Faculty Survey Reveals Differences in Perspectives on Campus Climate by Race and Gender

Title: Undergraduate Teaching Faculty: The HERI Faculty Survey 2016-2017

Authors: Ellen Bara Stolzenberg, Kevin Eagan, Hillary B. Zimmerman, Jennifer B. Lozano, Natacha M. Cesar-Davis, Melissa C. Aragon, Cecila Rios-Aguilar

Source: Higher Education Research Institute

The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) has collected data from over half a million faculty at more than 1,100 colleges over the past three decades. The 2016-17 HERI faculty teaching survey highlights differences in perception of campus climate among faculty members.

Among the most salient findings, the new report reveals:

• More than half of female faculty of color consider discrimination a somewhat or extensive source of stress, compared with just 13.9 percent of White male faculty.
• Nearly 7 out of 10 faculty of color perceived a need to work harder than their peers to gain legitimacy as a scholar compared with 46.8 percent of White faculty.
• More than 3 out of 5 women (61.0 percent) believe they need to work harder than their colleagues to be perceived as a legitimate scholar, compared with just 43.6 percent of men.
• Overall, less than half of undergraduate teaching faculty (48.4 percent) are satisfied or very satisfied with the relative equity of salary and job benefits.

For faculty in the classroom, while the majority (57.6 percent) strongly agree it is their role to teach students tolerance and respect for different beliefs, approximately two-thirds of Black and Latino/a faculty believed that faculty overall are unprepared to handle diversity-related conflict within the classroom.

To learn more, view the full report here.

—Jinann Bitar