ITHACA COLLEGE
FACULTY COUNCIL MINUTES
March 5, 2002
Present: Jim Aguiar, Lee Bailey, Diane Birr, Joseph Cheng, Carole Dennis, Marie
Garland, Cathe Gordon, Ron Jude, Don Lifton, Marian MacCurdy, Winnie Mauser,
Tim Nord, Mary Ann Rishel, John Rosenthal, Stan Seltzer, Bruce Smith, Jennifer
Strickland, Robert Sullivan
Excused: Charis Dimaras, Harold Emery, Steve Peterson
Absent: Ari Kissiloff, Sabatino Maglione, John Wolohan
Guests: Brenna Corbett í03, Chris Knauer, Jenna Perkins í03, Bill Scoones, Anne
Walters í05
1. Welcome and Announcements
Stan Seltzer, Chair, opened the meeting with a number of announcements. He has
been receiving notices about upcoming elections. Elections for Faculty Council are
held in April and he will be notifying schools about those. The May meeting includes
both old members and new members and at that meeting the Executive Committee is
elected. Election of Faculty Councilís representative to APC will be held at the same
meeting. In addition to the Faculty Council representative, it is the responsibility of
Faculty Council to select an All-College representative to APC (one of the three on
the committee whose term will expire at the end of this semester.) The Faculty
Handbook Amendment Committee will also have vacancies in Business, H&S, and
Music, elections for which will be conducted in the schools. He alerted the group to
other upcoming elections the T&P Committee (pool), Traffic Appeals Committee,
Grievance Committee, Faculty Development Committee.
President Williams sent a note, thanking Council for its work on the Grade Inflation
Forum. Stan cited L. Bailey and panelists C. Dimaras, M. Garland, M. MacCurdy, and
D. Lifton for their special contributions to the success of the forum.
President Williams has set dates for faculty meetings this semester: Tuesday, April16,
12:10 p.m., in Textor 103, and Wednesday, April 17, 3:30-5:00 p.m., in Williams 225.
The Executive Committee has tentatively scheduled a general faculty meeting for
Tuesday, March 19, at 12:10 p.m., in Textor 102 to discuss a number of issues,
including the Boyer model, grading policies, and Fall semester grade submission
deadlines. J. Rosenthal suggested that position papers on the issues be prepared and
included with the meeting notice. Council members should urge their colleagues to
attend and participate in this meeting. C. Gordon registered concern about the timing
of this discussion meeting, as it conflicts with a dean candidate presentation in
HS&HP. Stan agreed to look at this matter further.
2. Recommendation to Confer Degrees
MOTION: Faculty Council recommends to the Board of Trustees that all those
students who have completed the requirements of their respective degree, as
certified by the records of the Registrarís Office, be awarded the appropriate
degree at Commencement, Saturday, May 18, 2002.
AMENDMENT: J. Rosenthal moved to amend the motion to exclude
students with multiple convictions of academic violations. J. Aguiar
seconded. Following brief discussion the amendment was defeated.
The Motion was approved as originally offered.
3. Spring Enrollment Report
Chris Knauer gave a report on Spring 2002 enrollment, which totaled 6,132,
compared to Fall 2001 enrollment of 6,483: 199 graduated, 91 were granted leaves of
absence (91 have returned from LOA for Spring semester), and there were 5
dismissals and 22 administrative withdrawals for personal reasons. New this spring
were 6 freshmen, 3 transfers and 21 re-admits. (The number of new admits and
transfers was held down from last year because of high Fall enrollment.)
4. Fall Grade Submission Deadline
W. Scoones proposed that Council consider a fall grade submission deadline of six
days following the end of the exam period. In the next several years, exams will end
no later than December 22, and the grades would be due no later than December 28.
His concern is that there needs to be sufficient time to notify students of their status so
that they may make appropriate plans for spring instruction. Changing the deadline
would make grades available to academic status committees by January 2, so their
decisions may be made earlier.
C. Knauer noted that this past semester, 800 grades had not been submitted by the
morning of January 2, and 400 were still not in at the end of that day. It made little
sense to run the reports without full information, so they were held for another day,
and because they can only be run at night, it took another full day before the reports
were available. Those holding academic status meetings that next morning were
unable to review the reports before the meetings.
D. Lifton stated that this issue had been discussed and rejected by Council last year
and should be left alone for a while. He suggested that making such a change on
anecdotal incidents would be "management by exception." He added that no change
should be made until the administration has concluded its current study of the
academic calendar. There is a nationwide trend to shorten mid-year vacations and to
eliminate mid-year academic suspensions.
C. Gordon agreed, noting that the earlier deadline might interfer with holiday travel
plans and would cause hardship for faculty who might not have computer access from
some locations.
W. Scoones responded that this is a problem that will not go away and must be
resolved. In addition to the anecdotal student problems, there is the administrative
problem of faculty not turning in their grades on time, whatever the deadline might be.
How do you hold faculty responsible for things like this? Should there be sanctions?
J. Aguiar felt that the many were being "punished" for the negligence of a few, and
suggested that Faculty Council take the initiative in addressing the problem by having
the Chair write a letter of reprimand to the offending individuals.
M. MacCurdy said that she did not agree with the two-day deadline for submission of
grades enforced at some institutions. However, six days seems appropriate, even for a
department where writing is what people do, because the other parties to be
considered are the students ó who make their decisions based on the grades they
receive and who may experience stress waiting for those grades.
In response to a query by M.A. Rishel, Chris Knauer said there is not any pattern to
the offenders (large exams, departments with high number of graduate students, etc.);
the problem falls across the college. Because the issue has been raised so frequently
by the administration, she feels it is quite serious and is causing great difficulty, and
so she supports the administrationís request for a six-day grading period.
B. Smith said the real issue is the miscreants, and their behavior should not be
tolerated. He suggested that Deans be notified to take this behavior into consideration
when determining merit pay.
W. Scoones expressed appreciation for faculty willingness to assume some
responsibility. He proposed creating a small task group composed of some deans and
some faculty members to develop a proposal. He wondered if we could come up with
a standard date, December 28 or 29, noting that a pilot run was successfully carried
out in the preparation for Y2K. D. Lifton agreed that it was accomplished, but that it
didnít really work, and that the faculty were not in favor of a permanent change.
L. Bailey moved the creation of a task group to explore the problem. C. Gordon
seconded.
MOTION: To charge a task group consisting of deans and faculty members to
discuss the fall grade submission deadline and related issues and to make
recommendations.
The motion was approved.
.5. Consideration of Faculty Handbook Section on Termination for Medical
Reasons
J. Rosenthal expressed concern that the policy delineated in Vol. III, Section 3.19.4
Time Off Benefits (Medical Leave and Related Benefits) is discriminatory against
faculty, because it only provides benefit for full time employees. This policy is not
under the jurisdiction of Faculty Council. C. Gordon moved and it was seconded, to
have the matter investigated further.
MOTION: To charge the Joint Benefits Committee to look into the issue of Time
Off Benefits for part-time benefits-eligible employees
The motion was approved.
MOTION: Faculty Council recommends approval of Section 4.15.5 Termination
for Medical Reasons, as follows:
Faculty on continuous, tenure-eligible notice, or non-tenure-eligible notice
appointments who are unable to meet the responsibilities of their
appointments due to long-term illness or medical conditions may be
eligible for the Collegeís salary continuation and long term disability
benefits. Eligibility and other provisions of these benefits are as set forth in
Volume III of the Policy Manual and in the benefits summary plan,
descriptions of which are issued to all participants and available on the
Human Resources/Benefits Web site.
The motion was approved.
6. Grade Policies Study Committee
Brenna Corbett distributed two packets of information: the overheads used at the
Grade Inflation Forum on February 26, and grade data from the Registrarís Office.
She inquired about an appropriate method to have faculty and students work further
on this issue.
L. Bailey expressed appreciation for the quality of the Forum run by the students. He
has some new data from ANAC (Association of New American Colleges), of which
IC is a member. Fifteen of the sixteen schools providing information do not allow an
A+. He noted that Harvard is beginning to attack grade inflation. He feels it is
important not to delay this issue too long. The A+ is a serious major grade inflation
factor. He supported approval of the motion on the table to abolish the A+ as a course
grade. (A+ could still be given on papers.)
M. MacCurdy also praised the student forum. She suggested that it would be useful
and helpful for departments to have workshops to consider what an A, B, C, D or F
means within the department.
MOTION: Faculty Council recommends to the Academic Policies Committee
that the A+ grade be abolished.
M. Garland moved to amend the motion (J. Aguiar seconded) by substituting the
following language:
AMENDMENT: Faculty Council recommends to the Academic Policies
Committee that the academic grading scale be limited to a maximum of 4.0
rather than 4.3.
Following some discussion, D. Lifton called the question. J. Rosenthal asked the
Chair to rule the amendment out of order, feeling it completely changed the meaning
and the intent of the motion. The Chair initially disagreed and L. Bailey, author of the
original motion, agreed with M. Garland that the substituted language did convey
intent and would have the same results. Ultimately the amendment was interpreted
as a substitute motion.
The substitute motion was approved.
MOTION: Faculty Council recommends to the Academic Policies Committee
that the academic grading scale be limited to a maximum of 4.0 rather than 4.3.
The Motion was approved.
At 9:00 p.m. J. Aguiar moved to extend the meeting 10 minutes for a brief Prvoostís
Report. M.A. Rishel seconded, and the motion passed.
7. Budget Report
S. Seltzer suggested that discussion of the budget report be postponed until the April
meeting and asked for a motion to distribute the written report and summary with the
Faculty Council Newsletter.
MOTION: To distribute the budget report and the budget summary with the
Faculty Council Newsletter.
The motion was approved.
8. Provostís Report
W. Scoones noted that the 2002-2003 budget was approved by the Board of Trustees
at their last meeting. The Trustees visited Frederick Douglass Academy in New York
City during the meeting.
Several meetings have been held recently on the Workload Project. Three
presentations, each by two faculty members, were made on different approaches to the
problem.
He expressed pleasure at the strong attendance of faculty at the Grade Inflation
Forum. He feels there was good discussion on the issue and hopes more will follow.
The searches are going well. Visits from HS&HP Dean candidates should be
completed by the end of the first week following spring break. Provost-elect
Bardaglio will be included in the approval process of the successful candidate.
Selection of directors for the centers for Culture, Race and Ethnicity (CRE) and
Teacher Education (CTE) are in the final stage.
S. Seltzer noted that President Williams thanks Council for its role in recommending
the Faculty Handbook proposal that enables Peter Bardaglio to be granted tenure.
G. Brodhead announced that the Fifth All-College Symposium will be held on
Tuesday, March 26, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Presentations will be made in the Emerson
Suites and the Clark Lounge.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.