Our members have spoken!

Last Monday, we distributed a survey to our membership, inviting feedback on the working conditions and modalities that would make you feel comfortable about returning to work on campus in fall 2021.

We are grateful to the 640 FA members who responded so promptly to our survey. This information is critical to help shape administrative planning for the fall semester.

We know that things will certainly change between now and September. Interim President Lou Petrizzo and VP for Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Paul Beaudin attended all three of the campus governance meetings this week, not only encouraging faculty to complete this survey but also acknowledging that there will likely be state-level guidance that impacts what actually happens with our fall semester.

With that in mind, we share the following preliminary data results, understanding that this is a snapshot of a moment in time—of our members saying, "With what we know now and with our best guesses about fall, here's what we are currently thinking."

The results here present the data in terms of how our full-time and adjunct colleagues responded. We are also looking at the feedback by campus, by discipline/area, etc., but we started by considering the full- and part-time breakdown with an eye toward encouraging conditions that can increase assignments for as many of our adjunct members as possible.

Again, we sincerely thank you! A 47% response rate given such short notice is phenomenal. As noted below, we are still sorting the data on the open-ended feedback questions.

1) Are you full time or adjunct?

357 adjunct respondents
283 full-time respondents

2) At which campuses do you typically work? Check all that apply (percentages do not add to 100%).

Given the overall size and proportionate student population on each of our campuses and locations, the above percentages seem to suggest a generally representative sample based on location.

3) Please tell us your discipline or area so we have a better overall sense of department preferences.

     — Data still being prepared

4) When working on campus, in which building(s) do you regularly work?

     — Data still being prepared

5) When working on campus, do you share an office or workspace with another college employee?

These results are notable because there's a perception that our adjunct colleagues only have access to large shared offices, but the picture is a bit more complicated given the diversity of our adjunct membership and the roles they fill at the college.

6) If you share an office or workspace, are you able to maintain a safe distance (six feet) from your colleagues in this space?

These numbers seem to suggest that there are concerns about the ability to practice safe social/physical distancing while on campus in shared offices and workspaces, which will need to be addressed as the fall semester approaches. Less than a quarter of adjunct respondents and less than half of our full-time respondents who share a workspace indicated that they will be able to maintain six feet of distance from colleagues.

7) If you are non-classroom faculty, for fall 2021, which work scenario would make you feel most comfortable (classroom faculty check "n/a")?

Notably, it appears that the largest percentages of both our adjunct and full-time respondents who are non-classroom faculty would feel most comfortable with some combination of on-campus work and remote work in fall 2021, as many of them are currently doing.

8) For fall 2021, in which of the following modalities would you feel comfortable teaching (assuming safety, etc., protocols)? Check all that apply (percentages do not add to 100%).

Looking at the above, there seems to be—as we had anticipated, given our members' ongoing feedback to the FA during this past year—a healthy mix of comfort levels about returning to campus using a variety of these modalities. Between 30% and 49% of respondents indicate a preference for either fully online or fully on campus. A similar percentage of respondents seem to express comfort in continuing the modalities of combined online and real time online classes, or some blend of meeting on campus one day a week then working remotely for the rest of the week.

Notably, the lowest percentage of respondents selected the hyflex model, less than 20% of adjunct faculty and a mere 13% of full-time faculty. This may be the newness of the model, but we've been inundated with concerns from members who have spoken with colleagues at comparable institutions who've tried hyflex and they strongly feel that the hyflex model puts an undue burden on the instructor to manage all the technology while simultaneously attending to the needs of both the on-campus students and the remote students, not to mention keeping track of how students might be rotating on campus and off.

Because we listen to our faculty, we would urge administration to pursue other modalities that cost less money and are more familiar to and preferred by faculty and students at this critical period in the college's history.

9) Do you plan to receive a Covid vaccine prior to the start of the fall 2021 semester?

A very healthy proportion of our respondents plan to get a Covid vaccine prior to the start of the fall 2021 semester, and a sizable number wrote in the Q12 open feedback area that they had selected "not sure" only because they aren't positive they'll be able to get the vaccine: They want the vaccine but they're unsure if they'll be able to get the vaccine before the fall semester commences. This should be comforting to the numerous respondents who expressed concern about as many people on campus being vaccinated as possible.

10) Which of the following safety measures are important for you to feel comfortable to return to campus in the fall, esp. given modalities listed? Check all that apply (percentages do not add to 100%).

      — Data still being prepared for open feedback in "Other" line

Again, we see a majority of respondents indicating that they feel strongly about vaccinations and continued testing being available on campus, but the greatest concerns are with regard to sanitizing of workspaces and classrooms (especially between classes as noted in the open feedback) as well as ventilation (particularly with some of the older buildings at the college) and for mask wearing and social distancing (with respondents expressing concern about who will be enforcing these practices).

11) Which of the following support and privacy/security measures are important for you to feel comfortable to return to campus in the fall, esp. given modalities listed? Check all that apply (percentages do not add to 100%).

Respondents' feedback on support and privacy/security measures show that our adjunct respondents indicate a greater concern for training and technology support. Based on comments from members, we believe the notable difference in the percentage of adjunct vs. full-time respondents concerned about students' academic and mental health support might be a function of full-time members having a greater awareness of the academic and mental health supports that students already have access to (indeed, a good number of respondents provide those services to students). The same phenomenon might also help account for the greater concern expressed by adjunct respondents about faculty and student privacy, which to be sure are a concern for us all given the abrupt shift to remote teaching and working.

12) Is there anything else you'd like us to know about what would make you feel comfortable about returning to teach or work on campus in fall 2021?

     — Data still being prepared for open feedback