Faculty Beat Is Bogged Down in Amendments
At the faculty meeting on October 12, topics of discussion included revisions to the faculty handbook and constitution, updates to faculty health insurance, and the recent email about student protests.
President Audrey Bilger spoke first, as usual. She reiterated the email that was sent out last week launching Reed’s new comprehensive fundraising campaign and said she was happy to have it officially launched! Reed has already reached more than $285 million of the $350 million goal. Bilger shared that a significant pledge will endow two faculty chairs in Political Science and Creative Writing and will support the annual fund.
Bilger also discussed another email that was sent out recently launching the search for the new Vice President of Inclusion. She said that she decided to change the title of this position, as well as the department, from Institutional Diversity to Inclusion partly based on advice from Institutional Diversity Consultant Neela Rajendra and former Vice President and Dean for Institutional Diversity Phyllis Esposito. She shared a quote that diversity is about numbers, inclusion is the practice, and equity is the goal. Bilger then opened the floor for questions.
Professor of Theatre Kate Bredeson asked for clarification regarding the email sent out by the Presidential Council on Campus Climate (PCCC) on September 22 regarding protests, which read, in part, “If a protest interrupts a class or blocks access to a campus building and protesters refuse to make a safe clearing for access, Community Safety and/or Student Life will document the names of the individuals involved and refer the matter to the appropriate adjudication group. This is a change in how Reed will respond in these circumstances, and we want everyone to understand it in advance.” Bredeson asked, on behalf of herself and others, what the change is and what everyone is supposed to understand in advance.
Bilger invited Dean of the Faculty Kathy Oleson to respond, as Oleson was prepared to talk about this topic anyway. Oleson said that if access to a building is being blocked so that people cannot get through, the folks blocking access would be asked to move. If they did not move, Community Safety or Student Life would document the people involved and go through accountability processes, which is a new change. Oleson said that in the past, it has been unclear what has been happening in such situations, and the PCCC wanted to provide transparency. They hope that if people are blocking a doorway, they will simply move.
Bredeson pointed out that Reed has a long history of building occupations and asked what will happen to the names of people on those lists. Oleson said they would go to J-Board or other groups. Bredeson asked if this means that if students, faculty, or others are blocking rooms, they will be “J-Boarded.” Oleson said that there are often informal or restorative processes that happen before a J-Board case, and expressed confusion about what being “J-Boarded” means. Vice President of Student Life Karnell McConnell-Black, clarified that there are a number of processes that the college already has, depending on the level of egregiousness relative to policy violations, and that informal resolutions are still an option.
Oleson then transitioned to her report. She shared an update from the Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Documents and Processes: motion 1 on the Faculty Bylaws was passed handily, and the special faculty meeting on September 23 passed motions 2 and 3. She noted that it will take some time for everything to be updated on the website, especially as some content moves to and from the course catalog. Oleson shared her appreciation for the members of the committee. She also reminded faculty about the new Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Misconduct, which was announced in an email last week, and thanked the committee members for doing that important work.
Professor of Physics Alison Crocker then provided a report from the Committee for Academic Planning and Policy (CAPP). She brought a slate of new courses to be approved from the Art, Dance, French, and History departments, which were approved unanimously. She also shared proposals for three new off-campus study options—the Bard College programs in New York City, Berlin, and Hong Kong—which were also approved unanimously.
Up next was Professor of Math Angélica Osorno with the report from the Committee on Advancement and Tenure (CAT). She first reminded faculty to submit letters of evaluation for their colleagues; the deadline has passed, but letters are still helpful, and sooner is better, she said. Osorno then moved on to discussing proposed updates to the Faculty Handbook and Constitution regarding areas of faculty evaluation. The handbook requires a simple majority vote and it was voted on in the meeting, while the constitution requires a 2/3 vote and will be voted on via electronic ballot.
The first major piece of discussion around these changes was that they don’t want one of the updates to pass and the other to fail, but there was some confusion about how to make this happen. Eventually, faculty worked their way to an amendment to the handbook amendment that it will only pass if the constitutional amendment goes through, which passed.
Several professors also had concerns about a line in the updated constitution that read, “Every faculty member is expected to participate conscientiously in the evaluation of their colleagues.” Because of where this sentence was placed in the section on evaluation, some were worried that it could be read as suggesting that faculty members would be evaluated on their evaluation of others. Professors pointed out that this makes writing letters for one’s colleagues seem like an obligation, when they think it should instead be something you choose to do, that it’s unclear whether this applies to junior faculty members who don’t know anyone yet, and that the meaning of this line may be unclear in five years. Some suggested that they might as well continue exhorting faculty to submit evaluations through other means. Ultimately, the faculty voted to strike this sentence from the revised constitution.
GLAM Professor Sonia Sabnis and Computer Science Professor Erica Blum also asked about a line in the section on teaching that said that professors should teach to both students in the major and not in the major, which they pointed out depends a lot on which classes one is teaching. Does this mean everyone should try to teach intro-level classes? Would the absence of strong evidence of teaching non-majors negatively impact an evaluation? Osorno clarified that, ideally, everyone should teach all the students who are in their classes excellently regardless of their students. She added that CAT would take into account how departments choose who teaches which classes.
Professor of Physics Jennifer Heath asked about the section that describes the length of the probationary period as being eight semesters, which she thinks does not reflect current practice. Osorno clarified that changes have not been made to some other parts of the Constitution that include what happens for professors coming in with significant time in other institutions, and that it is still fine if one comes up for review before eight semesters.
The amendments to the handbook passed, and the amendments to the constitution will be sent out via electronic ballot.
The next speaker was Assistant Director of Human Resources Cypress Williams with updates on the health insurance renewal. She shared that this is the season when HR looks at benefits and evaluates options, and that there are pretty significant rate hikes. Currently, Reed offers two Kaiser plans: Core and Dual Choice. Both plans will have an increase in out-of-paycheck costs for the next year. Dual Choice, which currently has 26 participants, will remain available to the current participants, but new participants will not be able to join Dual Choice moving forward. Additionally, they are adding a third new medical plan to their options. The new plan has a higher deductible but a lower out-of-pocket maximum than the current traditional plan. The new plan also includes a Health Savings Account (HSA), rather than a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), which is an option in the current plan. In an HSA, unused funds carry over from year to year, whereas funds must generally be spent within the plan year in an FSA.
Williams said that Open Enrollment will run from November 1 to 16, which is the window in which participants can switch plans. If they don’t take action, they’ll stay in their current plan. She also encouraged the audience to attend one of the upcoming info sessions.
Professor of Sociology Marc Schneiberg asked if there’s any sense of how much longer the Dual Choice program will remain an option. Another professor also asked if HR is aware that, for some people, having the Dual Choice option is a matter of “life or death.” Williams said that there is no sense of how much longer the Dual Choice plan will exist, but that it is not being ended, just closed. She acknowledged that it’s hard to find a solution that meets everyone’s needs.
Bredeson pointed out that two of the four info sessions are during fall break, when many professors will be traveling, and that they are all at noon, when many are teaching. Williams said that they are hoping to hold more info sessions in the future, and that they will be recorded. She said they thought there were the fewest classes at noon but apologized for the time not working for everyone.
Other questions included whether the new plan will allow people to go outside of Kaiser and remain in network (it will not), whether dental plans are changing (they are not), and whether there will be information about benefits for retirees or those who came to Reed before 2006 (not at these info sessions). One professor requested that HR be more transparent about how the data from their surveys is involved in decision making. Williams noted that many survey responses are very divided, almost 50/50.
There was no new business, so the meeting was adjourned. The next faculty meeting will be on Monday, November 16 at 4:10pm. Students interested in attending should contact presidentsoffice@reed.edu.
