In September approximately 10% of members completed a survey focused on workload,
teaching, equity and academic freedom.

Among the findings were the extraordinarily low ranking given to the leadership of the
university by the chair of the Board of Governors and by the President. On a scale of 1 (no
effective leadership at all) to 5 (very effective learnership), the chair of the board and president
received scores of 1 or 2 from two-thirds of respondents.

Nearly three-quarters of members believe there is an inequitable distribution of workload
among faculty in their department or unit, with 80% having the view that the university does
not have effective strategies to deal with such inequity.

A majority of members (60%) have increased their time during the past 5 years dealing with
matters related to student academic honesty.

More than half of respondents believe that the university does not have effective policies to
protect academic freedom, and that the university does poorly in handling controversies
stemming from academic freedom. Two-thirds of members do not believe that the university
fosters an environment that encourages open dialogue on controversial topics.

The survey also invited members to provide written comments. Colleagues wrote about the
detrimental impact on students and faculty of decreases in the number of non-academic staff
positions and the top-heavy senior administration. Colleagues also commented on the
increase in faculty workload that comes from a variety of recent administrative and academic
decisions.

Thank you to all the members who took time to share comments and perspectives. The
responses will help to set priorities for YUFA. We will also be discussing these results at an
upcoming drop-in meeting.