This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Saint Louis University needs new leadership, say nearly three-fourths of the faculty members who responded to a survey taken by the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
In a news release Thursday morning, the faculty group said its survey validated earlier “no confidence” votes on the leadership of SLU President Lawrence Biondi taken by faculty and student government groups.
In a statement, the university administration vigorously disputed that, saying that the AAUP chapter's survey "is determined to subvert the collaborative processes that have already been established and agreed upon by the Board of Trustees, Faculty Senate, staff advisory committee and Student Government Association."
The administration also criticized the SLU-AAUP survey for not including students and staff.
The SLU-AAUP survey is the latest volley in the dispute between the SLU faculty and Biondi. In a sense, it is a response to an earlier university-sponsored survey of the campus community. But the sponsors say the faculty-AAUP survey was designed to focus more sharply on the strained relationship between professors and Biondi.
Titled the “SLU-AAUP Supplemental Survey,” it asked a single question: “Is it time for Saint Louis University to choose a new president?” Of the 1,487 faculty members surveyed, 607 (73.3 percent) responded yes; 63 (7.6 percent) said no. The survey allowed respondents to comment and asked them to identify their home campuses. Data from the survey is posted on the SLU AAUP website.
The AAUP survey of faculty members was not an attempt to subvert the university’s campus-wide survey but was intended to supplement it, said Steve Harris, a professor in the department of math and computer science who heads the SLU chapter.
Harris said the university’s threats of legal action forced the faculty group to limit its survey to one question. He said he was satisfied with the response rate for the survey and added that it was no surprise that the faculty overwhelmingly agreed that SLU needs a new president.
According to the data on the website:
- The survey was sent to 1,487 full-time faculty on all campuses, including those who are full-time university staff but part-time faculty.
- There were 834 responses (56 percent response rate)
Here is the complete breakdown of responses:
- Yes: 607 (73.3 percent)
- No: 63 (7.6 percent)
- Don’t know/ no opinion: 158 (19.1 percent)
- No answer: 6 (0.7 percent)
Respondents were identified by campus:
- Frost / North Campus: 443 (53.8 percent)
- Medical / South Campus: 326 (39.6 percent)
- Madrid: 55 (6.7 percent)
Forty-three percent of respondents made comments, but the AAUP said it would take time to analyze and categorize them.
SLU administration responds
In response to the Beacon's inquiry about the survey, the university released the following statement:
"The university climate survey that was distributed to all full-time students, faculty and staff on March 25 was developed at the direction of the Board of Trustees through a thoughtful and collaborative process that included all campus constituencies, represented by the Faculty Senate, staff advisory committee and student government association, along with representatives of the administration and the board.
"The university climate survey is being administered by a respected external and independent organization, Psychological Associates of St. Louis. The intent of this collaborative survey is to provide the board and the university community with a holistic understanding of the interests and concerns of all constituencies — including students, faculty and staff — within the university.
"This assessment is one of six initiatives that have been created and endorsed by the Board of Trustees and the Faculty Senate with the intention of enhancing shared governance and communication at the University.
"While the university climate survey was still open for recipients to complete, SLU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors — led by Steven Harris, Ph.D., professor of mathematics and computer science — distributed its own survey to only faculty.
"Although the AAUP chapter has the right to initiate and craft its own survey, it is disappointing that this relatively small subset of SLU faculty in the AAUP is determined to subvert the collaborative processes that have already been established and agreed upon by the Board of Trustees, Faculty Senate, Staff Advisory Committee and Student Government Association.
"In contrast to the collaborative university climate survey, the SLU AAUP survey focused on only one question, without context: 'Is it time for Saint Louis University to choose a new president?'
"Furthermore, the AAUP survey does not take into account the opinions of nearly 14,000 students or the more than 3,200 members of SLU’s staff. It is also regrettable that those involved with the AAUP survey have disregarded the work of SLU’s Faculty Senate, which is established by the faculty manual as the official shared governance body of the university.
"There are many students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, alumni and benefactors who question the relevancy and validity of the AAUP survey results, as well as the motivation of the survey creators, who have chosen to ignore the university climate survey that was developed through a process of shared governance that the members of the AAUP Chapter claim to hold so dear.
"Ultimately, the real priority should be — and Father Biondi is committed to — moving forward collaboratively as a university community to address the long-term trends affecting American higher education today, including shared governance, student enrollment, finances and other critical issues.’’
