FAEC Minutes 11/15/2017

Faculty Assembly Executive Council (FAEC) Meeting Minutes November 15 2017 ASB 008 Room 10:30am to 12:30am

Attendees:​ Christina Connor, Ken McMurdy (for Cristina Perez), Roark Atkinson, Kathryn Zeno, Tae Kwak, Gladys Torres-Baumgarten, Kim Lorber, Eva Ogens, Renata Gangemi

Excused: Cristina Perez

Secretary:​ Hugh Sheehy

Guest:​ Beth Barnett

Meeting opened, 10:30

Minutes approved.

FAEC President and Student Body President will meet with President Mercer to discuss possibility of temporary emergency housing for homeless students. A committee member requested that the FAEC President meet with President Mercer about honoring the bylaws requiring the College President to meet regularly with the FAEC President, for that time to be dedicated to discussing issues of identified importance to the College; the bylaws also call for the FAEC President to be given a seat at the President’s Cabinet meetings.

Shared Governance: a committee member stated that President Mercer affirmed his intent to await the final report of the Task Force on Shared Governance to make a decision to create a College Senate. There was general agreement that the first step toward success in the area of SG is establishing an atmosphere of professional trust in which a culture change could take place. A committee member stated that communication about the past and current state of the relationship between the Administration and the Faculty will be necessary for an establishment of aforesaid atmosphere of professional trust. A committee member underscored that point that both the Administration and the Faculty must be open to admitting past failures and errors if progress is to take place. A committee member stated that the goal of SG is to establish a climate in which compliance mechanisms are unnecessary and in which conflicts are identified and minimalized early in any collaborative process involving the Administration and the Faculty. There was discussion of creating an annual College-wide survey for Faculty and Administration (with a comments section) allowing for both bodies to assess SG. It was stated that according to FA Bylaws, FA should have a representative at the Provost’s Cabinet (note: FA Bylaws state “Cabinet”; there is no “Provost’s Cabinet”; Bylaws should be amended to denote “Provost’s Council”).

Library Renovation: the placement of the Krame Center has not been decided, as there seems to be some disagreement between interested parties about the floor where it belongs (new plans put it on the first floor, not the fourth floor, as was originally imagined). These disagreements proceed from disparate expectations for how some spaces will be used; there are also questions about the decision to allot the Krame Center three office spaces. There remains concern regarding the creation of certain types of spaces (e.g. a cafeteria) that students have stated they do not wish to have in the new library.

Provost’s Visit: Course evaluation system is transitioning; Barnett proposes that FAEC form groups to review instruments. Barnett would also like to encourage a wider use of online evaluations across the College and is interested in the following specific changes in Spring 2018: 1) require faculty to opt out of online evaluations as opposed to opt in (current system) and 2) hold student grades until students have evaluated their courses online (online evaluations only). The system change will be a test and not necessarily a permanent change. There was some discussion of how faculty might be directed to use information from evaluations in self-assessment and particularly in the self-evaluation documentation required for tenure and promotion. Possible changes to the Faculty Handbook were considered; there was discussion of concerns about junior faculty being hurt by unforeseen problems in transition process. Barnett stated that a Task Force on revising the evaluation instrument and system would probably help; she added that the Faculty should consider how expectations for junior faculty differ from those for senior faculty and consider preparing a statement on faculty development from this angle. There was discussion of the possibility of streamlining the tenure and promotion process; it might be possible to allow faculty seeking both to apply with a single binder. The FAEC President requested that the Provost ask Employee Relations to post T&P deadlines in a common calendar posted early in the semester. A committee member stated that faculty applying for promotion are frustrated in the deadline change for applications when the date the College announces the number of promotions available has remained the same. The Provost explained that the current accounting of opportunities for promotion is to some extent determined by College’s history of hiring in the past fifteen years; the percentage of individuals permitted at each rank is set by the Board of Trustees.

A committee member inquired about the process for dealing with students under interim suspension; faculty members are currently not formally informed of the actual start date or end date of the time during which students are banned from campus when on interim suspension. As it currently stands, faculty are informed by the student that is on suspension. Protocols for handling such cases need to be formalized. Provost Barnett stated that she would speak with the Dean of Students to develop and implement a procedure for more effectively dealing with this issue.  

Meeting adjourned 12:45

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