AAUP Statement to Board of Governors (October 20, 2023)
The AAUP’s mission is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.
Truman’s AAUP chapter periodically conducts a State of the University survey to assess critical issues that we are facing. In late September 2023, the Truman AAUP chapter surveyed Truman faculty opinion regarding 4 topics: overall campus climate, proposed academic reorganization, campus technology issues, and the new chair selection processes. 109 faculty members responded to the survey.
On Monday we released the full, unedited results of the survey to faculty members, the administration, the Board of Governors, and posted it to our webpage https://aaup.truman.edu/. If you have not already done so, we encourage each of you to take the time to read carefully over the survey results and consider their implications for the governance of the University. We have also welcomed a meeting with President Thomas and Provost Freedman to meet with our AAUP chapter to discuss the survey results. In addition, we would like to see this survey and the serious concerns it raises as a discussion item on your December agenda.
We would like to summarize briefly the major findings from the survey:
First, faculty morale is at catastrophically low levels, and faculty responses to questions about their worth and value to the university administration were alarming.
- Only 5.5% of respondents agreed with the statement, “Morale among faculty is currently high.”
- Only 12% of faculty respondents think that their salary and benefits adequately compensate them for their work.
- Only 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.”
Second, faculty had largely negative or neutral attitudes towards the administration and their ability to lead.
- 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.
Third, the proposed reorganization plan’s benefits are unclear, and its rationale has not been clearly 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.
- 66.3% of respondents said that the reorganization will disproportionately hurt some disciplines or programs.
Fourth, faculty are frustrated by consistent technology problems, and administration communication has been inadequate. Faculty are critical of the new chair selection policy. They do not see benefits to chair leadership quality, and they see considerable costs to principles of shared governance.
Lastly, on a positive note, 75.2% of faculty supported their colleagues in bringing a collective bargaining unit (a faculty union) to Truman, which is an all-time high.
AAUP champions shared governance and university transparency, and we hope that you read our survey, consider the results, and reflect on the roles of administrators and the Board of Governors to improve faculty morale and campus climate. We know that campus climate is a key facet of the strategic plan, and we trust that the Board of Governors will champion a plan to rebuild it.
Thank you for your time.
The Truman State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)