IRC Meeting Minutes
November 11, 2001
Present: John Berman, Bret Ingerman, Sam Fee, Alice Dean, Karl Broekhuizen, Marion
Terenzio, Susan Zappen, Ruth Copans, Margo Pancerella, Ann Henderson, Pierre von Kaenel
Bret introduced Sam Fee, the new Director of Academic Technologies & Consulting Services, to
the Committee; the Committee members in turn went around the table and introduced themselves
to Sam as well.
STEIS UPDATE
Alice and Bret updated the Committee on the new STEIS sub-committee. STEIS is meeting
weekly, and the turnouts are good. The Committee members wonder what they should be
focusing their efforts on now? The following are a list of their concerns:
 Individual projects
 Planning issues
 To what extent should they be answering specific questions?
 They are having a hard time defining the mission of the Committee.
 Current issues: Foreign Languages & Literatures lab, the Tang Museum, Booth-Ferris
grant.
 Prioritization issues – who ranks these?
A discussion ensued, with IRC Committee members concluding that the STEIS Committee
members should prioritize the issues and come up with recommendations for IRC to review.
There was one specific issue to report. The Tang Museum’s Whitman Room has information
technology issues. When the Tang was built, it was intended to be self-sufficient, not needing to
rely on Media Services staff for media and IT support. The Tang was initially to be responsible
for maintaining the teaching spaces within. However, it has become evident that the Whitman
Room and others in the Tang don’t operate well, thoroughly, or smoothly. The Tang staff won’t
help, and Media Services is reluctant to help. The technology is not meeting the needs of those
teaching there. Media Services’ response time, because of their location, cannot be too quick.
The ownership of the IT responsibilities is not clear, and as a result, the faculty don’t want to use
these classrooms.
A discussion followed, and Karl pointed out that this is not an IRC issue. The Tang and the
Registrar both report to the Dean of Faculty, which makes it a Dean of Faculty Issue. CITS falls
under Business Affairs. Karl proposes that the appropriate people should meet to resolve this.
IPC ADDRESSES
This issue comes as a result of an email to IRC from Flip Phillips. Susan informed the Committee
that CITS does not give IPC addresses of students out – PERIOD. If a student is using Napster,
Aimster, NetPD, then the companies get the IP addresses and contact Skidmore. CITS contacts
Susan, who in turn contacts the student, Don Hastings and Jon Ramsey. Bret pointed out that
we respond consistently, this is time intensive. Eight requests results in three days of labor.
These computers are not college owned, but are using the college’s network. Bret would like to
talk to the college’s copyright lawyer to obtain legal advice for the best strategies. In addition, he
will poll the CLAC colleges and CPL list to get additional ideas.
STUDENTS
The students elected to IRC have not shown up yet this semester, and need to be here for input.
They have been contacted by the Dean’s office, and still do not attend meetings. If this
continues, SGA will be asked to elect new students to IRC for representation.
IRC PLAN
A revised copy of the IRC plan was distributed, the committee discussed this, and Pierre will
distribute via e-mail a newly revised copy for review. Specific initiatives should flow from the plan.
EXTERNAL AUDIT
Karl handed out a document from Anderson, the College’s new external audit firm. This handout
outlines Andersen’s preliminary observations, with recommendations for change. The Committee
will discuss this document at the next meeting of IRC.
The next meeting of IRC will be held Monday, November 26, 2001 at 10:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Margo Pancerella