On Friday, faculty members gathered in the Mills Hall event space for their last meeting of the semester. Topics of discussion included the size of the faculty, academic policy changes and the College’s recent Cigna audit.

Before diving into the meeting’s agenda, President Safa Zaki was joined by Professor of Art Emeritus Mark Wethli in remembering the College’s 13th president, Robert Edwards, who passed away on November 30. Zaki shared how Edwards welcomed her upon her arrival to Bowdoin and Maine, while Wethli recalled his time working with Edwards during his tenure as president of the College from 1990 to 2001.

Zaki then shared statistics on the size of the College’s faculty, focusing on the relationship between the endowment and its student-to-faculty ratio. According to 2023 statistics, Bowdoin has a higher student-to-faculty ratio than peer schools with similar endowment sizes. Zaki connected this trend to her push to increase the number of faculty at Bowdoin, noting the challenges of the simultaneous need for more classroom, lab and office space.

The Working Group on the Tenure Review and Tenure Appeal Procedures presented new language for the faculty handbook, clarifying and revising the process of awarding tenure. This language, which includes adding faculty who have formerly served on the Committee on Appointments, Promotion and Tenure to the Faculty Appeals and Grievances Committee, will be voted on during the spring semester.

The Curriculum and Educational Policy Committee (CEP) presented updates on its review of student academic policies. While the CEP did not formally present new language at the meeting, it proposed various constructive changes, such as disallowing students from changing their major or minor within two weeks of course registration and imposing a statute of limitations for students to appeal final grades.

The faculty also approved curricular implementation changes, including that of major requirements, for the next academic year.

The Committee on Governance and Faculty Affairs (GFA) reported on the Board of Trustees meetings that occurred in October. It also announced a feedback form for the new weeklong Thanksgiving break model, which has been in use since its passing in 2023. Finally, the GFA noted that Bowdoin’s chapter of the Association of American University Professors, which had been drafting language on academic freedom for the faculty handbook, has paused this effort to begin collaborating with the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs. At the end of the meeting, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Matt Orlando provided a brief update on the Cigna audit the College commissioned earlier this fall in response to faculty reports of abnormal claim denials and difficulty accessing in-network behavioral healthcare. Orlando shared that a client services representative from Cigna, joined by a member of the service team online, would begin visiting campus each month to meet with faculty.

The faculty will reconvene after winter break on January 30, 2026.