Of the 395 members of the faculty, only 125, or 32 percent, responded to the survey. The survey results indicated that those surveyed have strong reservations concerning the new graduate education policies and significant concern regarding the future direction of the Institute.

Asked if the policy changes were effective disseminated to the Rensselaer community, 69 percent felt that the policy was not definitively or probably was not disseminated effectively. On the other hand, 22 percent felt that the policy was probably or definitely disseminated effectively while eight percent were not sure.

When surveyed on the full involvement of the campus community in the formation and implementation of the new policy, 80% responded that the campus was definitely not fully invovled in the process. Twelve percent of those surveyed answered that the campus probably was not fully involved, three percent were unsure. No respondents felt that the campus community was definitely fully involved in the process while three percent felt the campus was probably fully involved.

The majority of respondents also disagreed with the statement that the prestige of the campus will be increased as a result of the improvement in the graduate programs produced by recent policy changes. Forty-one percent said definitely no, 33 percent said probably no, 27 percent were unsure, six percent said probably yes, and two percent said definitely yes.

Only nine percent of those surveyed believe that the recent changes in graduate tuition policy will further the goals of The Rensselaer Plan. Twelve percent were unsure on how the changes would effect The Plan. Thirty-seven percent said they believed the changes will probably not futher its goals, while 41 percent said it would definitely would not futher the goals of The Plan.

In its final report, the Planning and Resource Committee found that based on survey responses the policy has had “a substantial negative impact on the morale of current graduate students and their perception of the Institute.”

Under the result on the impact on current students, the report indicated that some faculty report students are considering leaving when they complete their M.S. degree and that there are suggestions that some student are finding themselves left “high and dry.”

They also found that there is a widespread expectation among the respondents that undergraduate education will be negatively impacted by the changes. Of the 40 pages of e-mail received by the committee “not one faculty member indicated an intention to increase the rate at which they are writing proposals—many are reaching the point of diminishing returns.”

The committee’s recommendations included increasing clarity, simplicity, and flexibility in the new policy. They also proposed the development of effective “safety nets” and increasing certainty in terms of guaranteed support for graduate students.

“As it stands individual graduate students are being exposed to all the risks and uncertainty as guarantors of last resort, which many faculty see as unacceptable.” the report stated.

The survey and the report have yet to be approved by the Faculty Senate. Initially the results were to be approved at the body’s last meeting of the spring semester, but the Senate fell short of quorum. The Senate plans to address the issue during its first meeting of the semester on September 11.

Faculty reaction to the accuracy of the survey in conveying the true feeling of the 395 members of the faculty is quite divergent. The Faculty Senate plans to evaluate this issue at its first meeting.

Professor Bruce Watson believed that “the results [of the survey] in no way reflect the sentiments of the faculty in general. Like any other group, faculty tend to respond to a survey (or not) in accordance with the strength of their views.  We’re going through changes that have elicited a passionate response from a relatively small subset of the faculty.”

Professor Jim Napolitano disagreed with Watson.

“The idea of faculty governorship—having a hand in direction of the Institute—is very important to us. Many of us feel disenfranchised by this process. It is easy to overlook that many of us want to be part of the creative process of making the university grow and not just be told what to do,” said Napolitano.