The faculty meeting on December 5th was conducted during Common Hour in Merrick.
Update on hate crime proceedings:
The Baltimore County State’s Attorney has filed five charges against former student Fynn Arthur in relation to the two hate crimes perpetrated on campus in November. This information was also addressed in an email to the student body from Dean Coker on Thursday, December 6th.
Additionally, a group of faculty has formed to create a protocol for how the Goucher community addresses campus-wide crises. During the meeting, professors Seble Dawit and Ann Duncan emphasized a large need to debrief and strategize next steps in this process. One suggestion mentioned includes a monthly all-campus gathering or assembly. More information on this matter will be provided in January.
Presidential Search Update:
Professors Phong Le, Jamie Mullaney, and Gillian Starkey are the three faculty members serving on the committee. While they made it clear that they would like to share information about the presidential search process, committee members have signed a confidentiality agreement which prevents them from disclosing much information. Professor Le, however, did note that they will be conducting a listening session from 2-3pm on Friday, December 7th in the faculty lounge. The committee will meet next on the morning of Tuesday, December 11th.
Provisional Approval of December Graduates:
Andy Westfall announced that there are 39 candidates to receive their Bachelor’s of Arts at the end of the semester. The motion to approve the candidates for receiving their diploma was approved. Candidates must still pass all required coursework before graduating.
Unfinished business: “Will we continue the work of the 2017-2018 Ad Hoc Governance Committee?”
The committee in question proposed a vision for redesigning the way that the faculty organizes itself. It released its findings at the end of last semester. During this meeting, the issues of representation, communication, and faculty members having a voice in their legislative processes were raised as key reasons for the ad hoc committee to exist in the first place.
The next step of this process is to draft legislation that changes the current processes as they exist right now. The committee’s timeline is to begin writing in Spring 2019, continue into Fall 2019, and conduct listening sessions during Spring 2020, with a final proposal of the legislation prepared by the faculty meeting in April 2020. Of the three members of this committee, at least one of them will be a tenured faculty member.
One of the biggest issues raised in the meeting was whether the vision proposed by the previous ad hoc committee must dictate the legislation written by the future committee in question. To address this, Dr. Friedman-Wheeler proposed an amendment that grants flexibility to the committee’s task. The proposed vision does not have to dictate future drafted legislation. A paper vote was conducted and the motion passed.
Two Majors Proposed:
One program was proposed by members of the Center for Data, Mathematical, and Computational Sciences. Called “Integrative Data Analytics,” this proposed major combines statistics, computer science, and data analysis to create an interdisciplinary major that can work with a number of other programs, including Peace Studies, Economics, and Public Health.
The second proposed program creates majors housed within the Center for Contemporary and Creative Writing. The two majors are Professional Writing and Creative Writing. Both use an interdisciplinary model to build on existing courses offered by current faculty.
Both proposed programs are budget neutral and are based on internally collected data that suggests that retention rates within these areas are high due to lack of competition from other liberal arts schools and interest from current students on campus.
Approval of the programs will be determined during the faculty meeting on Monday, December 10th.
