GF starts year with a bang

The first General Faculty Meeting always draws more professors than any other meeting of the academic year. Lured by refreshments and new faculty introductions, Conservatory and college faculty members herd into King 306 for what is also one of the longest meetings of the year.

College President Nancy Dye opened the meeting with her reflections on a summer of great change at Oberlin College. New construction projects that will significantly alter the sciences at Oberlin started or chugged along furiously, while several already existing buildings received alterations.

New faces also joined the changing landscape, with multiple additions to Oberlin's faculty and administrative staff.

"I think we are beginning what looks to be a very good year," said Dye.

The biggest issue on the docket for Tuesday's meeting was a proposal from the Student Life Committee to restructure the student organization chartering process. Dye saved the fireworks for last, though, repositioning the controversial issue after the announcement of new faculty.

Dye first brought the collected faculty up to speed on the current construction of the Environmental Studies Center and the new science center. Construction on the ESC should be completed by November, but the center will not be fully operational at that point. Dye pointed toward a second semester opening for the $6.5 million building.

While construction crews will be putting the final touches on the ESC, crews will break ground on the expansive science center in North Quad.

Dye also debriefed the faculty on the summer refurbishment of Rice Hall and the Allen Memorial Art Museum. "I was really flabbergasted at how the outside of the museum was transformed," said Dye.

In a joking fashion Dye said, "It has always been my ambition to see Rice Hall cleaned." Unfortunately, the crew in charge of cleaning the exterior of Rice used such a concentrated cleaning solution that the stone was nearly burned, resulting in the orange-tinged color now blanketing Rice. Work on the stone exterior will continue in order to correct the orange coloring.

In response to a request for scheduling "common time" for the faculty, staff and student body, Associate Professor of Mathematics Robert Bosch offered his services last semester to research the request.

What might not seem like the biggest challenge in the world actually poses a perplexing situation for the College. The College has had difficulty scheduling assemblies and community-wide events like the recent Convocation. According to Dye, Bosch's results will be presented at next month's General Faculty meeting.

Following up on another concern raised last semester, Dye announced that she has commissioned a committee to investigate the honor code at Oberlin. The committee, comprised of faculty and students, will, among other things, look to acquaint students with the code.

Dye then focused the faculty's attention on the capital campaign, which has raised $72 million, approximately 44 percent of their goal. According to Director of Development Kay Thompson, only 31 percent of the planned time frame elapsed with the acquisition of these monies.

Dye concluded her opening remarks by assuring the faculty that the College has positioned itself well in the proposed runway expansion of Lorain County Airport. Dye said, "The College has done a number of things to get its views and concerns on the table," said Dye.

Concluding her remarks, Dye introduced new Dean of Student Life Peter Goldsmith and new Dean of the Conservatory Robert Dodson. Dodson, in turn, introduced the new Conservatory faculty members after Dean of the College Clayton Koppes introduced the new college faculty members.