Posted by Alex Brehm
On Friday, Dec. 3 the faculty discussed and voted on new policies, including the acceptance of online classes in transfer credit.
Acting President Susan Kress began the meeting by reporting on recent social activities on campus, such as the recent Beatlemore Skidmania concerts, which raised more than $3,000 in funds to local food pantries.
Dean of Academic Affairs Rochelle Calhoun spoke about the success of several athletic teams, including women's field hockey, which competed in the national competition, the men's basketball, which played a record-setting game with seven overtimes against Southern Vermont, and swimming, which beat Vassar College for the first time in Skidmore history.
The faculty voted to confer degrees and honors on 20 students who will graduate at the end of the fall semester.
The faculty eliminated the sociology-anthropology interdepartmental major from the college catalog.
The college has been systematically eliminating interdepartmental majors for months under the rationale that students are better served with a major and minor in the two associated departments, or a double major.
The faculty turned to the question of whether or not the college should accept credits from online classes for transfer students.
Proponents said that transcripts from other schools do not note whether or not a class was taken online, making a policy of denying online classes unenforceable.
A professor said schools using online classes are usually large universities or state institutions, and denying credit to students from these schools could harm the diversity of transfer students the college could expect in the future.
Opponents of the new policy said that online classes are not in keeping with the tradition of a small college that values close interaction with professors.
One faculty member said that the acceptance of online transfer credits would create a chain of events that would make online Skidmore classes more acceptable in the future, which would ultimately diminish the college educational experience. Despite criticisms, the measure passed.
The faculty will not meet for another general meeting until Feb. 4 in the spring semester.