faculty who have worked to find ways to help our students navigate their way through this. President Conner then opened the floor to questions.
A faculty member expressed their concern about the removal of the library installation. They expressed that it seemed to be a thoughtful and peaceful expression of free speech. They also noted that several of the involved students identify as Jewish who have a personal stake in this issue. They asked for more of an explanation on the rationale for the installation’s removal.
President Conner agreed that it was a thoughtful and nuanced piece. He noted that he had received outreach from Jewish-identified students expressing that they felt alienated by the installation due to several components including the phrase “From the River to the Sea,” and that it made the library an unwelcoming space for them. President Conner stated that the piece, while thoughtfully rendered, should be displayed in a properly curated space where members of our community could choose to see it or not, rather than in a common, public space like the library to which all must have access.
A faculty member asked to be notified when something happens akin to the removal of the installation, because they have found that students seek answers from faculty members who may have no idea what they are talking about.
President Conner agreed that that would be preferable, but explained that the speed with which the situation developed precluded that option. He agreed that faster methods of communication in such situations would be ideal, and asked for suggestions of ways to make that happen in the future.
There being no further questions, President Conner thanked the faculty and concluded his report.
VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY’S REPORT
Dean Mosby began her report by speaking about the impending end of the semester, and the faculty and staff’s great work this academic year; working with students, supporting the curriculum, and supporting one another. She then took a moment to acknowledge both the ongoing pain generated by the conflict in Israel-Palestine, and the confrontations happening on college campuses across the country between students, police and campus security. Although Skidmore is not experiencing the same level of conflict, we are not immune to the issues raging across many institutions of higher education at this moment. She noted that there are areas where there policies are insufficient, and we must rely on one another and our own best judgment.
Dean Mosby directly addressed the removal of the library installation created by the Skidmore Coalition for Palestine; noting the recent congressional resolution asserting that a particular slogan that they used is antisemitic, as well as a proliferation of complaints to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights with regard to this slogan. She stated her commitment to working with the students to find a more suitable space for the exchange of ideas, and to recognizing the difficulty of discourse in this moment. Dean Mosby stated her appreciation of the Skidmore community’s continued good faith efforts to do the best that we can with regard to these challenges.
Dean Mosby then provided an update on the process of negotiating a contract with the non-tenure track faculty union. Though there had not been any bargaining sessions since the April 5 Faculty Meeting, she reported that the bargaining team has been discussing a number of proposals. These include a scope of terminal and renewable appointments, academic ranks and titles for full and part time non-tenure track faculty. She informed the faculty that she would be convening meetings with chairs and program directors over the next couple of weeks to discuss these proposals as well. Dean Mosby said that it has been helpful for her for hear from members of the bargaining unit about some of the challenges with our current system, and also to work with the bargaining team and the union to seek out solutions to these challenges.
Dean Mosby reminded the faculty that the Vice President Liaison for Middle States will be on campus the following week. There will be a community gathering in Murray Aikins at one o’clock to learn more about the process.
Dean Mosby concluded her report by congratulating Associate Professor Saleema Waraich of the Art History Department for her receipt of a fellowship from the New Foundation for Art History, and inviting the faculty to the reception honoring this year’s retirees immediately following the faculty meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,