Last Friday, faculty met for the third time this semester to discuss the campus master plan, the College’s reaccreditation process and changes to the faculty handbook, among other topics.

The meeting began with a eulogy for Professor of Asian Studies and History Emeritus Kidder Smith delivered by Professor of Asian Studies and Cinema Studies Shu-chin Tsui. Smith, who founded the Department of Asian Studies, passed away in October.

Following this address, President Safa Zaki acknowledged the New York City mayoral victory of Zohran Mamdani ’14 and his significance to the Bowdoin community. Zaki also discussed her recent meetings with the Board of Trustees and others to refine the campus master plan, noting she hopes to seek feedback from the community whenever possible. She also addressed the College’s continuing search for a new Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs selected from qualified faculty candidates.

Zaki then took questions from the faculty, with one faculty member asking how Bowdoin’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) can be rechartered in line with College policies. Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Engagement and Leadership Katie Toro-Ferrari and Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Jim Hoppe said that the students representing SJP should contact Toro-Ferrari and Director of Student Activities Nate Hintze if they wish to initiate the recharter process.

Senior Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Jennifer Scanlon also provided an update on the reaccreditation process. She noted that the College undergoes reaccreditation every ten years, which requires preparing for a November 2026 evaluation and reviewing reaccreditation standards. When asked about class enrollment caps and whether they could change in the future, Scanlon responded that the College is still debating given that different professors are comfortable with different class sizes.

Committee on Governance and Faculty Affairs (GFA) Chair and Professor of English Aaron Kitch and Professor of Latin and Greek Barbara Boyd separately discussed updates to the faculty handbook and urged faculty to review the changes ahead of the next faculty meeting.

Among the other topics discussed was the tenure appeals process. Professor of History and Associate Dean for Curriculum Dallas Denery clarified that all scholarly materials published at the receipt of one’s PhD counts toward tenure. Director of Sponsored Research Cara Martin-Tetreault additionally introduced a motion that aims to update ethical standards of research procedures, which passed with 97 percent voting in the affirmative while three faculty members abstained. Martin-Tetreault noted that to her knowledge the College has not had any research complaints but stressed the need to update procedures nonetheless.

Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Mary Baumgartner and Professor of History and Environmental Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Inclusion Connie Chiang also discussed changing procedures for spotlighting faculty work. They noted that the faculty research page is being updated with faculty work being cycled every few months. Further, Chiang encouraged faculty to indicate if they wished to be contacted for media inquiries.