The first major section of the report addressed internal and external communication issues.
"Spontaneous discussions of common intellectual interest occur less frequently than they had hoped … indeed, faculty find it difficult even to identify colleagues on campus who might share their interests," the report stated, highlighting a general frustration among faculty members with the lack of opportunity to collaborate with other colleagues. Suggestions for addressing this concern included College sponsored conferences, support for ongoing departmental/interdisciplinary seminars, and rotating professorships.
A common theme in the report was the desire of professors to have increased interaction among departments.
The faculty also expressed concern with their lack of interaction with colleagues outside of Amherst. They suggested that the creation of a formal research institute for bringing short and long-term visitors to campus would address issues of external and internal communication.
Sabbatical pay was another issue. Currently, senior faculty members are the only ones who receive full pay; other faculty members receive 80 percent. According to the report, this pay cut makes it difficult for faculty to meet their financial responsibilities.
Another area specifically addressed by the report was the competing demands on their time faced by members of the faculty. The faculty felt that committee work, department chairing, course development, research and journal editing should result in course release or some sort of credit that could be used towards an earlier sabbatical.
Committee work in particular was addressed as cause for concern. "At present there is a strong sense that the burden of committee work was not fairly distributed … many faculty women felt that the policy of including at least one woman on every committee was a larger burden on them than it was a benefit to the College," the report said.
Scheduling classes in a way that could generate more efficient use of time was also discussed in the report. "It would clearly be necessary to do a delicate balancing of student and faculty preferred course hours … " the report recognized.
The difficulty of integrating family and professional lives was a third major topic of the report. The faculty was most concerned with problems relating to childcare. As an example of this conflict, faculty pointed out that the public schools and the Woodside Child Care Center are closed on the first day of fall semester. In addition, the College's spring break does not correspond to the local public school vacations.
Another topic of frustration was maternity leave. "All felt that there were difficulties with a policy that ... [that] fails to include leaves for either fathers/partners or adoptive parents," read the report. The report noted that maternity leave is under review by the Committee for Priorities and Resources.
The report contained a specific section entitled "Specific groups with unique perspectives," which addressed concerns of assistant and associate professors as well as senior faculty, faculty of color and women faculty. Assistant professors expressed concern about their lack of information about how the College operates in general.
Associate professors were more concerned with the increase in institutional expectations that results from tenure. "Academic training hardly prepares anyone for department chairing," the report noted.
Senior faculty were concerned with retirement as well as with the broad changes they had seen since they started at the College.
Faculty of color suggested that Amherst focus on improving its track record in retaining faculty of color.
Women faculty composed the final special group with which the committee concerned itself. The report noted that the position of women faculty has improved. However, it also stated that students continue to treat men and women faculty differently, with students being more likely to approach women faculty for help with academic or personal issues.
"What pleased us was that the faculty as a whole seemed concerned with finding ways to focus on teaching, research and community interaction," said Olver.
The study was funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Faculty Career Enhancement Program. Dean of the Faculty Lisa Raskin appointed a committee of eight faculty to research and report on issues and challenges which concern the faculty.
The College may use the findings of the report to apply for additional funding from the Mellon Foundation.
"We met with a great number of our colleagues. The conversations were a good chance to talk in a way in which we don't usually talk," said committee co-chair and Professor of Psychology and WAGS Rose Olver.
"The Committee of Six has the report now and they will decide which portions need to be brought up for general discussion," said Olver. "The report has been sent to the faculty and we hope it will stir discussion." Portions of the report may be sent to other faculty committees as deemed appropriate by the Committee of Six.
Olver suggested that, in addition to applying for Mellon Foundation grants, the Dean of the Faculty might apply to other institutions for additional funds.