By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents held a joint policy meeting Monday to discuss several issues, including the annual financial report, enrollment management and the recently released Campus Climate Report.
Among the findings in the campus climate study, which was released Nov. 2, is that some faculty and staff members believe the university administration has nurtured a “culture of fear.”
Kathleen Roberts, Senior Advisor to the President for Inclusive Excellence and Title IX Coordinator, discussed those concerns in great detail during a Nov. 2 presentation on campus, but those issues were not part of the discussion with the Board of Regents.
Wednesday, Roberts explained to the board why the study was conducted and shared in general terms what the study hoped to reveal about campus climate.
The study looked at commitment to diversity, sense of belonging, inequitable treatment and respectful and fair treatment. The survey was created by a group that included faculty, staff and students.
Caroline Macke, an assistant professor in the social work program and one of the survey coordinators, lauded NKU’s willingness to open itself to internal scrutiny.
“It takes a strong and courageous institution to not only assess and recognize, but also publicly acknowledge, not just what our strengths are, but also what our challenges are,” said Macke. “It takes a strong university like ours to have the kind of difficult discussions that surround those challenges.”
Those discussions may occur in the future, but they did not begin with the board Wednesday.
The presentation from Roberts, Macke and Brandelyn Tosolt, an associate professor in the College of Education and Human services, provided a much more positive interpretation of the survey results than was provided in the original report.
Board of Regents members seemed content to accept the presentation at face value, or at least chose not to scrutinize it publicly at the meeting.
Positive findings included a 75 percent affirmative response to the question, “would you recommend NKU?”
In the original presentation, however, it was also revealed that many participants believe NKU offers a positive experience for students, but a less satisfying environment for faculty and staff.
The extent to which faculty and staff have fears and/or concerns about the climate at the university was also not provided during Wednesday’s presentation.
“The general trend was that students had the most favorable perception, followed by staff, then faculty,” Macke said. “Faculty tended to have the least favorable perception of campus climate.”
Not only was the perception less favorable, 44 percent of faculty surveyed responded “low” to questions about morale and the direction in which NKU is moving. Among staff members, 37 percent and 35 percent, respectively, responded low to questions about morale and the direction in which NKU is moving.
There was no mention of the “culture of fear” that had been identified in the original presentation, despite an acknowledgement at that time that it was a common concern.
“The general trend was that students had the most favorable perception, followed by staff, then faculty. Faculty tended to have the least favorable perception of campus climate,” Caroline Macke, assistant professor in the NKU social work program.
A faculty member identified the culture of fear through this comment, which was shared at the initial presentation, but not with Board of Regents Wednesday:
“Even as I type this, part of me believes, despite the security statement to the contrary, that someone will find out who I am and fire me for expressing these ideas.”
While the Board of Regents, which serves as the governing body of NKU, received a less detailed accounting of the survey findings, they have had access to the report and the survey comments since they were released.
A Northern Kentucky Tribune story also provided a detailed account of the faculty and staff concerns identified during the Nov. 2 presentation.
The Board of Regents questions focused almost exclusively on concerns about religion and ethnic diversity. There was no mention of the “culture of fear” or the significant number of respondents who had a negative response to the questions about morale or the direction in which NKU is moving.
The survey committee members offered preliminary recommendations based on the findings of the study, which included creating a task force to develop an action plan, metrics and a timeline to address key issues.
A recommendation that could address some of the concerns of faculty and staff include the creation of an ombudsperson position to provide guidance and support.
The recommendations are expected to be presented to the Executive Team on Dec. 8.
Mark Hansel can be reached at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
This is very sad, but not unexpected news. My friends who go there say all the students know there are big problems between faculty and admin. because alot of teachers are stressed out and it’s having an affect on everything from classes and workload to students’ mental health, which I hear is sending tons more kids than usual to mental health services there. That’s scary!