Faculty Council News
5 May 2015
The May meeting opened with a welcome to new Council members, approval of the previous
meeting’s minutes, and then the Chair’s comments during which Peter indicated that we are
continuing our efforts to get the Sakai site functioning fully. He also mentioned that the FacultyStaff Benefits Committee met. The status of this committee and its role is uncertain given Mark
Coldren, Associate Vice President of Human Resources departure in June.
Council’s first order of business was a unanimous approval of small changes in its by-laws; namely,
we removed mention of the Division of International Studies, which no longer exists, and corrected
the title of the Provost, who is now the Vice President of Academic Affairs. We also unanimously
approved a minor revision to the Nepotism Section of the policy manual (section 3.6.1). In short,
the word “friends” was removed from the title of that section. That motion ended the yearlong
process of revising the policy manual, which was initiated in October by Nancy Pringle, Vice
President and General Counsel for Legal Affairs. As written in the October newsletter, the revisions
updated wording in the policy manual to reflect the broader cultural concept of family.
David Prunty, Executive Director Auxiliary Services, spoke next; he updated Council on the College’s
revised policy (initially submitted at the February meeting) to make us compliant with the Higher
Education Opportunities Act, which endeavors to provide students with the full cost of a course
prior to registering. No objections were raised to the revised policy; Council thanked David for his
efforts.
Steven Skopik, Chair Media Arts, Sciences, and Studies, and Chair of the Faculty Handbook
Committee, presented revised Tenure and Promotion guidelines to Council. The revisions were
introduced last meeting, and largely reflect modest reorganization of several sections. Council
listened, commented, and thanked Steve and his committee for their efforts. We will endeavor to
vote on the revisions early in the fall semester.
A surprise visit from President Rochon followed Skopik. Tom spoke on college compliance to its
Tenure and Promotion process. In each of the last two years, as a file progressed upwards, it was
accompanied by a “media blitz “ consisting of emails and petitions, which are not part of the Tenure
and Promotion process. The President contends that these actions are not fair to other faculty,
whose files aren’t accompanied by petitions. The practice also opens the College to litigation. The
President appealed to Council and therefore the entire faculty to adhere to the Tenure and
Promotion process as written, and to let the file speak for the candidate. He indicated that if we
wanted to change the process it is our prerogative, but to do so, we have to change our handbook;
until then, in the interest of fairness and to legally comply with our guidelines, we must follow
them.
After the President’s presentation, Council held officer elections; Peter Rothbart was reelected as
Chair, Tom Swensen as Secretary, and Tatiana Patrone (Philosophy), Jason Harrington (Media Arts,
Sciences and Studies), and Jason Frietag (History) as the at-large Executive Committee members.
John Rosenthal (Math) and Scott Ericson (Marketing and Law) were elected to the Institutional
Effectiveness and Budget Committee.
The last order of business for the night, semester and year was a unanimously passed motion that
thanked Interim Provost Petrosino for her service to the College this year.
And so closes the 2014-2015 academic year, a year that saw the: roll-out of zero based budgeting;
departure of various administrators, such as Eric McGuire (VP of Enrollment), Leslie Lewis (Dean
HS), Carol Henderson (Associate Provost), Mark Coldren (Associate Vice President of Human
Resources), and Margie Arnold (Associate Dean HSHP); a 5.4 million dollar budget deficit, a
consequence of missing our fall 14 enrollment target; potential unionization of part-time faculty; a
gradual reduction in work force largely via attrition; and the introduction of a large deferred
maintenance backlog and the “blue sky” initiative, aimed to generate ideas on how we can reinvent
the residential college experience. Despite the dynamism of our year, we received around 1900
deposits for the class of 2015 and hired a new Business School Dean (Jeff Weiss) and Provost (Ben
Rifkin). In all, 2015-2016 academic years presents an opportunity for someone to seize the
moment.
As always, I am eternally optimistic and respectfully yours.
Happy summer everyone.
Tom Swensen
Secretary Faculty Council
Professor and Chair Exercise and Sport Sciences