Clerk’s Committee Minutes, August 24, 2017

by Dave Dobsonin Clerk's Committeeon Posted on

Guilford College

Clerk’s Committee Meeting

August 24, 2017

Attending were Frank Boyd, Dave Dobson (Clerk), Eva Lawrence (minute taker), Alfonso Abad Mancheño, Jill Peterfeso, Kathryn Shields, Darryl Samsell, and Don Smith

  1. The committee gathered with a moment of silence.
  2. Clerk’s committee Discussed confidentiality of the discussions in Clerk’s committee. Agreed that Clerk’s discussions are not confidential unless otherwise specified, although comments by individual members of Clerk’s should not be disclosed.
  3. Nov. 1st Faculty Forum. We approved the Nov 1st faculty forum for QEP/UDL.
  4. Improving Faculty Dialogue. Discussed strategies for the Academic Dean to communicate with faculty:
  • Set up meetings with departments or groups of departments, perhaps purposely grouped across types of disciplines (e.g., not group all the natural sciences together).
  • Allot about 10 minutes at each faculty meeting for the Dean.
  • Faculty lunch is an important informal mechanism.
  • Read and be aware of conversations on the Moon Room, but do not post comments (rather, clarify issues in face-to-face formats)
  • The importance of ongoing communication between the faculty and Dean was emphasized.
  1. Faculty Handbook Revision. The previous Academic Dean had undertaken a large scale revision of the handbook, including adding new policies that had been approved (such as the revisions to the tenure and promotion process), removing outdated policies (such as the phone tree for emergencies), and updating or clarifying language of the handbook.

Next steps: Dave will create a document that highlights these changes, that he will share first with Clerk’s and then a final version will be shared with faculty. We agreed that the updated handbook will come up for approval at the first faculty meeting on September 6th.

  1. Faculty Review Process and Appeals. There are inconsistencies in the current handbook regarding how decisions are made, and Clerk’s agreed with the following processes:

Review process:

  • If there is any disagreement between FAC, the Academic Dean, and President, then it goes to the Board of Trustees for the final decision.
  • If there is unanimity for a positive review across the FAC, Dean, and President, then it goes to the Board of Trustees for the final decision.
  • If there is unanimity for a negative review across the FAC, Dean, and President, then it does not go to the Board of Trustees.

Appeals process:

  • Decisions from the appeals committee will go to the Dean, the President, the FAC, the person who filed the appeal, and the Board of Trustees.
  • The Board of Trustees will make the final decision.

Next step: Dave and Frank will work on revisions to the handbook to share with Clerk’s.

  1. Results of survey on General Education revision. The survey did not reveal any consensus on the general education curriculum. Clerk’s agreed to hold off discussions about revising the general education curriculum. However, some misperceptions about the process need to be addressed (e.g., dispelling rumors that the administration is going to change the general education curriculum without faculty approval, and perhaps clarifying the connection, or lack of connection, between the general education curriculum and enrollment). Additionally, we discussed the need to talk about the larger vision of the College and the need to build, or rebuild, a sense of spirit and community among faculty.  
  2. The meeting closed at 9:57.