3 SENATE SURVEY OF FACULTY OPINIONS . .999 1 van Very Agree Ge Good}. Aztec Nu Neutral may? i841 surveys were returned. Giving non-numerical values such as ?300d?: ""?umln~ a numerical value is a questionable practice and therefore no mean and. standard deviation is reported. The ?rst four columns list the percentages of responses (rounded to the nearest percent) given for each answer. For mos: who wish to look at a Single indicator. the median is prowded in the last column. My personal impression: vc Median .- g. 1. faculty morale the Senate?s focus (in, choice of issues3.. the Senate?s performance in communicating faculty 8 34 29 18 11 2? concerns to the University administration is In my view; 4. the expectation that a faulty member must pro?cient in all professional areas (teaching. research, and service) is 5. there should a cost of living adjustment for 45 42 6 3 3 satisfactory performance 6. salary increases should be based primarily on. merit 2'4 39 14 13 10 the faculty has signi?cant in?uence on University I 6 22 3? 34 dccisiuna-making the faculty has signi?cant in?uence on Cottage level 5 21 29 26 19 decision-making . 9. the faculty has signi?cant in?uence. on Department 23 42 15 It) 9 level deeisiommaking .10. the University?s governance system is 2 l? 35 29 17 11. the Uowcrsity's spending'p?onoes are 16 38 23 16 12. the University?s administrative responsivenessfaculty concerns is I rate: 13. the University President?s job pcrfonnanee as 16- 38 32 9 6 14. the University Provost?s job performance Dean's job perfommnce Department Head?s job performance working conditions job satisfaction working relations with other faculty as 39 53 6 1 1 1999 Faculty Senate COmrnents: Morale Survey: find faculty morale in my dept. to be fairly high in spite of adverse working conditions. I would like to explain my answer to each of these items on the questionnaire. Do you plan to Schedule focus groups and develop your finding more fully? 2.Under Alvin?s leadership, die Senate has become a ?Farce? 3. He should pay more attention to improving the ef?ciency of the faculty in instruction. There exist far too many little "Director?s" who receive release time from instruction. [could save thousands of dollars per semester in my department. He should pay more attention to the direction of University Athletics. We are heading for lots of trouble if a plan is not formulated soon and then implemented. 4. The Senate?s performance this year has been very disappointing. Either it has really not addressed signi?cant issues, or. if it has, has done an extraordinarily poor job or communicating its work to the faculty. Perhaps this last year?s performance. or lack thereof. is contributing to the notion that the Senate has become ineffective and should be suspended by anew University Senate. 5. The Senate has allowed itself to be preempted by the VPAA. The Senate has lost its way in an effort to get along with the VP Sc Pres. 6. The problem with the Faculty Senate is a problem of leadership. The present chair seems more interested in serving as head cheerleader for Pres. Ransdeil than in promoting Faculty issues. 7. #5 of course this requires that there is a standard which must be met to perform ?satisfactory?. This standard should not be merely the absence of of?cial student complaints. 8. It is hard to feel satis?ed when new faculty members in the University come in earning twice my salary. and especially when Iknow I am an educator. and I see results of that in my students everyday! This is even more frustrating since my efforts to get consulting to tilt the salary gap are now being discouraged with threats of consequences if I try to earn more money. 9. As for as I can tell, the Senate is ignored bymost of the most productive and active faculty. Its leadership is too easily co-0pted into fucusing on narrow agendas and swallowing the important issues. The Senate and its leaders need to wake up to the fact that we academic leadership is terrible. Dr. Burch is a junior high principal masquerading as an University Provost. A spirit of cooperation is ?ne as long as the administrators with whom the Senate cooperates are competent and reasonable. Dr. Burch meets neither of these standards. yet the Senate leadership treats her as if she demands reapect and eVen deference. wake up! '10. Provost President are micro-managing measthey said. they would not micro-manage. Both have no support from faculty or staff 1 l. i feel that faculty morale is poor mainly because we are not valued by the administration. The message we get in many forms is that administrators come ?rst. students came second. and the faculty are at the bottom. When a mass e-mail went to all faculty quoting the Institutional Review's recommendations that WKU replenishes aging faculty with new blood and do so with individuals who are nationally competitive," the faculty was publicly insulted. How can We expect our students to respect as when the administration so blatantly does not? 12. Post Tenure Review is supposed to help or get rid. of ?dead wood? faculty. 'Why doesnjt the administration get rid of curve-feats dead wood Dept heads? 13. #15 Our interim (CEBS) recently helped tile a sexual harassment complaint (against two male professors in Education) over an incident that should have been handled within the unit. The university is going to pay the price for his poorjudgement and the resulting fallout. i4. Dr. Burch needs to truly delegate decisiommaking to her Deans. Her style-of micro-managing is detrimental. Dr. Ransdellfhas emphasized decentralization, but it stops at the provost level. 15. Too much wait time, micro-management at provost level! Does-President realize we have an academic compenent? 16. Faculty morale seems to be getting worse-Pm new, but that?s my take on it! 17. Faculty morale is very low due to a mishandling of a harassment some by the Dean of COB and dept head of SISTE. The tactics of the EOE director and university counsel border on gestapo tactics. Several faculty have began looking at employment opportunities elsewhere. 1 don?t see how morale could be lower and morale will only improve when the UnivemityuDean, Dept head. EOE director and counsel-~ treat faculty professionally and as human beings! Could the faculty senate investigate this and save us! 18. #12 It?s getting better #14 Improving. but far too many decisions have been made by her of?ce with little communication with/to faculty. 19. The Faculty Senate needs more dynamic leadership, not radical restructuring-?the failure is one of personnel, not institutions. The current revamping of faculty governance is a shell game designed to reduce facolty participation in real decision making under the cover of augmenting their theoretical power. I note that almost every committee in which faculty raise true concerns is called ?inefficient? and every one which rubber stamps administrative policy is is a clear message of an administration determined to avoid true shared governance.