Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi Hoekstra presided over a robust agenda at Tuesday’s Faculty Meeting.
In opening remarks, Hoekstra addressed last month’s library protests, acknowledging the “broad set of perspectives” and that “reasonable people can disagree on where to draw the line” surrounding time, place, and manner guidelines for protest on campus.
Harvard’s guidelines are rooted in the University Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which she characterized as fundamentally “a guarantee of freedom of speech – including the right to protest and dissent – as integral to the values of our University.” She noted that balancing rights to free expression with responsibilities as members of a community enable the University to fulfill its central mission of “learning, teaching, research and scholarship.” She expressed support for Vice President for the Harvard Library, University Librarian and Roy E. Larsen Librarian for the FAS Martha Whitehead in her implementation of Harvard’s guidelines.
“Protests are a normal part of university life — and so are rules to govern the times and places they occur. Our current rules clearly state that libraries are not the place for organized group demonstrations,” she said.
She described the intent of the prohibition of protests in Harvard’s libraries as “safeguarding the academic purpose of these spaces for all patrons” and ensuring that “these academic spaces remain inclusive for all students.”
Hoekstra’s full remarks can be viewed on the FAS website.
Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning Nina Zipser and Dean of Administration and Finance Scott Jordan presented the 2024 FAS Dean’s Annual Report on faculty trends and the FAS’s finances, respectively.
Zipser focused on the 730 ladder faculty, a number that has remained flat over the last 10 years. She highlighted that of 85 searches, 55 offers were made – 21 to women, 22 to faculty of color, and eight to historically underrepresented faculty. Driven by a one-time Faculty Retirement Option, 25 tenured faculty retired by the end of last academic year, which was twice the average of the last 13 years under the regular Faculty Retirement Program (FRP). Of the 25 retiring faculty, 12 were women or 48 percent. In comparison, women accounted for 18 percent of all retirements from the launch of the FRP until 2024.
Jordan noted that, financially speaking, the FAS was in good health. Last year’s surplus was $16 million, and the FAS maintained unrestricted reserves of 11 percent, he noted. Restricted reserves grew to $798 million.
Karen Thornber, chair of a subcommittee on residential education for the Standing Committee on Undergraduate Educational Policy, Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, and Harry Tuchman Levin Professor in Literature and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and Amanda Claybaugh, Dean of Undergraduate Education and Samuel Zemurray Jr. and Doris Zemurray Stone Radcliffe Professor of English and Harvard College Professor, also presented new legislation to codify the College’s in-person residential model of education. Faculty provided feedback, and Thornber and Claybaugh will bring the legislation forward for continued discussion in the December faculty meeting.
Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy Parimal Patil spoke on behalf of the ad hoc Advisory Committee on Meetings of the Faculty. He presented legislation recommending rebalancing of the composition of Faculty Council, specifically dedicating three seats to SEAS to better align with Science, Social Science, and Arts and Humanities representation. A vote will be taken on this proposal in the December faculty meeting.
Scott Edwards, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Professor and Chair of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Curator of Birds in the Museum of Comparative Zoology ended the meeting with a Research Minute presentation on the evolution of avian diversity.