The Great Faculty Disengagement; The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 19, 2022

Kevin R. McClure

 and Alisa Hicklin Fryar

, The Chronicle of Higher Education; The Great Faculty Disengagement

Faculty members aren’t leaving in droves, but they are increasingly pulling away.

"As many observers have pointed out, the “Great Resignation” doesn’t perfectly capture what’s happening in the U.S. labor market. Data suggest many people, especially those with jobs in fields like hospitality, aren’t quitting the work force but rather jumping to better opportunities.

In much the same way, the Great Resignation doesn’t perfectly capture what’s happening on college campuses. Faculty members, as unhappy as many of them are, are largely staying put. What has changed is how they approach their jobs...

In response to our Twitter thread, people said they were doing what they must, but nothing extra. They said they used to be a “rah-rah team player,” but not anymore. They used to feel strong ties to their institution, but they have since felt so undervalued that they’re cutting back. One response that especially stood out to us: “Faculty might not be quitting, but they’ve left the building — sometimes departure is a state of mind.”

It’s important to note that disengagement doesn’t suggest laziness or that faculty members and necessarily shirking their core responsibilities. We know — on a deep, personal level — that many faculty members are working very hard. Doing the bare minimum in a global pandemic is sometimes a herculean effort. In some ways, disengaging is a perfectly rational response if your employer signals through their words and actions that your engagement isn’t welcome. Many faculty members are being asked to do their jobs in a way that puts their safety at risk, and when they raise concerns, they are ignored and invalidated. It’s hard to bounce back from that...

Our big fear is that college leaders won’t do anything. We get the sense that some leaders think that if we can just get on the “other side” of the pandemic, things will magically improve. Like we’ll flip the switch back on and the faculty will reanimate. Going silent on this issue right now severely underestimates its magnitude.

The pandemic will eventually transition into something else, but its effects will linger. For how long and with what consequences depends on what college leaders decide to do right now."