TACKLING BAD ATTITUDE; SOUTHEAST PRESIDENT TARGETS LOW MORALE

Many Southeast Missouri State University faculty members get failing grades when it comes to morale.

They have a bad attitude about the administration and their teaching jobs, surveys show.

Two surveys by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA revealed that negative attitudes among Southeast's faculty increased between 1992 and 1995.

On many issues, the surveys showed morale among Southeast faculty was worse than the national average for four-year public universities.

In 1992, 56 percent of full-time Southeast professors filled out the survey; in 1995, 43 percent responded. The research institute surveyed 403 private and public colleges and universities.

The Southeast faculty and administration have been at odds in recent years.

"They don't trust us and we don't trust them," said economics professor Terry Sutton, who chaired the Faculty Senate for the past three academic years.

David Naugler, who teaches computer science, is the Faculty Senate chairman this school year. He said faculty don't believe the administration has listened to them.

The surveys show there was a morale problem when Dr. Kala Stroup was president and that it continued during Dr. Bill Atchley's one-year reign.

Dr. Dennis Holt, associate provost, said the December 1995 survey came when Atchley was the interim president and the university was in the process of choosing a new president.

It was a time of uncertainty and change, adding to the stress level of faculty, he said.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's new president, says he knew there was a morale problem when he took the job. Nitzschke, who became president in July, said he views the morale problem as a challenge.

He said he would work to restore faculty's trust in the administration.

Both Sutton and Naugler are optimistic that Nitzschke will restore morale.

"We have a new president on board and that changes a lot of things," said Naugler.

Nitzschke and faculty members said the controversial issue of merit pay added to the morale problem.

In recent years, Southeast has gone from across-the-board pay raises to ones based entirely on individual merit.

Administrators discussed merit pay; Faculty Senate discussed merit pay. But there was little direct communication between the administration and faculty, Nitzschke said.

The whole issue was handled poorly, he said. "That translates out clearly to the trust factor."

Nitzschke believes it is important to involve all segments of the campus in university decisions.

He plans to implement a "team player" approach to solving problems that emphasizes more open communication.

He recently met with Provost Charles Kupchella and a Faculty Senate committee to begin the task of reviewing the merit pay plan.

Nitzschke said faculty should be involved in such changes at the front end.

Some faculty members are disillusioned because they believe university administrators in recent years have emphasized research over teaching.

Faculty members increasingly are required to publish research to get promoted.

"The pressure to publish has gotten more severe in recent times," said Sutton. "Research is what a lot of faculty members prefer to do," he said.

But Sutton said classroom teaching should be the top priority. Nitzschke agreed, but added that faculty research is important, too.

Nitzschke said the university's mission is to serve students. When employees focus on that mission, they become less selfish and more team oriented, he said.

Naugler said it is important to raise faculty morale.

Low morale affects how teachers teach, he said. "The students are going to suffer; there is no way around it."