On matters of relations among racial groups and fairness to women and minorities, the ratings are mixed. Most faculty paint a picture of theological schools as relatively fair in their treatment of women and minorities. Women and minorities themselves are less positive. African Americans are more likely to report campus conflict over racial issues, but again, their rating of campus racial climates is above the midpoint. Interestingly, women and minorities are more likely to judge that the curriculum has been affected by minority and new social movements, perhaps because many of them incorporate such perspectives in their own teaching.
Faculty are least positive about their workloads, which they view as increasing.
They believe that they spend too much time on institutional business and that institutional service, unlike teaching, does detract from research. As noted before, the quality of students is also less highly rated than other items. Later in this report, we focus on the situation of women faculty. In subsequent Auburn Studies , we will share findings from the survey and other sources about junior faculty and minority faculty. Because dissatisfaction is so rare among theological faculty, we tried to pinpoint its location.