DE Asst. Features Editor

The results of a survey conducted at SIUC in 1994 revealed no significant differences between male and female climate perceptions and job attitudes of SIUC faculty and staff.

Peggy Stockdale, an assistant psychology professor and director of the SIUC Applied Research Consultants, presented the results of the SIUC Campus Climate Study at a meeting Thursday afternoon, sponsored by the University Women’s Caucus.

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The survey questioned 50 percent of University employees in Spring 1994 about their climate or mood towards their work experience at SIUC. Stockdale said the survey asked University employees to rate their job attitudes and climate perceptions.

Stockdale said there is a psychological climate difference between men and women. She said women feel less comfortable with their working climate than men, and she said these reasons are grouped into microinequalities or ways in which individuals are singled out, overlooked, ignored, or discounted by sex, race or age which can lead to chilly climates.

Taken by themselves, microinequities are not bad, she said. If your voice is ignored at a meeting for the first time, the experience is not bad. But if it happens a lot the experience can be shattering.

SIUC Chancellor John Guyon said he requested the survey in 1994 because he wanted to do a comprehensive survey of employee attitudes. He said he had received reports saying there was a lack of female employees in high level positions.

It was timely to address the perceptions of what is going on campus, he said. It was time to see how women and men felt about the working climate at SIUC.

Stockdale said not many universities take these kind of surveys. She said there are no public studies or scales to measure university climates in terms of gender inequality values.

She said the results were grouped by employee classification, (faulty, civil service, academic affairs). She said the response rate was 45.7 percent, which totals to 871 people. The questions were based on microinequalities, she said.

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Results of the survey showed SIUC employees have positive perceptions of the climate within their units, but negative perceptions of the University level-climate. Stockdale said units are colleges or areas which report to vice presidents or directors.

She said people feel included, supported and valued in their units but have low perceptions of University rewards and trust in the administration.

Stockdale said the survey did not define administration as departmental administration or University administration. She said based on the climate answers the results, point to positive and negative perceptions toward upper University administration.

Across the University, the lowest ranked scale was the perception that the University rewards for accomplishments, she said. There is no excuse for that average.

Stockdale said the only significant gender difference was in the results of the perception of University rewards for accomplishments. The results showed women ranking one fraction of a point lower than men.

The difference is so small in terms of numbers, she said. But, since the survey was done on such a large scale, the difference is significant.

Stockdale said even though those differences were minimal, she was surprised to find that women in non-traditional colleges felt more supported and had more positive job attitudes than their male counterparts. Non-traditional colleges are colleges that have a low amount of female staff compared to other colleges.

I was surprised by the results, she said. I expected more differences between the gender responses. Microinequalities are traditionally what women complain about. The results showed the opposite. Women feel more positive about their work climates at non-traditional colleges compared to men.

Cynthia Mills, a SIUC senior in special education from Oak Lawn, said she wondered if women employees in nontraditional colleges were valued more because of their rarity.

Underrepresented colleges may go after women more aggressively, she said. It would be nice if they could detail the survey more.

Marcia Phelps, equal opportunity officer, said she was not surprised by the results of the survey. She said she has seen improvements at SIUC in the hiring of women.

I’ve been in the office for 10 years, she said. There have been improvements at SIUC, especially with hiring more women. There has been an increase in women being tenured. I think overall the outlook is positive.

Guyon said there are no current plans for further studies. He said the University is looking at the results to correct the negative climates.