ITHACA COLLEGE
FACULTY COUNCIL MINUTES
February 5, 2002
Present: Jim Aguiar, Lee Bailey, Diane Birr, Joseph Cheng, Carole Dennis, Charis
Dimaras, Harold Emery, Cathe Gordon, Ron Jude, Ari Kissiloff, Don Lifton, Marian
MacCurdy, Winnie Mauser, Tim Nord, Mary Ann Rishel, John Rosenthal, Stan
Seltzer, Bruce Smith, Jennifer Strickland, Robert Sullivan
Excused: Marie Garland, Steve Peterson
Absent: Sabatino Maglione, John Wolohan
Guests: Jessica Bailis '05, Jennifer Blanco '03, Garry Brodhead, Brenna Corbett
'03,Wendi Dowst '04, Corrine Jacoby '04, Diane Long, Brendan Lorbach '04, Steve
Mauk, Erica Miller '05, Jenna Perkins '03, Nancy Pringle, Bill Scoones, Ellen
Stapleton '03, Megan Tetrick '03
1. Welcome and Announcements
S. Seltzer, Chair, opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m and announced that Dr. Peter W.
Bardaglio, currently Interim Vice President and Academic Dean at Goucher College,
has been selected as the new Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of
Ithaca College. He is expected to assume the position in mid to late summer.
2. Faculty Handbook Amendment Committeeís Proposal on Plagiarism (4.7.3)
N. Pringle was in attendance to respond to questions regarding the FHACís proposed
policy on plagiarism. J. Rosenthal suggested rewording of the second sentence from
"Any discovery of plagiarism..." to read "Any evidence of suspected plagiarism..." A
further revision to the suggested language as provided on the May 5 Faculty Council
Agenda, has been adopted by the FHAC so that the sentence concludes "... the Dean
or to the Provost/VPAA who will contact the affected parties and, after consideration,
take appropriate action."
MOTION: To approve the following language for the first paragraph of Section
4.7.3 Plagiarism in the proposed new Faculty Handbook:
Every faculty member must scrupulously recognize all intellectual debts owed, be they in
the form of ideas, methods or expressions, by means of an appropriate form of
communication and acknowledgment. Any evidence of suspected plagiarism must be
reported to the applicable Dean or to the Provost/VPAA who will contact the affected
parties and, after consideration, take appropriate action.
The motion was approved unanimously.
After discussion of the wording of the second paragraph, a motion to approve
amended language was offered.
MOTION: To approve the following language for the second paragraph of
Secion4.7.3 Plagiarism in the proposed new Faculty Handbook:
Scholars must make clear the contributions of colleagues on a collaborative project.
Professors who have the guidance of students as their responsibility must not incorporate a
studentís ideas, research, or presentation to the professorís benefit without
acknowledgment; to do so is to abuse power and trust.
The motion was approved, with one abstention.
3. Open Session
Diane Long announced that the Campus Life Committee is exploring the development
of a Flag Flying Policy to guide decision-making on future requests. Student members
of the committee have brought the discussion to the SGA. Faculty input on
considerations to be included in such a policy is welcome and encouraged.
4. Grade Policies Study Committee Recommendations
Council debated a recommendation by L. Bailey, on behalf of GPSC, to eliminate the
A+ as a final grade for undergraduates. The A+ grade has been discontinued at some
colleges, and elimination is under consideration at others, including Princeton. A+
could still be used on assignments. B. Scoones acknowledged the concern about grade
inflation, but urged caution regarding this proposal, bearing in mind the possible
impact on students going on to graduate school. He offered to provide representatives
with detailed data on Aís if they so request. Concern was voiced as to whether such a
change might affect financial aid.
Brenna Corbett í03 stated that SGA is pulling together a community forum to explore
the issue of grade inflation with as much dialogue as possible. She asked for Faculty
Council support for this effort. After extensive discussion, W. Mauser moved to table
further discussion until the next meeting.
MOTION: To support SGAís proposal to conduct a community forum on the
issue of grade inflation and table further Council discussion to the March
meeting.
The motion was approved.
L. Bailey noted the importance of having a large faculty presence at the forum; he
urged Council representatives to encourage attendance and participation by their
colleagues. He and S. Seltzer offered to work with Brenna as faculty liaison in
developing the forum.
5. Provostís Report
A. B. Scoones urged caution when considering grading changes. He recalled that the
College used to have a grade called the "nifty "- NFT, Not For Transcript, Princeton
still has that type of a grade ó no Fís go on transcript. Higher education is all over the
map on this issue. It is pretty complex.
B. He recently represented the College at the Association of New American Colleges
and found that Ithaca College is considered one of the top schools. We are viewed as a
model for some ANAC schools, just as we aspire to model ourselves on another set of
institutions.
C. The workload project is moving forward and it is in the budget that will be
presented to the Board of Trustees. He and G. Brodhead have met with two different
Deans so far, putting the departments through the requisite planning exercises. Nine
other meetings have been set up. About 1/4 of the departments (9 out of 37) should
have 21-hour workloads next year if all goes according to plan. He has discussed this
with Provost-Designate Bardaglio, who liked the plan very much.
D. A committee has been created to look at professional needs for long term nontenure-eligible faculty members or clinical faculty members. The first meeting will be
held at 9:00 a.m. on February 22. He asked that faculty get their thoughts to the group
before that meeting.
E. A committee on academic advising has been set up to get input from all
constituents. Their report will be helpful to the new Provost.
F. J. Rosenthal asked if the Interim Provost had any observations about the tenure and
promotion process guidelines used this past year. Scoones noted that there were major
modifications to the old guidelines. They have been fairly well accepted. He stated
that the mentoring system used by the School of Music is amazing, because it always
works. They have not had a failure in promoting a candidate to full professor in 20
years. He asked that faculty members consider what leads to that kind of success. Itís
axiomatic that you donít go up, because if you donít get through the second, third and
fourth year reviews, you donít see a fifth or sixth year. That requires faculty to be
minding the store, mentoring the training, and making judgments about their peers for
all the right reasons. The down side is that everyone must be involved in the
evaluation all of the time, but you build a good faculty that way. He commented that
this year the T&P committee is sending a message that senior faculty members must
play a service role at Ithaca College. Finally, Scoones noted that ideally there should
be no negative decisions made in the sixth year.
6. Approval of Minutes of January 22, 2002
S. Seltzer noted that Tim Nord should have been listed as present. H. Emery moved to
accept the minutes as corrected. D. Birr seconded the motion. The minutes of January
22, 2002, were approved as corrected.
7. Preliminary Budget Report
D. Lifton reported that at present he could not disclose what the budget going to the
Board of Trustees looks like; however, he did share what has been requested.
The "pig in the snake" over-enrollment is both an opportunity, because these extra
students provides additional tuition payments, but is also a challenge because we need
to educate them. Dean Erlich has made a request for additional temporary faculty ó
but temporary over the course of a few years ó to serve these extra students. This is an
understandably powerful request.
Another powerful input is the discussion of where the campus is going physically over
the course of the next decade, leading to a call to put aside money to service the debt
that will result from building.
The TIAA-CREF request has been input into the process.
A salary increment has been requested as well as salary adjustments for people,
particularly Assistant Professors, whose salaries have fallen behind where they ought
to be.
Most notably, the workload issue is addressed in the proposed budget. On this issue he
made the point that if there is any successful output, the fundamental reason for that
success will be the advocacy of Acting Provost Bill Scoones. He commended the
tenacity of Provost Scoones in supporting this issue for the faculty.
S. Seltzer, who also serves on the Budget Committee, stated that D. Lifton has also
been very forceful and eloquent in championing these faculty concerns.
8. Comment on Provost-Designate Peter Bardaglio
As a member of the Provost Search Committee, D. Lifton expressed his enthusiasm
for the selection of Peter Bardaglio, who was a finalist in four other searches.
Assigned to check this candidateís references, he found Bardaglioís references
glowing. They spoke of his esteem for faculty colleagues and his team-building
abilities. He is said to have a wonderful sense of how to interact with trustees, which
is very important to faculty.
Although fundraising is not a principal area of responsibility, people believe he may
be very effective in that area. His personal statement to the committee about his view
of the position was impressive ó he discussed the challenges of liberal arts and
professions in one place, and how that conversation talks to issues of diversity, of
democracy, and of citizenry. Bardaglio conveyed a comprehensive notion of what we,
as faculty, are about. D. Lifton expressed the opinion that Bardaglio is a true scholar
and a fine historian, whose scholarship informs his commitment to diversity and to
gender issues.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.