As American higher education enters one of the most dangerous times in its history, internal threats make it more vulnerable, a widening gap between administrators and faculty. Over the past three decades, budgetary pressures at larger universities have caused administrators to shift the ranking of faculty to limited appointments with near-poverty wages, without any benefits and little chance of promotion.
At the research university, the remaining term faculty positions have become too competitive, and teachers must publish far more than the 1980s to obtain tenure and promotion. The pressure from these teachers to receive large grants continues to be installed in the current uncertain and even chaotic funding environment. At other universities, overall, the ranking of faculty has decreased, resulting in increased workload and larger class sizes, as well as a shift toward more online products to meet student needs.
In administration, senior leaders’ tenures are also shrinking, leading to an increase in leadership mistakes. New leaders have proposed a change agenda to address some previous unresolved issues or management significant budget flaws or other operational inefficiencies. In this environment, teachers are disillusioned and disengaged. It’s too easy for administrators to see teachers as expendable resources, forgetting the human component of leadership and promoting distrust between these two key groups of campus leaders.
But as external threats enter campuses, split campuses will not be fully prepared to resist attacks designed to undermine institutional autonomy. Many campus administrators find themselves unable to speak publicly about their objections to current federal or state policies, due to institutional neutrality or concerns about political strikeback; meanwhile, we have seen faculty organizations and unions step ahead in defending academic freedom and institutional autonomy. In this case, how do these two groups come together to restore trust, re-engage all stakeholders and build productive working relationships?
We write this from the perspective of a long-time teacher and teacher champion who published issues about making faculty disposal issues and a long-time administrator who started as a faculty and promoted it to the Prime Minister by addressing campus challenges with faculty. Over the years, we have worked together from our respective vantage points to publish tools and resources designed to promote clarity, communication and collaboration in the face of rapidly changing environments. We know that the faculty/administrative divide will not serve the college in the current crisis. But we have seen examples of ways in which both sets can be fused together.
Here we provide some advice for leaders (faculty and administration) from our experience working with hundreds of campuses. We call on administrators to take the first step to reach out, repair and rebuild where trust and relationships are broken. However, we also call on teachers to ask what they can respond or how to “lead”. If a group expands an olive branch and if a different future is desired, it must be accepted. Both sides also have to be responsible for each other because relationships are built, trust is rebuilt, and bridges are built across the entire gap.
- Authorize and support teacher leadership. Research shows that administrators can help teachers speak out and take active leadership roles. Instructors how teachers operate institutions, send teachers to leadership development opportunities, reward teachers who intervene in important leadership or shared governance positions, provide projects for summer allowances, and provide course releases for active teacher leaders, all of which can enable teachers to play a greater leadership role on campus.
- Strengthen the common governance structure. Over the past three decades, common governance has been hollowed out on many campuses. Rebuilding it will require examining processes, policies and structures that enable teachers to make meaningful contributions to decisions and decisions on campus. A strong shared governance system is a way to ensure external groups can split and conquer, direct courses, student experiences and other key areas of campus work. And ensuring that teachers have a path to leadership in the board of directors can help ensure that board members are from and understand the teacher’s perspectives and concerns.
- Obviously, regarding decision-making, authority and accountability, the role of administration and teachers and responsibilities are described. Strengthening common governance means that in budgets, organizational structures or budgets that affect their operations, including teachers exceeding consulting capabilities. Put more decisions back into the hands of faculty, explain the situation and ask for advice, and include faculty and staff in more important and strategic decisions on campus. The perspective may be contradictory, and the board and management do bear important fiduciary responsibilities, but these responsibilities do not exclude attracting stakeholders in the decision-making process.
- Establish and develop leadership programs for teachers. One of the best ways to ensure teachers can play a leadership role on campus is to provide teachers with annual leadership programs. For growth programs that rely on more advanced and experienced teachers as facilitators and trainers, the costs may be relatively low. Empowering senior teachers to train new faculty in campus operations and the wider area of higher education can provide a more active succession program for key campus committees and leadership positions.
- Consider using a shared leadership approach to clearly engage in multiple people and perspectives in decision making. In addition to leadership development, consider using more formal structures related to collaboration or co-leadership. This may help campuses create more inclusive and transparent processes for decision-making, especially when various components are involved or affected by changes.
- There are regular meetings to allow teachers and administrators to interact outside of common governance. Occasional lemonade or iced tea party, zoom social time, annual community forums, etc., can ensure that faculty and administrators know each other, not just positions. It may also be helpful to have regular focused workshops or retreats on key changes. These events can be led by external expert moderators who can help create space for difficult conversations.
- Acknowledge mistakes and correct the course. When trust is broken, administrators should listen to their concerns and be prepared to adjust and change courses to address these issues, and teachers should take this opportunity to collaborate. This does not necessarily mean going backwards, but moving forward in a way that involves two-way dialogue to solve problems. For example, administrators need to be open to the need to strengthen teacher job security, compensation and autonomy, while faculty and staff need to recognize the competitive pressures faced by administrators. Ensuring strong teachers is a key component of a strong higher education system, which is needed to resist external threats. Somewhere between is the solution.
Although these seem to be long-term strategies in a crisis, this crisis will last for several years, so investment and empowering faculty will pay off. If there is a chance to use them, the teacher’s voice can effectively shape the change agenda.
