By Katie Oglesby, Editor-in-Chief
President Bob Iuliano began Thursday’s Faculty Meeting with a brief discussion of the Supreme Court hearing two cases on race-conscious admissions.
“A diverse student body is so essential to what we do,” Iuliano said. “The commitment we make to student body diversity is foundational and enduring.”
He said the Supreme Court cannot dictate what the College’s mission is and that regardless of the decisions that the Court will release in 2023, Gettysburg College will continue, within legal means, to admit a diverse student body.
Proposed Curriculum Changes
Last meeting’s discussion concluded with a straw poll about the proposed pair of first-year seminars. This week’s meeting began the conversation about the half-credit seminars. The “Communities and Change” seminar would be in the sophomore year, and the “Senior Culmination” seminar would occur during the senior year.
Professor of Spanish Beatriz Trigo introduced the two proposed seminars. She explained that the Communities and Change seminar would focus on how students can participate in change and would be aligned with co-curricular experiences. Content would not be standardized, but they would be expected to answer a common question about how to do “unfinished work.”
The Senior Culmination seminar would be a way for senior students to reflect and think critically about their careers at Gettysburg College. They would be interdisciplinary so students of different majors could come together and approach a problem or issue from different disciplines.
She explained that two half-credit seminars would count for one teaching credit and that they would have enough faculty to cover these courses.
Professor of Economics Charles Weise said he liked the idea of the seminars but wondered if the reflection content of the senior seminar would be perceived as useful by students as they’re “on the way out the door.” He said he would prefer to see the interdisciplinary aspect pushed more than the reflection portion.
Chairperson and Professor of Religious Studies Deborah Sommer said she didn’t see the rationale for these courses and worried about how scheduling would work.
Director of Bands and professor for the Sunderman Conservatory of Music Russel McCutcheon asked whether students would be expected to take 4.5 or 3.5 classes per term, including these half-credit courses.
English professor Melissa Forbes explained that students could do either.
Chairperson and Professor of Spanish Alvaro Kaempfer said it would be complicated to allocate time for these, but liked the idea of a “college capstone.”
Though, Kaempfer noted that many of the topics and issues addressed by these seminars were already being taught.
Professor of Art and Art History Felicia Else asked whether it would end up being more work for faculty to teach two half-credit courses than it would be to teach a single one and expressed concerns about whether they would be capped at a smaller size to make it more manageable.
Forbes explained that the vision was to cap them at 16 students like the current first-year seminars are.
Later, Forbes went on to explain that the classes would also likely be once a week for 75 minutes. She and the rest of the Curriculum Review Committee imagined that professors would teach one half-credit seminar for 75 minutes on Tuesday and another on Thursday.
To address faculty concerns about who would oversee these seminars, and the role of the Provost’s Office in that, Associate Provost for Academic Assessment and Dean of Natural Sciences, Computer Science and Mathematics Darren Glass said that the Provost’s Office’s role would be limited to choosing the director of the seminar program, and, at most, having a member on the committee. The office would have no role in content or curriculum.
Associate Professor of Religious Studies David Walsh said the example syllabi for the Communities and Change seminars was “fantastic” and that he was excited about the prospect of even teaching one of the courses himself. Though, he said he had reservations about the senior seminar.
Walsh said he was worried students would see it as another requirement that they “blow off.”
The meeting shifted to discussions of finance. The discussion about the seminars will continue at the next faculty meeting.
Budget Update
The Office of Finance and Administration and the Faculty Finance Committee presented an update on the College’s budget.
They reflected on the November 2021 town hall meeting and growing concerns over the value of the College’s education and a return on investment, as well as competition with peer institutions.
Almost 80 percent of revenue is funded by net tuition and room and board. With lower enrollment (down 230 from 2018), lower net tuition (down 25 percent from 2018), and lower total net tuition revenue (down $20 million from 2018).
They said that since 2016, 31 full professors and ten associate professors took advantage of the Faculty Retirement Incentive Plans and retired.
The conversation shifted to a reflection on the January 2022 town hall meeting.
The budget was reduced by over $5 million, and this impacted every division of the College.
There are currently nine full-time faculty positions open and unfilled as the College moves toward a ten to one student to faculty ration.
The current first-year class met goals for size and aggregate net tuition revenue discussed during the January meeting.
They said the steps for further revenue growth include the increasing competitiveness of the College via integrated learning initiatives and the update to the curriculum, a comprehensive fundraising campaign, and additional education revenues through pre-college, summer online courses, graduate programs, and adult education.
The discussion ended with a reminder that peer institutions are facing similar challenges, but the net tuition per student at Gettysburg College is ten percent lower than that of like-peers, as of 2021. Endowment per student is 48 percent lower than like-peers. Operating expenditures are also lower, but the expense allocations are similar.
