To:	Members of the Board of Trustees
cc:	Barbara Mossberg
From:	The Undersigned Faculty
Date:	March 17, 1999

(Note: This letter, drafted on the basis of faculty discussions at its March 4 meeting, was approved via e-mail by those listed at the end, including both campus-based and off-campus faculty.)

We are writing to express our concerns about and responses to various actions taken by the board at its recent meeting. While we are heartened to hear of the board's continued initiatives in fundraising, we have serious concerns about other issues that we would like to address.

First of all, we were reassured to see in the resolution arising out of the board's executive session your commitment to maintaining consistent and coherent governance processes, as required in the NEASC standards of accreditation, ¹ and as outlined in the governance document approved by the board in 1994. While we understand that some minor adjustments in our current governance system may need to be made as a result of the collective bargaining process (such as a redefinition of the function of the personnel committee), we look forward to our participation, either as a group or through our elected representatives, in the governance processes as outlined in the governance document, including faculty participation in a community-wide process for recommending budget priorities.

As we assume was clarified in your discussions, and contrary to statements made in the president's report to the board, the current document did not have a five-year time limit, but continues in effect. ² We intend to adhere to its provisions, and hope that the board will make clear to the administration the necessity to do the same. In that regard, we are particularly concerned about the provisions in the document calling for the involvement of representative search committees in all hiring processes, and those defining the faculty's responsibility for the oversight of all academic programs and policies, as explained below.

Consistent with the provisions of the governance document ³ and with NEASC standard 3.7 ⁴, we look forward to exercising our right and responsibility to review any new program proposals that the board academic affairs committee has been discussing. These sound like potentially promising new initiatives and we look forward to reviewing any proposals that the president would like to submit to us.

We look forward to the opportunity to work in collaboration with you and the administration to continue to move the college forward.

Respectfully submitted

[Editor's Note: signed by 33 faculty]

1. From NEASC Standard 3.2: "The authority, responsibilities, and relationships among the governing board, administration, staff, and faculty are clearly described in a constitution, by-laws, or equivalent document, and in a table of organization that displays the actual working order of the institution. The board, administration, staff, and faculty understand and fulfill their respective roles as set forth in the institution's official documents."
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2. Neither the governance document itself nor the board minutes from the meeting at which the report of the governance task force was accepted (February 1994) mention any such time limit.
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3. From the governance document: "The faculty, in collaboration with the Dean for Academic Affairs, has the authority to establish and to review policy on: all curricular matters including the creation, design, and implementation of new programs, substantial change or elimination of programs, and the evaluation of all educational programs; teaching quality, including criteria for the hiring and evaluation of faculty, and matters of faculty development; staffing needs of educational programs, including the recruitment, selection, and approval of new faculty (in accordance with established personnel policies); general standards for admission; criteria for degrees; the granting of all credits and degrees, including honorary degrees; academic freedom with its accordant rights and responsibilities; and other matters referred to it by the President."
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4. From NEASC Standard 3.7: "The faculty assures the educational integrity of the institution's educational programs. Within the context of the institution's system of governance, the faculty is accorded the right and exercises its responsibility to provide a substantive voice in matters of educational programs, faculty personnel, and other aspects of institutional policy that relate to its areas of responsibility and expertise."
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