It was conducted after the students met with R. Barbara Gitenstein, former provost. N.J. The results were presented to Stephen Hoag, interim provost. Gitenstein, in an e-mail interview from New Jersey, said she supported the survey and provided financial support for it. The survey found that the pay and hiring freezes did not affect job motivation for 56 percent of faculty and staff. Gitenstein said when she first met with the survey team, she wanted to use the data as an argument to raise salaries in the next budget.
Faculty believe that their overall compensation is pretty low.
It's a fact of life at Drake. She said the causes of morale problems were not limited to low pay, but to little support from the University for things such as technology upgrades, research supplies, Cowles Library and classroom updates. Jon Torgerson, professor of philosophy and chairman of the philosophy and religion department, agreed that there were other underlying concerns that contributed to low faculty morale. One of the most surprising results of the survey for the students who designed it was 56 percent of employees reported hearing about the freeze through rumor. The team cross-tabulated the results of how employees found out about the freeze and found that those who were informed through rumor were generally less satisfied with their job and more angry with the administration, indicating that communication between the administration and faculty is key to morale.