A March 2024 survey conducted by the American Association of University Professors at Oakland University (OUAAUP) shows a significant decline in faculty satisfaction on Oakland University’s campus in the past year.
The OUAAUP Workplace Satisfaction Survey was distributed to the bargaining unit faculty members at OU, with 42% of the group responding. Respondents were from all academic units and had a variety of ranks and years of service, and the information was anonymously published.
The survey found that faculty members are dissatisfied with their relationship with OU’s administration. 59.7% of respondents indicated that they strongly disagree with the statements, “Oakland administrators work collaboratively with faculty to resolve problems and disagreements” and “Oakland administrators are open to faculty-driven change.”
Additionally, more than 60% of respondents indicated dissatisfaction with the quality of communication between faculty and the university’s administration.
“We presently operate in a top-down arrangement where our chair is told which changes and cuts are coming and then the chair informs us about it. There is no dialogue with the administration about anything,” one anonymous respondent said.
The results also indicated that faculty feel undervalued by the administration, with only 25% of respondents indicating that OU’s administration values their work and 14.2% indicating they felt fairly compensated for their work.
“I am consistently physically and emotionally exhausted. This reality combined with the fact that last year I experienced a literal pay cut (my healthcare costs doubled) alongside a minuscule pay increase that didn’t match inflation and didn’t match my doubling of healthcare costs — frankly, this is infuriating, debilitating and leaves me desperate for another academic home,” one faculty member said.
Overall, only one-third of faculty reported that they agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied with their work experience at OU.
“The students know and appreciate that faculty members are essential to the university. I just wish the high-level administrators would embrace this idea as well,” one survey respondent said.
Although conducted annually, the survey is relevant in light of the upcoming bargaining between the OU administration and faculty to negotiate a new contract. OUAAUP recently hosted its third annual Collaborative Labor Panel, and four faculty members approached the Board of Trustees at their April meeting to prepare for the upcoming bargaining.
“One of the reasons we started the workplace satisfaction survey is because the university does not do it,” OUAAUP Executive Director Amy Pollard said. “The fact that the union is doing this and the university isn’t is telling of the problem in and of itself.”
Key issues OU-AAUP hopes to see addressed include compensation, respect and collaboration.
“The keen sense of dissatisfaction [in the survey] is compensation issues,” Pollard said. “Another really big change is the matter of being respected, appreciated and valued for the role they play as faculty, and a return to more collaborative working relationships between administration and faculty.”
OUAAUP officially begins bargaining in May. For more information about OU-AAUP, visit their website.
anon • Apr 17, 2024 at 5:47 PM
Hmm, why would it be so? That’s the question of the millennium. Maybe some people feel more spat in the face than “undervalued” when following the 2021 bargaining, the chief OU negotiator gets promoted to VP for Human Resources after a thorough intergalactic search for the best candidate. Then, the President follows up with an arrogant epistle on gratitude and claims, “I did not know they were not happy.” Here, “they” stands for those little critters, how do you call them… oh, yeah – faculty. That should have been a massive morale boost!