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OVERVIEW
Culture and climate are two terms often discussed and assessed in higher education because they impact everyone's experience. Peterson and Spencer (1990) state that "The underlying values, beliefs, and meaning in the comments in part constitute [a college or university]'s culture. The resultant attitudes and behavior in part establish the climate" (p. 3). There is a vast amount of literature on these two terms and below I expand on both separately.
Culture
Tierney (1988) explains that "the culture of an organization is grounded in the shared assumptions of individuals participating in the organization" (p. 4). Culture is what the people involved in the college or university - students, staff, faculty, and administrators - believe to be part of who they are and essential to their success. Northouse (2016) says that culture is the "learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols, and traditions that are common to a group of people. It is the shared qualities of a group that makes them unique" (p. 428). The culture of one college or university is unique because their mission, vision, values and purpose differ from one another, and with that, so does their culture. Therefore, the culture of a college or university influences the decisions everyone makes, ranging from recruitment and selection of employees, admissions of students, teaching, advising, to all other services.
Every college or university's culture is always evolving and being challenged because of everyone's unique experiences. However, this change in culture happens very slowly. For example, Princeton was founded in 1746 but it wasn't until 1969, 223 years later, that the trustees voted to accept women as undergraduate students. (The Trustees of Princeton University) Meanwhile, in the United States, Catherine Brewer "becomes the first woman to earn a bachelor's degree, graduating from Wesleyan College in Macon, GA" in 1840. (Historic Firsts) After Ms. Brewer's college graduation in Georgia, it took another 129 years for the culture of Princeton University to change its institutional culture to allow women as part of the student body.
Next I want to explore three types of cultures in higher education: (1) campus culture, (2) academy culture, and (3) institutional culture. Hendrickson, Lane, Harris, & Dorman (2013) write about these three and state that campus culture is "heavily influenced by the characteristics of the student body" (p. 3), culture of the academy is "based on the concept that we shall call collective individualism, whereby the values of personal independence and professional autonomy - held by individual faculty members, legitimized and protected through the doctrine of academic freedom - are juxtaposed with a broader social and institutional value of shared intellectual collegiality forming an academic community that exhibits a socially cohesive body in appearance but in actuality is a loosely aligned confederation of independent scholars." (p. 35) And, lastly, culture of the institution is "specific to the organization itself and is reflective of the idiosyncratic nature of each and every college or university. It is the ethos or personality of an organization, built from a sense of shared accomplishment and distinctive purpose." (p. 36)
The college culture is complex and shaped by all the cultures mentioned above. The student body provides a type of culture that is different from the faculty, staff, or administrators' culture. Hendrickson et al (2013) further argues that "one way to achieve collegial department culture is to establish solid employment practices that foster trust and a sense of fairness among the faculty" and staff. (p. 299).
Climate
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines climate as "the prevailing influence or environmental conditions characterizing a group or period" [emphasis added]. Austin (1994) defines it as "member's assessment, views, perceptions, and attitudes towards various aspects of organizational life" (p. 52). Climate is the current state of affairs and when assessed, it unveils the level of respect for faculty, staff, students, and administrators. Unfortunately, when conducting a climate study, the results are not always positive but it calls for college administrators to find ways to improve everyone’s experience, especially the historically excluded (aka. marginalized) populations.
Northeastern Illinois University has a page on What is Campus Climate? and shared the following: “A healthy climate is grounded in respect for others, nurtured by dialogue between those of differing perspectives, and evidenced by a pattern of civil interactions among community members. Campus climate includes the experience of individuals and groups on a campus—and the quality and extent of the interaction between those various groups and individuals. A healthy campus climate is not the same as a positive climate, or a climate that is always comfortable.” As hard as it can be to have these conversations, administrators and college leaders owe it to all employees, students and external partners to address a chilling environment. On the flip side, it is important to celebrate the positive experiences and what has changed to address discrimination and inequalities.
Hendrickson et al. (2013) concludes, "Effective administration and leadership requires an understanding of departmental culture and climate. How open has the faculty been in discussing controversial issues? How involved has the faculty been in decision making in the department? Does a leadership clique run the department? Is there a class system that clearly demarcates junior and senior faculty members? Are gender and diversity issues dividing the faculty? Are culture wars splitting the faculty into various camps? Responses to such questions will provide insight into the culture and climate of an academic department." (p. 293)
I would like to note that although Hendrickson et al. focused on faculty, it is critical to translate these questions to all employees (i.e. staff) of the university. Although faculty is essential to the success of universities across the world, so is the work of staff and administrators in supporting the holistic experiences that contribute to student success.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
For me, understanding culture and climate is something that needs to happen before accepting a position or role at a university. Acknowledging the university’s challenges and sharing what steps administrators (and the college community) are taking to address inequalities will only benefit everyone.
I was reading some articles on LinkedIn this weekend and they made me reflect on the fact that policies and procedures at a college or university do not change its culture. It is intriguing, perhaps frustrating, to look at the a homogeneous leadership or governance team while reading a statement like this, "[this university] is committed to providing equal education and employment opportunities to all students and employees regardless of race, sex, color, creed, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status, status with regards to public assistance, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or status as a U.S. veteran." (St. Cloud State University) And although it is noteworthy that some identities are invisible, I want to bring attention to the ones we can see. I would argue that there is still a lot of implicit bias from reviewing an application (e.g. the name of the applicant) to how they present themselves in the interview. I often seek to work or collaborate with universities that value their students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community partners.
There is one thing that I disagreed with when reading Academic leadership and governance of higher education: A guide for trustees, leaders, and aspiring leaders of two- and four-year institutions. Hendrickson et al. (2013) notes, “The concept of institutional fit is appropriate to this discussion [of culture and climate]. Many failures in academic leadership occur when the incumbent is unable or unwilling to incorporate, adapt to, or, at a minimum, understand an academic or institutional culture that has been shaped over the decades or even centuries.” [emphasis added, (p. 37)] The idea of fit is problematic and exclusionary at times. Plus, in order to change and improve, administrators and leaders must challenge the culture. Those failures in academic leadership that the authors mentioned probably happened because leaders pushed to change culture too hard and too fast. However, this is something to be explored in another writing piece.
Throughout my search processes and consultation services, I ask questions about the culture and climate of the institution, so I can best understand them. It is necessary for me to learn about the experiences and views of all stakeholders (faculty, staff, students, administrators, and external partners) in order to advance change. One question I try to answer is: Is the college’s current climate and culture fulfilling the mission, vision, and values? If not, there is some work to do.
REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY
Austin, A. E. (1994). Understanding and assessing faculty cultures and climates. New Directions for Institutional Research, 84, 47-63.
Climate. (n.d.). www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/climate?utm_campaign=sd&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld
Hendrickson, R., Lane, J., Harris, J., & Dorman, R. (2013). Academic leadership and governance of higher education: A guide for trustees, leaders, and aspiring leaders of two- and four-year institutions (First ed.).
The Trustees of Princeton University. (n.d.). History. Princeton University. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.princeton.edu/meet-princeton/history
Historic Firsts in Women's Education in the United States. U.S. News. (2009, March 11). Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2009/03/11/historic-firsts-in-womens-education-in-the-united-states_print.htm
Peterson, M. W., & Spencer, M. G. (1990). Understanding Academic Culture and Climate. New Directions for Institutional Research. Tierney, W. G. (1988). Organizational Culture in Higher Education: Defining the Essentials. The Journal of Higher Education, (1). 2.
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