Faculty Beat Wonders what Happened in Executive Session
At the faculty meeting on September 14, topics of discussion included recent developments in federal regulations affecting international students, a new transfer credit form, the college’s increasingly negative financial situation, and the recent resolution with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.
The meeting began by approving the minutes from the August 25 meeting, which were unanimously approved.
President Audrey Bilger spoke first, sharing her appreciation for the new students who have arrived. She also acknowledged the challenges being faced by Reed and colleges around the US, including the rise in AI, the demographic cliff, and repeated direct threats from the federal government. There are new rules threatening to revoke the tax-exempt status of schools, especially regarding minority students. Bilger said that the administration is looking into what they can do to respond and is joining forces with other organizations and peer institutions. Bilger said she has sought to respond by being measured and careful, not jumping ahead to comply with things we don’t need to comply with, and not jumping ahead to make decisions that seem beyond what we can do. She said she seeks to defend our community and academic freedom.
Bilger said her big priorities for this year are to continue remaining vigilant to safeguard the institution, managing college resources in light of enrollment challenges (even while launching the public face of a comprehensive campaign that’s been going on for years), and increasing graduation and retention rates. She shared that last year’s four-year graduation rate was 68%, the highest figure in ten years. There were gains in first-to-second year retention, rising from 87% to 92%; in second-to-third year retention, rising from 79% to 83%; and in third-to-fourth year retention, rising from 74% to 81%.
Bilger also addressed new developments regarding regulations affecting international students and invited Director of International Student Services (ISS) Gwen Sandford to provide more information. According to Bilger and Sandford, the Department of Homeland Security issued a ruling this summer that would have affected international students, replacing the “duration of status” structure for people who hold certain visas (which allows international students to remain in the United States for the duration of their academic program) with fixed admission dates. This ruling would have had significant impacts on many international students at Reed and was supposed to go into effect on September 15.
However, a lawsuit was brought against this ruling by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, to which Reed belongs. Just a few hours before the faculty meeting on Monday, a federal court ruled to postpone the DHS ruling indefinitely. Sandford acknowledged that many questions remain unanswered, and said that ISS will continue advising international students in the face of uncertainty. She said that all F and J visa holders who would be affected by this change have been enrolled in a Moodle course with advising resources, and an update would be sent out to all international students Monday or Tuesday.
Next to speak was Kathy Oleson, Dean of the Faculty. She shared that the final committee list went out last week and folders for committees have been set up. She also said that the Committee for Academic Planning and Policy (CAPP) has started talking about short and long term changes in faculty FTE as part of the college-wide budget reduction, but the committee will work out specific details later. Finally, Oleson reminded faculty that there will be a special faculty meeting on the Faculty Code next Wednesday, September 23.
Registrar Jason Maher then provided some updates. He shared three staffing updates from the Registrar’s Office: Ben Bradley is now the Data and Systems Analyst, Sean Murphy is now Assistant Registrar for Transfer Credit and Grading Processes, and Chase Collins is now Assistant Registrar for Curriculum Management and Academic Scheduling. Additionally, Maher said that the academic policies section of the course catalog has been updated to be better organized and the new distribution requirements have been updated in the catalog, SOLAR, and ATLAS. He noted that returning students have a different catalog year, so the requirements listed for them will still reflect the old requirements. Furthermore, two curriculum changes have been updated in the systems: students can now take semester-long dance studio courses for academic credit and also have them count toward PE, and statistics courses are now listed separately from math courses. For continuing students, stats courses can still count as the equivalent of a math course for the 2-in-1 distribution requirement; advisors can email the registrar to have this counted.
Maher shared that the transfer credit form has been updated and is now electronic. There are two separate forms: one for general transfer credit, and one for off-campus study. This change is due to the increase in transfer credit in recent years. Students now need to fill out the form before registering for off-campus courses. He also said that there are new regulations in process for transfer credit from the Department of Education. If those regulations are approved in November, they will go into effect in July. The regulations would require institutions to provide a transfer credit evaluation for incoming students at the time of acceptance, assume transfer credit when coming from accredited institutions, and give an opportunity for students to challenge if credit was not accepted. Finally, he reminded faculty that final grades for this semester are due on December 28 at 9am.
Next was Professor of Economics Jon Rork, representing the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and the Digital Accessibility Steering Committee (DASC). For the CTL, he reminded faculty about the CTL visits program, where another faculty member can come in and teach a class for a day, and the CTL book club, which is currently reading The Opposite of Cheating. There are also two CTL pilot programs being run, which got more engagement than expected: they are organizing something for people interested in learning about Claude, which had 39 people interested, and they are running a device-free pilot in 20 classes. For DASC, Rork said that the digital accessibility policy on the website has been updated, and there will be some upcoming info sessions. He also clarified that DASC is not going to put faculty in a position where they can’t teach the way they did before; if part of their teaching cannot be made digitally accessible, they will not be forced to stop doing it.
The next speaker was Professor of Chemistry Mir Bowring for the Faculty Committee on Diversity (COD). They reminded faculty of the importance of a diverse pool when hiring, that there will be a link sent out to sign up for the LGBTQIA+ faculty and staff affinity group, and that CTL and COD combined lunches will start up again Thursdays after faculty meetings.
Next, Professor of Physics Alison Crocker provided a short report from CAPP, chiefly stating that the time for assessments of departmental distribution requirements is changing. All assessments will now happen in the fall, with the exception of comparative literature and HUM 110.
Professor of Mathematics Angélica Osorno shared a similarly short report from the Committee on Advancement and Tenure (CAT), mostly reminding faculty to write letters for their colleagues by October 1. Additionally, CAT is currently reviewing the language on teaching and service in the faculty handbook and will come back with what will hopefully be the final language soon.
The next presenter was Gil Villanueva, Interim Dean of Admission and Financial Aid. He shared a long list of statistics about the incoming class. Highlights include that there were 7,969 total applicants (1,630 fewer than last year) 2,443 admitted students, with a 30.7% admit rate; and 281 deposits, with a 15.5% yield rate. There are an additional 21 deposited transfer students (out of 343 applicants and 68 admits). 44.5% of first-year students are domestic students of color, 8.4% are international students, and 2.1% are US permanent residents. They come from 38 states and 17 countries. Importantly for the subsequent discussion, the discount rate is 57.5%, which effectively means that 57.5% of tuition is being covered by financial aid. The net tuition revenue (what the college is making per student) is $31,443. For transfer students, the discount rate is lower, at 22.7%, with an accordingly higher net tuition revenue of $57,168. His conclusion was that Reed should continue to encourage transfer students, because they bring the college more money.
Professor of Political Science Peter Steinberger asked if we should consider reinstating required SAT scores, as many other institutions are doing. Bilger said that the relevant committee has been discussing this question.
Next to present was Lynn Valenter, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer. She shared several graphs showing a decline in net tuition revenue over the past four years, due to a decline in enrollment and an increase in discount rate. This leads to a trend of increasing negative net operating results, where the college is spending more money than it brings in. The last time the college was above its budget was in fiscal year 2023. Valenter said that last year Reed budgeted for a $4 million loss and ended at a $3.8 million loss. This year (fiscal year 2027), Reed budgeted for a loss of $9.8 million, which they’ve reduced to $9.5 million. Associate Professor of Chemistry Nicole James asked whether Reed has control over the discount rate, given that Reed says it meets 100% of demonstrated financial need. Bilger said that the college can’t guarantee who accepts its offers, but it has been offering some no-need (merit-based) aid, which is a subject of discussion.
The final business of the meeting was a discussion of the recent anti-discrimination settlement with the ADL via the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, which was requested at the previous faculty meeting. Bilger proposed going into an executive session, which was approved almost unanimously. This meant that all staff and student observers, including the Quest, were asked to leave, so we do not know what the faculty had to say about the resolution.
The next faculty meeting will be a special meeting on the Faculty Code on Wednesday, September 23; the next normal meeting will be on Monday, October 12. Students who are interested in attending should contact presidentsoffice@reed.edu.