Faculty Council has decided the criteria by which faculty can be nominated for the Presidential Search Committee and who can vote for those nominees.
At the Feb. 18 meeting, the council decided, after much discussion of different potential processes, that all full-time, continuing faculty will be able to nominate themselves as potential members of the Presidential Search Committee. Librarians and phased retirement faculty — faculty who are cutting back their hours in anticipation of retirement — are also eligible. In a unanimous vote the council decided that all faculty will be able to vote in a general election on who they want to see on the search committee.
The plan was proposed by Stanley Seltzer, associate professor in the Department of Mathematics. Out of the complete list of faculty nominations, voters will choose six faculty members. The nominees with the most votes from each school will be sent forward to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, which will then select three of the faculty nominees.
The call for faculty nominees was sent out by Peter Rothbart, chair of the council and professor of music theory, history and composition, via email. The deadline for faculty to nominate themselves will be Feb. 23, and the ballot will be sent out using Qualtrics by Feb. 25 and will be open to voters through noon March 1.
Much of the council’s discussion revolved around how to be as inclusive as possible with the nomination and voting process. The council considered voting on which nominees would be passed on to the board of trustees, but many council members raised the point that the selection needs to be an inclusive process.
“With this current climate, it is important to give people the chance to vote,” said David Turkon, associate professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology. “Only us choosing people to vote wouldn’t sit well.”
Seltzer said he agreed Faculty Council should be removed from the nomination process.
“I agree it should be the faculty voice. The Faculty Council should not be filtering this in any way,” Seltzer said.
Rothbart said he thinks it is important for people from all schools, races and sexes to be represented on the committee.
“We need to make sure there is a general blend of constituents on campus,” Rothbart said.
Ithaca College President Tom Rochon is set to retire early July 1, 2017, after a semester of protests led by the group POC at IC and student, faculty and staff votes of no confidence. The Presidential Search Committee will not start its search until summer and will be made up of three faculty members, one staff member and one student.
