Last Friday, faculty met in Mills Hall for their first meeting after spring break. Topics of discussion included updates to the campus master plan, student academic policy, tenure materials, accessibility and artificial intelligence (AI). Underlying these discussions was an acknowledgement of current events and their effects on the Bowdoin community.

President Safa Zaki began the meeting by noting that the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran is causing tremendous pain to many in the Bowdoin community.

Zaki also spoke on admissions updates, thanking Senior Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Student Aid Claudia Marroquin ’06 and her team for their work. Regular decision results, released during spring break, yielded a 6.5 percent acceptance rate for the Class of 2030, the lowest in the College’s history.

Zaki then shared an early preliminary sketch of the new campus master plan’s science building. Renderings of the plan will continue to be shared in the coming weeks. Zaki explained that this process will involve further work with stakeholders and the Budget Committee, especially since it will rely more on philanthropy to protect other College priorities like financial aid and academic programs.

“We’re not being timid. We’re being strategic about our approach here,” Zaki said.

Professor of English and Chair of the Committee on Governance and Faculty Affairs (GFA) Aaron Kitch then shared various updates on GFA’s work. One involved the planned introduction of an academic freedom motion, which Kitch shared had developed into a working group. Its creation was accepted by Bowdoin’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) upon GFA’s recommendation. Kitch explained that the working group will codify improved policies in the faculty handbook, stating that building an accurate and long-lasting policy is more important than building a quick one.

Associate Professor of History Salar Mohandesi addressed a motion he postponed at the last faculty meeting, which called on Zaki to rescind newly announced campus use and expression policies. Mohandesi outlined various concerns with the policies, including their potential for double-standard applications. Mohandesi also questioned how the policies fit into a national context with increasing restrictions on speech in academic spaces.

However, Mohandesi ultimately proposed withdrawing the motion. He stated that it may not be the best way to address his various concerns, especially since the College is already planning to review the policy over the summer. Faculty approved the withdrawal.

Representatives of the Curriculum and Educational Policy Committee, Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science Collin Roesler, Registrar Martina Duncan and Dean of Students Lisa Hardej ’05 then addressed faculty to discuss student academic policy updates.

Faculty approved withdrawing a proposed motion restricting students from making changes to their programs of study in the two weeks before registration as well as postponing a vote on a new procedure for grade appeals.

A proposed revision to policy on scheduling for end-of-semester coursework, focusing on written work and oral examinations, was more contentious. Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Alejandro Cuadrado recommended a revision to the policy on oral exams, explaining that all foreign language professors are violating current policy unless they schedule oral exams in the three-hour window when written exams can take place.

Despite this revision, various faculty members raised questions about the policy’s restrictive wording. Because of these concerns, the vote was postponed until the policy change could be further revised.

Faculty then voted to adopt a statute of limitations on the timeframe in which students and alumni can request exceptions to academic policy, giving them one academic year to petition policy after the close of the year in which the exception applies.

Another motion was adopted with over 80 percent of the faculty vote, clarifying academic policies for which students may not petition the Recording Committee. These policies included earning distribution requirements that are added to a later iteration of a course they took and satisfying distribution or division requirements through independent studies or honors projects.

A final adopted motion codified the practice of first years needing advisor and dean approval to take five full credit courses.

Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige introduced a motion from the Committee on Promotions and Tenure (CAPT), meant to clarify what materials count for tenure. Various faculty indicated that they thought the proposal was an improvement to current policy but voiced concerns about what it still left ambiguous. For example, Associate Professor of Education and Chair of the Education Department Alison Miller urged CAPT to ensure that faculty still working on their dissertations are protected under the policy. A vote on the motion is scheduled for the next faculty meeting on May 1.

Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Matthew Orlando and Digital Content and Accessibility Consultant Juli Haugen then shared updates on Bowdoin’s physical and digital accessibility. Among other information, they shared that Bowdoin’s accessibility has improved over time, with a majority of academic and administrative buildings now fully accessible.

Another update came from Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Michael Cato on AI. He spoke about Einstein AI and how it is now offline as a service. It had been marketed as a product that could interact with students’ online assignments on sites such as Canvas and concerned many in higher education.

Before the meeting adjourned, Roesler reminded faculty about the Schiller Coastal Studies Center’s expanding interdisciplinary programming, including a new process allowing faculty to offer courses as a part of its program.