The Faculty legislative body convened on March 2 for their monthly meeting, approving a GEC name change, discussing changing transfer credit policy, and receiving updates on committees and Bates College as a whole.
1. Bates Finances
Bates Chief Financial Officer Geoff Swift reviewed college finances, going over the budget model and noting a budget for the 2026 fiscal year of $148 million, three quarters of which comes from tuition single fees. Last fiscal year, he mentioned, had a modest deficit of $300,000, relying on reserves to support the operating and capital investments the college made, adding that “fiscal 2026 will show a larger deficit.”
Swift noted Bates’ recent “good stuff,” including productive investments, a return to a fuller staff, and the college’s continuing strength in attracting and retaining students. However, Swift, commented on Bates’ relatively low financial aid rate, lowest amongst a set of 26 peer schools of NESCAC and other small liberal arts colleges. He also remarked that the college is ranked 17th among the same peerset for capital expense (the amount they spend) per student.
“We are more reliant on student tuition single fee revenue than our peers, and we may need to devote more resources to financial aid in the future,” he shared.
In an update on student enrollment, Swift commented, “We have seen a modest decrease in enrollment as pandemic dynamics move through and the large class of 2025 has graduated without a large class backfilling them.” Since 1,730 students are currently enrolled out of anticipated 1,800, the college is looking for “a little more” than 500 students in the admissions cycle this year to compensate for underenrollment.
2. Transfer Credit Policy May Change
While the current transfer credit policy only permits Batesies to transfer a total of 4 credits from other institutions toward their Bates degree, in addition to approved study-abroad programs, legislation introduced by Professors April Horton and Barry Lawson would change this policy to include a potentially unlimited number of additional credits from approved partnerships with other academic institutions.
The programs would be a part of transfer articulation agreements, where two acredited institutions pre-approve courses for students of one institution to take at another institution. Bates currently has 1 articulation agreement, which is with the Roux Institute. The Roux Align courses enable students to take pre-approved courses on computer science or data science concurrently with their Bates curriculum.
The proposed policy change is meant to provide students with opportunities to pursue advanced pathways and build relevant skills without those students having to decide between those courses and applying AP/IB/A-level credits. Though the proposed policy does not include a limit on the number of articulation agreement credits able to be transferred, Horton expressed she expects faculty will find “a logical cap” as they discuss the legislation.
3. Committee for Public Art Under Consideration
Museum of Art Director Carrie Cushman brought a proposal to the committee to create more public art and to advise the campus community on the creation of any public art installations. Though the Bates Arts Collaborative (BAC) promotes and advocates for the arts across campus, BAC has limited capacity in regards to institutional public art processes and advising.
Professor of Art and Visual Culture Cat Balco shared that she receives a high volume of inquiries about public art from students wondering if they can display their art, alumni reaching out, and more. She mentioned it would be exciting for the campus community to be able to facilitate this kind of work, noting the potential impacts of being more thoughtful about the spaces community members do their work in.
4. GECs No More, “Concentrations” From Here On
The faculty voted to officially change the name of the “General Education Concentration” (GEC) to “Concentration.” As the Academic Affairs Council noted in their proposal in the February Faculty meeting, the name GEC is generally unclear to potential students, graduating students, and new faculty.
The name change will not change Bates official transcripts, as GECs already show as “Concentrations.” Though some majors have used “concentration” to refer to a focus within a major, they will be using the term “track” going forward.
5. Faculty Record-Keeping Legislation Passes
The Committee on Faculty Governance passed legislation on the record-keeping policies of faculty meetings as part of a project updating and clarifying faculty’s governance through a shift to digitization.
The new legislation determines official records “are to be labeled and made accessible to faculty via a digital repository,” such as Google Drive. For permanent storage of paper circulated minutes and supported documentation, “at least one complete paper copy of each set” will be retained and follow the existing policies and proceedures of the Muskie Archives.
