Fall 2023 State of the University Survey Findings Report
The Truman State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) conducted a survey of faculty to assess their opinion on four distinct topics: proposed academic reorganization, technology issues, new chair selection processes, and overall campus climate issues. This report summarizes our findings from this Fall 2023 survey. Full results are available as a PDF (please note that in the scales under each question 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree, with 4 = neither agree nor disagree).
Individual comments that have been shared here are not representative of AAUP’s position as an organization. We trust that readers of these survey results will consider the overall message, themes, and implications therein. AAUP does not condone hate speech, or anything that might be construed as hateful rhetoric, in any form. AAUP values transparency and does not edit or censor faculty voices. AAUP’s primary focus is to advocate for faculty rights, and to ensure that the faculty perspective is considered and valued at all levels of decision-making.
Response Data
The survey was conducted from September 22-29, 2023, and 109 respondents submitted the survey. Most questions were not required, and required questions connected to schools, tenure status, and years of service allowed for a response of “Prefer Not to Answer.” 66.1% of responses were from tenured faculty, 12.8% were from tenure-track faculty, and 15.6% were from non-tenure track faculty. Faculty respondents were from all five schools, with the most responses from the School of Social and Cultural Studies and the least from the School of Business. Many of the campus climate section questions were worded to match our routine AAUP State of the University Survey questions.
Results Summary
Overall, faculty responses demonstrated concern and skepticism regarding the proposed reorganization plan and how the final plan was communicated to faculty. Faculty respondents noted consistent problems with Truman technology and administration communication regarding technology. The majority of faculty responses were negative or neutral regarding the new chair selection policy’s impact on chair leadership quality as well as its compliance with the values of shared governance at Truman. The campus climate responses showed low faculty morale and low feelings of value among faculty, which are lower than those from three years ago. 75.2% of faculty supported their colleagues in bringing a collective bargaining unit (a faculty union) to Truman, which was an increase since the AAUP’s 2020 Survey.
Section I: Truman’s Reorganization
Overall, faculty responses demonstrated concern and skepticism regarding the proposed reorganization plan and how the final plan was communicated to faculty.
First, faculty demonstrated uncertainty about the benefits of the proposed reorganization plan. Only 16.7% of respondents agreed that the proposed reorganization plan would benefit their department more than the current structure, while roughly half of respondents saw the proposed reorganization plan as detrimental to their department. Moreover, 66.3% of respondents said that the reorganization plan will disproportionately hurt some disciplines or programs. Of those, more than half strongly believed that some disciplines/programs will be disproportionately hurt. The majority of faculty responses were negative or neutral on faculty recruitment and retention benefits of the reorganization plan. Faculty responses were overall neutral about the benefits to students by this plan and neutral (with more negative) about the benefits for interdisciplinary work.
Second, faculty respondents expressed consistent concern regarding the processes by which the reorganization plan was decided, rolled out, and communicated. 81.4 % of faculty respondents did not believe the rationale for reorganization changes had been effectively communicated to faculty. 74.6% of respondents did not believe that the administration operated in a transparent manner in the creation of the reorganization plan. Only 15.8% of respondents agreed that the administration has valued faculty responses to this reorganization plan. 63.5% of respondents agreed that university administration should have an open faculty forum to discuss faculty concerns about the reorganization plan. Only 14.9% of faculty agreed that they felt excited about the reorganization plan.
Section II: Technology Issues
Classroom technology seemed to be the most problematic technology area, with faculty respondents noting that they faced classroom technology issues sometimes (42% of respondents) and often (47% of respondents) this semester. 68% of faculty respondents had problems with email this semester. 72.4% of faculty said that the administration has not communicated effectively regarding technology issues this fall. In regards to the Spring 2023 hacking event, 36.1% of faculty agreed that the administration “effectively communicated” with faculty and 47.3% disagreed.
Section III: Chair Selection
The majority of faculty responses were negative or neutral regarding the new chair selection policy’s impact on chair leadership quality as well as its compliance with the values of shared governance at Truman. Only 17.1% agreed that the new Chair Selection policy will improve chair leadership quality. 12.1% agreed that the new Chair Selection policy supports the values of shared governance.
Section IV: Overall Campus Climate
Faculty responses to campus climate questions demonstrated low faculty morale and low feelings of value among faculty, which were lower than those from three years ago. We used comparison data from the 2020 Truman AAUP State of the University Survey to show some changes in campus climate over the past few years.
Only 12% of faculty respondents agreed that their salary and benefits adequately compensate them for their work, compared to 22.6% in 2020. 76% of respondents did not agree that they were adequately compensated, compared to 67% of respondents in 2020. In 2023, only 5.5% of respondents agreed with the statement, “Morale among faculty is currently high,” and 87% of respondents disagreed that faculty morale is high. In 2020, 11.6 % of respondents agreed that faculty morale was high and 71.2% disagreed that faculty morale was high.
The low levels of morale and value extend to other questions as well. Only 20.2% of respondents agreed with the statement “I feel valued by this university,” whereas 64.2% of respondents disagreed that they felt valued. Only 10.3% of faculty agreed that the administration values faculty participation in decision-making. In addition, 28.7% of respondents, down from 44.8% in 2020, agreed with the statement, “My personal commitment to Truman and to the programs undertaken here is as strong as ever.”
In regards to upper administration, the majority of respondents were negative or neutral towards President Sue Thomas and Provost Eric Freedman’s ability to lead. 30.3% of respondents agreed that they felt confident in President Thomas’s ability to lead the university. 19.2% of respondents agreed they felt confident in Provost Dr. Freedman’s ability to lead Academic Affairs. Only 13.1% of respondents agreed that the “university is heading in the right direction” and 58.8% disagreed with that statement. 65.1% of respondents were not confident in the administration to lead Truman.
75.2% of faculty supported their colleagues in bringing a collective bargaining unit (a faculty union) to Truman, which was an increase since the AAUP’s 2020 Survey.