Secretary to the Faculty
Smith College
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
T (413) 585-3000 F(413) 585-3070
Faculty Action Sheet
At the eighth regular meeting of the 2014-2015 academic year on April 22, 2015 (Conference
Room, Alumnae House), the following actions were taken by the Smith College faculty:
I.
The faculty unanimously approved the March 25, 2015 faculty meeting minutes.
II. The faculty approved a motion to adopt an Open Access Policy, with 74 in favor, 16
opposed, and 13 abstentions, as follows:
Smith College Open Access Policy
Preamble
The Faculty of Smith College is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and
scholarship as widely as possible. This Open Access Policy establishes the terms under
which Faculty members permit distribution of their scholarly articles via open access
channels. This policy relies on Creative Commons licenses
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/), which are simple methods that permit an author to
grant specific copyright permissions without transferring copyright ownership.
Policy
Grant of Rights. Subject to the Faculty Member’s right to opt out of this policy, upon
completion of the final manuscript of a scholarly article, the Faculty member grants Smith
College permission to make the article available to scholars and the public under the Creative
Commons CC BY License, which is the most permissive of the Creative Commons licenses.
Alternative Creative Commons License. As an alternative to the CC BY License, upon
timely written direction by the Faculty member, Smith College will make the article at issue
available under the CC BY-NC-ND License, which is the most restrictive of the Creative
Commons licenses.
Submission of Copy. Faculty members are encouraged to provide the Library with an
electronic copy of the article in final manuscript form, for inclusion in the digital repository.
Articles should be provided in the format(s) (such as PDF) specified by the Office of the
Provost/Dean of the Faculty. Faculty members recognize that articles may need to be reformatted for purposes of posting and adding metadata.
Scope of Policy. This policy applies to all finalized scholarly articles authored or coauthored while the person is a member of the Faculty, except for any articles completed
before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into
an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy.
Opt Out. The Provost/Dean of the Faculty or its designate will not apply this policy for a
particular article, or delay open access to the article for a specified period of time, upon
written direction by the relevant Faculty member. Any faculty member wishing to exempt all
future articles from this policy may exercise a one-time blanket opt-out, which the faculty
member may later revoke if desired.
Interpretation. The Office of the Provost/Dean of the Faculty will be responsible for
interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and,
in consultation with the Committee on the Library, recommending changes to the Faculty
from time to time.
The Faculty calls upon the Committee on the Library and the Provost to develop and monitor
a plan for a service or mechanism that would render compliance with this policy as
convenient for the Faculty as possible.
III. The following items were recommended by the Committee on Academic Priorities and
unanimously approved by the faculty:
A. New Permanent Courses:
1. ENG 291 Lakes Writing Workshop
2. ESS 580 Fundamentals of Speed, Power, and Strength Development
3. GOV 222 Colloquium: Political Islam in Comparative Perspective
4. JUD 288 History of Israel
5. MES 220 The Arab Spring
6. NSC 318 Systems Neurobiology
7. NSC 319 Systems Neurobiology Laboratory
8. QSK 102 Quantitative Skills in Practice
9. SWG 204 This Bridge Called My Back: Women of Color Cultural Production
10. SWG 314 Seminar: Documenting Queer Life
11. ENG 274 Witches, Witchcraft and Witch Hunts
B. Experimental Courses, to be taught at most twice:
1. ANT 235 Youth in Africa
2. ARX 107j Making Teaching and Learning Tangible: Understanding Childhood Through
the Archives
3. FRN 291 The Colonial City Through French Readings
4. ITL 281 Italian Cinema Looks East
C. Curricular Changes:
1. Change in credits for FYS 142 Reacting to the Past from 4 to 5.
2. Change in credits for ITL 220 Intermediate Italian and 230 High Intermediate Italian
from 5 to 4 credits
3. Change in Latin Honors for AMS 253 Native Literacies: American Indian History and
Culture before 1880 from H to H/S/L
4. Change in Latin Honors for LAS 201 Colloquium in Latin American and Latino/a
Studies, Topic: The Bronze Screen to {A/L}
5. Change in Latin Honors for LAS 301 Seminar: Topics in Latin American and Latino/a
Studies, Topic: Latina/o Racial Identities in the United States to{S}
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IV. The faculty approved a motion to amend the Faculty Code, section 61 on Preparation of
Assigned Work as follows:
a. Smith College complies with federal regulations defining a credit hour.
b. Normally, a four-credit course involves twelve hours per week of academically engaged
time over the course of the semester. Academically engaged time is generally three class or
contact hours per week plus nine additional hours of academic work for the course per week.
c. For courses carrying more or fewer than four credits, the Smith College expectation is
three hours per week of academically engaged time per credit over the course of the
semester.
Respectfully submitted,
Carrie N. Baker
Secretary of the Faculty
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