Analysis of Written Comments: Discrimination, Appreciation, and Inequities in UNLV Campus, Study notes of Climatology

Download Analysis of Written Comments: Discrimination, Appreciation, and Inequities in UNLV Campus and more Study notes Climatology in PDF only on Docsity! 1 THEMATIC SUMMARY OF WRITTEN COMMENTS IN CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY The following is a summary of the major themes arising from the written comments in the Campus Climate Survey. Each theme is described and then accompanied by representative comments. There is necessarily some overlap among the themes, but they each refer to a relatively distinct dimension. The number of comments in each theme is found in parenthesis next to the title and the themes are presented in the order of their prominence. • Discriminatory Environment (50 comments) The largest cluster of comments centered on gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality based discrimination. Some comments referred to an institutionally diffuse climate of discrimination while others referred to specific incidents of racism, sexism, or homophobia. A number alluded to women and underrepresented faculty and staff having to work harder to be recognized. There were also complaints about diversity-related scholarship not being sufficiently respected. Finally there were some comments from individuals who objected to an emphasis on diversity and felt that underrepresented faculty and staff were receiving preferential treatment. Others objected to the raising of gender and race as issues at all. • “As a gay man, I have a harder time at UNL V. My high-quality publications and teaching are less valued. And I have experienced active homophobia from my dept colleagues.” • “I do not think that I am valued as much as my peers in my area due to racial concerns.” • “Gender discrimination is rampant in some Colleges and I would NOT recommend these colleges for females. Past efforts to improve this situation failed miserably because the administration would not make tough decisions or action.” • “There is no effective and well-known mechanism for students and faculty to report discrimination on campus. Historically underrepresented colleagues have left UNL V and taken faculty jobs elsewhere because of the racial and gender conflicts they have encountered at UNLV. Repeatedly, people of color, women and LGBT people I know have been unsatisfied and unsupported at UNL V. There are few departments that have faculty and classes that support work on race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. This has a huge impact on how low our numbers are for graduate students of color or students interested in studying these areas. Many students report discontent and mistreatment from faculty and peers because of race, gender and sexuality.” • “UNLV definitely follows "politically correct" philosophies and strongly supports underserved groups to the point that there is preferential treatment to those historically underserved. This often results in advancement for persons in a lower station or in a minority group rather than based qualifications or job performance.” • “I am offended by the biased questions regarding race and gender! People are people. Let's not label people and imply that UNLV is a white, male biased University!” • Lack of Appreciation and Positive Feedback (30 comments) There were 30 comments that directly addressed lack of administration/supervisor appreciation for the fact that staff and faculty are doing more with less. Also prominent in 2 this cluster was a lack of collegiality and respect across ranks. Some classified and professional staff complained about treatment at the hands of supervisor and faculty, while some non-tenure- track faculty complained about treatment at the hands of tenured faculty. • “Non-tenure track faculty truly are the "invisible" faculty in my unit, which is 100% about the care and feeding of the tenured faculty. Arrogance and rudeness on the part of the tenured faculty toward those of lesser rank is tolerated openly.” • “While I feel that my Department values me and that we are an essential/critical component to creating campus life I do not feel that the president values professional staff at the same level as faculty. Until we see equality I fear that many members of professional staff will be hired away from the University.” • “I don't feel that those who can make a difference make a difference take the time to acknowledge the good job the employees are doing on a regular basis with such difficult working conditions. Occasionally it would be nice to hear from the Division head, the Department Chair and the President that they realize how hard everyone works while receiving less pay, perks and attaboys/attagirls. When all you have left to give is attaboys/girls then you need to give them often and so that the employees feel like it matters.” • “I have never felt as though I have worked so hard and gotten so little since I came work at UNL V. Nearly every benefit of being a part of this university is being taken away if it already hasn't been. Classified employees have been suffering for 2 years now and it seems we will continue to suffer. Classified employees are tremendously underpaid and overworked. The environment here is negative and morale is terribly low. It is difficult justifying continuing on here given the state of things at this university. This university does not value its greatest asset, its people.” • Financial and Educational Resources Strain (29 comments) An almost equally large percentage of respondents commented that the overall effect of staff cuts, furloughs, pay cuts, and benefit reductions had had a very negative impact on campus morale. A number of respondents expressed difficulty making ends meet. Others found the allocation of funds to be unfair and many were disheartened at having to work more for less pay. Finally, faculty felt that reductions in educational resources were risking a sub-standard education. • “It's hard to tell if my job performance is valued at this university because my salary has only gone down since I've arrived and the work load has increased (e.g., independent study no longer counts toward teaching but it's an important part of our program). I'm happy with my department (we're all dealing with this) but not with university wide decisions about what counts as work and what doesn't.” • “While I believe that most people at UNLV want quality to matter, I find that resources are stretched so thin that we are unable to achieve as high of a quality of performance as most of us would like. My unit is barely keeping afloat at the moment and no one seems to have the time to be able to do the kind of strategic thinking and planning that would really help out the university and its students.” • “Workload has increased significantly. No merit or other rewards. Too many students to effectively teach. Too few GA's to assist with research. Little support for research. Benefits disappearing. Thinking of leaving UNL V and going back to prior university