UNF Faculty Association

Faculty Association	February 3, 2000

Information Item #2:
Submitted by the Faculty Affairs Committee

1. How would you describe your position at the University?

Full-time Teaching Faculty 40
Administrator / Faculty 11
Adjunct / Part-time Faculty 01

2. In your opinion, which word best describes the University's efforts over the past year maintain class sizes that are small enough to ensure quality instruction?

Excellent 02
Good 26
Fair 12
Poor 10
NA 02

3. Which would best describe the University's effort to provide appropriate computer technology to faculty and students?

Excellent 20
Good 18
Fair 08
Poor 06
NA 00

4. Over the past year, how often have your classes been small enough to ensure quality instruction?

Lower Division

Always 05
Usually 07
Sometimes 07
Hardly Ever 06
Never 05
NA 19
* 3 people did not answer

Upper Division

Always 09
Usually 21
Sometimes 08
Hardly Ever 03
Never 00
NA 08
* 3 people did not answer

Graduate Level

Always 16
Usually 07
Sometimes 03
Hardly Ever 02
Never 00
NA 20
* 4 people did not answer

5. Over the past year, do you think the University has made strenuous efforts to maintain good working conditions for faculty?

Always 06
Usually 24
Sometimes 14
Hardly Ever 05
Never 03
NA 00

6. Over the past year, do you think the University has attempted to create a more positive and progressive climate?

Always 07
Usually 26
Sometimes 16
Hardly Ever 04
Never 03
NA 00

Comments

My response to question #5 is slightly altered to the negative in light of the continuing decline for summer salary opportunities for faculty. In our department, students are becoming more and more conditioned to taking courses in the summer from adjunct faculty for the purpose of avoiding rigor in some classes.

I appreciate the UNF Campus Update that is distributed daily on-line. It is an effective tool for disseminating information and saves trees! I would like to see a University-wide published weekly calendar (on-line) so ALL events - academic, social, philanthropic, athletic, etc. - can be posted in one place for easy access.

This questionnaire is way too vague.

The level of overt conflict between administration and faculty on this campus has decreased in recent years. This has led, in general, to a more pleasant and productive atmosphere in the university. Conflicts will always exist, but all parties appear now to be more dedicated to working problems out rather than viewing them as opportunities for "scoring points" or for reinforcing preferred stereotypes. This is a significant sign of progress for this institution.

We need to focus more on distance learning as an alternative delivery channel for our students. Additionally, salaries of current faculty are not competitive with market (inversion) and need to be addressed.

Class sizes (at least in freshman sciences) are permitted to get too large. Five office hours per week do not permit all students in a class of 150-200 who want to meet with faculty to do so. Faculty must choose between abandoning other responsibilities (research, service) to expand office hours, or allowing the faculty-student relationship to deteriorate through inaccessibility.

One sore point is teaching in the "portables." In terms of acoustics and temperature control, these rooms are the pits. The new faculty commons area is very nice, though so far underutilized. Higher levels of support for summer research, visiting scholars, travel, and other faculty Although this instrument is supposed to survey attitudes toward the administration's efforts, perhaps I can put in my two cents worth about the major problem I perceive at UNF now, in general. As I see it, the main problem now resides with the faculty's apathy. This apathy is, in turn, related to the way the Faculty Association (FA) functions. It seems to me that the FA has become irrelevant for most of the faculty because it has rigidified into a bureaucracy more concerned with form than substance. We have to face the fact that FA meetings do not attract the faculty because they are totally predictable and irrelevant. FA is a reactive body and the standing committee structure is not serving us well. All the announcements and committee reports could be made through the web page. The Academic Programs items are routinely passed without any debate or even questions. The faculty of UNF should only come together when there are matters of substance to debate and vote on. We should also have a mechanism to allow us to ask questions from the administration in some formal way that would endure the questions are taken seriously and answered promptly and for the benefit of everyone (again, through the Web). If UNF is going to fulfill its early promise, the faculty has to begin to exert some leadership in this institution. I could go on, but I think you get the drift. Thanks for providing a yearly opportunity to comment on the Campus Climate.

There is hope with the new administration that resources will again begin to reflect the teaching/research efforts of the institution, not an administrative buildup. Let's hope we get back to quality in our endeavors.

It appears to me that whom ever is responsible for this questionnaire believes that class size is the most important issue facing faculty. If you included questions regarding the issues of summer contracts and adjunct use, do you believe the University would look like it was improving the climate? With regard to question number 5) I always thought the faculty was the "University" -- guess in this case, the University Administration has become the "University."

Although this instrument is supposed to survey attitudes toward the administration's efforts, perhaps I can put in my two cents worth about the major problem I perceive at UNF now, in general. As I see it, the main problem now resides with the faculty's apathy. This apathy is, in turn, related to the way the Faculty Association (FA) functions. It seems to me that the FA has become irrelevant for most of the faculty because it has rigidified into a bureaucracy more concerned with form than substance. We have to face the fact that FA meetings do not attract the faculty because they are totally predictable and irrelevant. FA is a reactive body and the standing committee structure is not serving us well. All the announcements and committee reports could be made through the web page. The Academic Programs items are routinely passed without any debate or even questions. The faculty of UNF should only come together when there are matters of substance to debate and vote on. We should also have a mechanism to allow us to ask questions from the administration in some formal way that would endure the questions are taken seriously and answered promptly and for the benefit of everyone (again, through the Web). If UNF is going to fulfill its early promise, the faculty has to begin to exert some leadership in this institution. I could go on, but I think you get the drift. Thanks for providing a yearly opportunity to comment on the Campus Climate.

Working conditions also include the maintenance of a healthful and pleasant physical environment. Rarely are the restrooms fully supplied and clean, with plumbing in working order, and with all lightbulbs burning. Trash piles up in the classrooms, in the lounges, and in the hallways; further, most campus carpeting is typically very dirty, along with very dirty upholstered seats in the classrooms. The rating for these types of working conditions = HARDLY EVER!!!! Further, we have broken and discarded furniture in our lounges, in classrooms, and in hallways. Besides the potential danger they pose, such conditions make for a most unattractive environment.

The university's main priority with regard to class size must be the oversized lower-division writing classes.