FACULTY MEETING AGENDA
February 8, 2008
Gannett Auditorium
I. Approval of Minutes - December 7, 2007
II. Vice President for Academic Affairs Report – Susan Kress
Dean of the Faculty Report – Muriel Poston
III. Old Business
IV. New Business
- Resolution – UWW Candidates for the Degree – Mary Di-Santo Rose
- FEC – Dan Curley
VI. Reports
- Sarah Goodwin – Update on Dean of Student Affairs Search
- Pat Oles – Senior Week Symposium and Case/Ladd Task Force
- CEPP – Deb Hall – Update on Activities
VII. Other
VIII. Announcements
- Mary Ann Foley – FDC – Faculty Development Grant Recipients/Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching Nominations
- Dan Nathan – Athletic Council
- David Vella – Science & Society Conference
- Ray Giguere – Molecules That Matter/Nanotechnology Panel - February 26
- Sadiatu Kamara – SGA - Academic Council
- Michael West, Office of the Vice President for Finance & Administration – Invitation to Community Reception - Murray-Aikins Dining Hall, Banquet Room
CANDIDATES FOR THE DEGREE
February 8, 2008
UNIVERSITY WITHOUT WALLS
RESOLVED, that the Faculty of Skidmore College recommend to the Trustees the granting of the Bachelor of Arts degree to two students and the Bachelor of Science degree to three students.”
BACHELOR OF ARTS
Jesse Elwert Danielle Nichole Nazarenko
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
Irene Marie Cole Summer Shinn Sage
Leyla Lister-Mora
Faculty Executive Committee (FEC)
Faculty Executive Committee (FEC)
Motion on Faculty Handbook Part Six
February 8, 2008
MOTION:
On behalf of the Part Six Working Group, the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) moves that the Faculty of Skidmore College adopt the newly-drafted Part Six of the Faculty Handbook.
RATIONALE, PROCEDURES, AND CONTEXT:
The Part Six Working Group consists of Susan Kress (VPAA) and Muriel Poston (DOF); Barbara Krause (President’s Office); Barbara Beck (Director of Human Resources) and Herb Crossman (ADEWD); Dan Curley (FEC), Dick Hihn (CAFR) and Mary Lynn (CAPT).
The Faculty Handbook has been without an updated Part Six since AY 2004/5, when CFG moved that Part Six be carried over from the previous AY, 2003/4; that version of Part Six also carried over into the 2005/6 Handbook. The 2006/7 Handbook consisted of Parts One-Five only, since the Part Six revised last year never made it to the faculty floor for a vote. Parts One-Five of the 2007/8 Handbook were adopted in November with the promise of a newly-revised Part Six later in the year.
The Working Group began its revisions to Part Six in August 2007, and has been meeting semi-regularly, sometimes twice a week, ever since.
The Working Group has been concerned to revise Part Six in a transparent, respectful, and broadly consultative manner. For example:
- An early draft of Articles I-VI was discussed in a Committee of the Whole at the October 5 Faculty Meeting. This draft was also shared with IPPC, IGUTF, and the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.
- A revised draft of these Articles, plus the remaining Articles VII and VIII, was discussed at a joint meeting of CAFR, CAPT, and FEC on October 24, with notes from that meeting transmitted to the Working Group.
- The College’s attorney, Nick D’Ambrosio, with whom the Working Group met late last term, has seen and acknowledged the viability of the antepenultimate draft.
- CAFR, CAPT, and FEC have each discussed the penultimate draft and transmitted comments to the Working Group.
- The current draft will be discussed by other committees and groups, including IPPC, IGUTF, and Academic Staff.
- There will be an open forum on the current draft on Tuesday, February 12, from 3:30 – 4:30 in Emerson Auditorium; all available faculty are encouraged to attend, especially if they have questions or concerns. All members of the Working Group will be on hand to provide answers and further context.
- Faculty who cannot attend the open forum may direct their questions or comments at any time to the Chairs of CAFR, CAPT, or FEC, or to any member of the Working Group.
- The current draft, sent out Thursday, January 31, on faculty-list is currently available on the Faculty Handbook web page, along with this motion and FEC’s proposed accompanying changes to Part Two. The Chair of FEC will send the URL of the web page in an email to faculty-list shortly after this meeting.
- The February 29 Faculty Meeting will provide an opportunity for substantive consideration of Part Six before the vote.
The Working Group acknowledges that the current draft of Part Six is not perfect, but nevertheless is the result of compromise across the board. The members of the Working Group believe the document can be defended with confidence and in good faith.
The Working Group recommends that the policies and procedures of the current draft, if adopted, be reviewed in two or three years and revised where appropriate.
FEC encourages all faculty to read the newly-revised Part Six and all accompanying documents carefully, and to weigh them against the old Part Six, found most recently in the 2005/6 Faculty Handbook and available on the Handbook web page.
Faculty Executive Committee (FEC)
Motions for Part Two, Article II (Committees of the Faculty), Section F.Faculty Advisory Board (FAB) and Advisory Panel (AP)
The Faculty Executive Committee moves that the Faculty of Skidmore College approve the following changes to the Faculty Handbook, pending the Faculty's adoption of the newly revised Part Six.
14. FACULTY ADVISORY BOARD (FAB) — Appointed
Function: To provide a pool of faculty peers to staff an Advisory Panel (AP, see below), which is convened in the formal investigation of a discrimination or harassment charge made against a member of the faculty.
Membership: Six tenured members of the faculty serving overlapping three-year terms, appointed by the FEC in consultation with the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and trained by Human Resources in matters of discrimination and harassment. Members of the FAB may not serve concurrently on the CAFR, the CAPT, or the TRB.
15. ADVISORY PANEL (AP) — Appointed
Function: To provide the Assistant Director for Equal Employment Opportunity and Workforce Diversity (ADEWD) with advice, suggestions, and comments during the formal investigation of a discrimination or harassment charge made against a member of the faculty; to participate, with the guidance of the ADEWD, in interviews of the complainant, the respondent, and relevant witnesses (or in lieu of participation to review all documents pertaining to the charge, if the complainant or the respondent so requests and both parties agree); to review the ADEWD's final report and to ensure that the views of the AP are represented therein; to uphold the strictest standards of confidentiality both during and after an investigation. (See further Part Six, Article VII, Sections D, E, and F.)
Membership: Two members of the Faculty Advisory Board (FAB, see above) selected by the ADEWD, and subject to the following restrictions. A faculty member may not serve on an AP if he or she is from the same department, program, or office as the complainant or the respondent, has a conflict of interest, or is recused by either the complainant or the respondent. In such instances the ADEWD will select replacements from the FAB. If there are no eligible faculty remaining on the FAB, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chair of FEC will provide replacements from the faculty at large; any such replacements will receive training appropriate to the charge.
If the complainant is a staff member, the AP will be augmented with two members chosen from the Staff Advisory Board (SAB), which is established by the Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration and Director of Human Resources and consists of staff members trained in matters of discrimination and harassment. The two staff members of the AP are subject to restrictions similar to those of the two faculty members.
16. AD HOC COMMITTEES [no changes to the subsequent text]
17. OTHER COMMITTEES [no changes to the subsequent text]
RATIONALE.
If the Faculty adopts the new version of Handbook Part Six, then the Faculty must also establish the FAB and the AP. Neither committee exists at present, and both will be needed to provide peer review in formal investigations of discrimination or harassment charges. Since these are primarily faculty committees, their rightful home is in Part Two of the Handbook, changes to which require the vote of the Faculty. Changes to the current numbers 14 and 15 are basic housekeeping, necessitated by the insertion of the FAB and AP descriptions before them.
If the Faculty does not adopt Part Six, this motion will be withdrawn. If the Faculty adopts Part Six and approves this motion, FEC will add the FAB and the AP to the appointed committees in Round Four (late spring 2008), with staggered terms already in place.