By Katie Oglesby, Editor-in-Chief
President Bob Iuliano began Thursday’s faculty meeting responding to comments from Associate Professor of Biology István A. Urcuyo at the end of the last meeting. At this Nov. 17 meeting, Urcuyo expressed concern with a previous Faculty Finance Committee presentation that he perceived to be a fear-mongering attempt to sway the vote on the proposed curriculum changes by associating it with “saving” the College’s financial future.
Iuliano said he wants to do a better job explaining the linkage between the curriculum and the challenges the College faces financially.
Iuliano noted, “The curriculum belongs to the faculty and the faculty alone.”
He said the judgment of the curriculum sits with them. This led into the discussion of the Perspectives and Social Change part of the curriculum.
Proposed Curriculum Changes
Physics Professor Kurt Andresen expressed that there should be language in the curriculum allowing for bilingual and trilingual students to be exempt from the language requirement, so they no longer have to petition for exemption.
Associate Professor of English Stefanie Sobelle said that she was concerned about the breakdown of diversity credits, saying it deprioritized gender and sexuality.
When the conversation shifted to general comments on the curriculum, music professor Jocelyn Swigger said that the curriculum wasn’t perfect, but she embraced the future of it.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I’m really excited to teach it to students in the future.”
Assistant Professor of Art and Art History and member of the Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) Nick Miller responded to comments on a faculty forum about the senior seminar. He explained that while the seminar would be focused on reflection, it would not consist solely of that. He said CRC imagined it would focus on an issue with social, political, and other implications that could be tackled interdisciplinarily.
English professor and member of the CRC Melissa Forbes later addressed a faculty concern that this senior seminar would replace students’ major capstones. Forbes said it would not.
Forbes explained that she saw this senior seminar as similar to one she took in her college career, and expressed that it was one of the most meaningful courses she ever took at college.
Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Austin Stiegemeier shifted the conversation to the two first-year seminars. He expressed a concern that requiring first-year seminars to cover the first-year writing requirement would restrict the creativity of the courses, and make it difficult for art and art history professors to gain new members through a course that would introduce them to that field of study.
Chair of Latin American Studies and Associate Professor of Spanish Verónica Calvillo reacted to Andresen’s earlier comment about the language requirement. She said that the point of requiring a language is to teach not only speaking and writing, but the cultural aspects that come with language.
“I want you all to think about that before you make exceptions,” she said.
Announcements
In the final portion of the meeting, Chairperson of Physics Bret Crawford addressed a bias complaint made against physics professor Jacquelynne Millingo. He said the complaint raises issues with the bias complaint process in general, and appreciated Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Eloísa Gordon-Mora’s email earlier this week explaining that the bias reporting process would be amended over the next half of the academic year.
Crawford said the process needs transparency, timeliness—including regular updates—and dialogue to make it a less adversarial process. He said if dialogue had occurred earlier in the process, he believed Millingo would have experienced less harm.
He said he wanted there to be addressing of weaponization of the process, how he believes it can be used for political goals.
Crawford said that Millingo is not against white men, despite the claims of the complainant. As a woman in the sciences, he said she is familiar with exclusion, and has advocated for further inclusion. He said she is respected by her colleagues, and that the “slander statements” against her should not go unaddressed.
Iuliano used this as an opportunity to say Crawford’s comments underscore the importance of the bias system being improved, and that he hopes to get the committee started soon.
Provost Chris Zappe then announced four appointments to tenure: Assistant Professor of Biology Michael Caldwell, Assistant Professor of Classics Rachel Lesser, Assistant Professor for the Sunderman Conservatory of Music William O’Hara, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Alecea Standlee. They will become associate professors with tenure in fall 2023.
Zappe ended the meeting with a continuation of the conversation about gender and faculty pay that occurred last meeting.
He said, “We really do not believe there is an inequality of pay by gender.”
He said that assistant professors are hired with the same pay regardless of gender. He said disparity amongst associate and full professors occurs for other reasons, including different time to reach the promotion and the endowments given to certain chairs. He noted that if a professor believes they do have a pay inequality because of gender, they should reach out to the Provost’s Office to address it.
