Troy University Faculty Council Town Hall

SUMMARY OF CONCERNS RAISED AT THETOWN HALL MEETINGSAUGUST – SEPTEMBER, 2007 

The following is a summary of some of the concerns expressed by faculty members at the Town Hall meetings (as well as the blog site).  Please note that I have simply listed the concerns here as they were presented to me.  Any corrections/comments should be directed to the blog site – as should any issue I’ve inadvertently left out.  In addition, any suggestions for improvement on any issue in particular should also be directed to the blog site. (sblum.edublogs.org)

Shared Governance:

A lot of concern was expressed for a lack of faculty input into policy making at the highest levels  - particularly the Chancellor’s and Provost’s cabinets and the Academic Steering Committee.  Going along with this was a concern that the Faculty Council itself has no real power, authority, or respect.  Others noted with concern that the faculty have no voice or seat on the Board of Trustees, although there is a place for a student representative.  Faculty should have a role in producing academic policies.

There is also a prevalent fear among faculty members of repercussions if they speak up on certain issues or try to affect change.

DL policies seem, in particular, to often be generated outside of faculty control, and sometimes directly contradict other stated policies of the university or the discipline committees (the textbook issue, for example).

Problems with Schedule:

The change to 9-week terms has created 5 additional weeks of work for many professors, with no additional salary or adaptations in research requirements for tenure/promotion.  Some have received conflicting messages about how to handle the ninth week – some have been told simply to “not show up” for the last week, others have been told they must have classes then, others have been told they have advising or other responsibilities at those times.  This also creates a level of inequality for those professors on 9-week schedules and those on the semester system (who get a shorter term and a one week break in the middle).  The change in the schedule has also made student internships in education longer than previously.

Also, several faculty members mentioned difficulties with last fall’s scheduling of exams into too short a time period, which made grading difficult, and presented difficulties for students taking the exams.

Montgomery campus cited problems with continued lack of recognition of the stress of only teaching nights (many want to be able to teach during the day).  They state that every other business with a “second shift” gets a shift differential in pay.

Tenure/Promotion:

The very high teaching load for faculty makes conducting serious academic research very difficult.  If research is going to be encouraged and required for tenure and promotion, then the teaching load must be reduced.  Also, resources will need to be allocated to meet the new demands for research, including increasing money for the Faculty Development Committee, possibly adding graduate students as research assistants, and adding to the library.  In addition, there is a discrepancy between the research facilities available at the different campuses, often making research difficult even when faculty have the time.  Library staff have concerns about the tenure/promotion process, since many of the categories don’t apply to them (teaching, for example), and they are concerned that this may be seen negatively.

Faculty also are unclear about their role in the tenure/promotion process- how much say will the other faculty members in a department have with regards to tenure and promotion of colleagues? 

Faculty have some issues with the new system of on-line evaluations by students.  They do not seem to be generating comments from students, and only a few students complete them.  A focus on content is missing in the questions.

Academic Integrity/Freedom:

The common syllabus/textbook requirements are stifling academic freedom and integrity. Ecampus is seen as dictating too many academic decisions that may even contradict with stated university policies.  For example, various faculty reported the following problems:  ecampus adding items to faculty members’ Blackboard sites without consent, changing or adding grades without consent.  All faculty understand the need for high standards for students.

In addition, UC faculty feel that they are being required to “sell” their classes or maintain a certain level of students in order to keep their jobs. They feel this is inappropriate, and conflicts with academic integrity and maintaining high standards or having a course a student might think was “difficult.”

Staffing/Hiring Process:

There is a dearth of support staff at the Dothan and
Montgomery campuses.  In addition, faculty feel that the pay and benefits given to these staff members (particularly secretaries) is abysmal.  It makes it very hard to retain good people or hire people with more specialized skills.  In addition, if faculty are expected to be on campus 5 days a week, then the support staff should be there as well.  Although the
Troy campus has various support measures for faculty (Leadership scholars, work study students, some very limited graduate student assistants), the other campuses have none of these programs.  Even with a non-traditional student base, perhaps some of these programs could be implemented for faculty support on the other campuses.

Faculty members feel that the hiring process is overly slow.  It is difficult to get timely decisions, and this often causes departments to miss out on the prime times for faculty hiring (winter and spring).  In addition, several noted that the hiring process for higher-level administrator (deans and above) is not very transparent.  Faculty are not given a chance to meet with candidates or discuss issues.  Several faculty members expressed concern that adjunct faculty are hired to teach DL with no input or oversight from faculty members apart from the chair (unlike regular hires).

Faculty feel (at the Dothan and
Montgomery campus) that we still have far too many adjuncts and that we need more full-time faculty.  Classes are also too large, making necessary discussion groups unfeasible in many general studies classes.  In addition, new faculty need a more formal mentoring program (both full time and adjuncts).

Montgomery campus contracts begin August 15 for some, yet faculty were expected to be at work on the 13^th.  Contracts need to be appropriately altered.

Benefits/Responsibilities:

Health benefits seem inadequate and expensive.  Faculty members suggested forming a consortium with other public universities or junior colleges to increase the number of enrollees, lower the cost, and improve possible coverage.  Health insurance costs also form far too great a percentage of salary for staff.

The faculty need a lounge or a private eating/meeting area somewhere on the
Troy campus.

The parking gate on the gated faculty lot on the
Troy campus has been broken for some time and students are parking in the lot.  A sign needs to put up to make sure students don’t park there at the very least, and the gate should be fixed..

Montgomery needs a local copy center, or at least someone in the area that they can send copies to.  It is inconvenient and time consuming to send copy jobs to
Troy.  It also forces faculty to spend valuable time photocopying tests or syllabi.

The university needs to create an on-site (or nearby) day care for children from birth to kindergarten for both students and faculty.  This would cut down on absences for many students who have children and promote a more family-friendly atmosphere for faculty.

Phenix City faculty, in particular, spend an inordinate amount of time advising and registering students, especially with the change to 9-week terms.  The education faculty there have a large amount of thesis students to oversee in addition to their regular duties.  Again, this requires extra time in the office in addition to other requirements.  Also, the
Augusta campus requires more office hours than the rest of the system.

Privacy Issues:

There are concerns about who is seeing and handling personnel files.   In addition, some have concerns about private information being published on the internet without their consent.  For example, posting transcripts of faculty on line (even for SACS purposes) may be problematic because many of those documents have social security numbers on them.

Miscellaneous Issues:

While the Troy Campus buildings may be handicapped accessible, they are certainly not “handicapped friendly” – there is generally only one entrance that handicapped students can use, classroom access is limited to certain parts of the room (in GAB, for example), and sometimes faulty or aged equipment makes access impossible (with the Bibb Graves elevator, for example).

More ashtrays need to be placed around campus, particularly around building doors and sitting areas.

The library needs a new, larger building.  In addition, if more graduate programs are going to be added, it needs more money and resources.

Many faculty feel that the prayers generally held at our public ceremonies (commencement, convocation, etc.) are often insensitive to the great variety of faiths and beliefs we have on campus.  Not everyone holds to a Protestant Christian belief system as reflected in the invocations.  Some faculty would like to see the prayers eliminated from public ceremonies entirely or at least to have a rotation of leaders of different faiths/beliefs at these ceremonies (for example, one year a rabbi, one year a Muslim leader, or Hindu/Buddhist, etc.).

The university needs a recycling program.  The AC in many rooms is set much too low, resulting in a waste of electricity (lights are also left on when unnecessary).

More cross-coordination between campuses/UC is needed to eliminate having several very small enrollment classes.  Perhaps a rotating system of having one campus offer one course one semester, and another the next would increase enrollment.

A general notice needs to be sent out to all facilities of the university to notify them that they may not require social security numbers on forms.  The natatorium still requires that information prior to signing up for a membership.  In addition, faculty need to be informed about how to get their i.d. number – perhaps through a system wide email.