Are We Marginalized within Academe? Perceptions of Two-Year College Faculty.

A sample of 311 faculty at seven community colleges completed survey questions that elicited their ratings of statements about four-year faculty attitudes toward two-year college faculty and about their own perceptions of their status within academe. Respondents with prior full-time faculty experience at a four-year institution were more likely to agree than those without such experience that four-year faculty consider two-year faculty to be on the margins of higher education. Neither group considered themselves to be in a marginal position. The authors discuss the implications of the data and make recommendations for future research.

Many community college faculty and administrators believe that the community college is held in low regard within the academic community. For example, in a 1998 interview, Belle Wheelan, president of Northern Virginia Community College, stated that "the higher education community traditionally has viewed two-year institutions as lesser schools" (Evelyn, September 7, 1998, p. 11). As higher education institutions, community colleges seem to be "prisoners of elitism with little chance of escape" (Barry & Barry, 1992, p. 43).

This attitude toward the community college also affects perceptions of its faculty. After conducting interviews with 76 community college faculty in three states, Seidman 111985) concluded the following: "Faculty must constantly contend with the nagging sense that teaching at a community college places them at the bottom of ... [the higher education] hierarchy" (p. 271). Because teaching is their primary professional responsibility, they are viewed "as faculty who contribute little, if anything, to scholarship; as teachers who pursue the vocational before the academic; as practitioners whose knowledge of the world outside their own institutions is parochial" (National Center for Postsecondary Improvement, 1998, p. 43). How accurate these stereotypes are is not known, partly because community college faculty are little studied by those who conduct higher education research, "or worse, are simply dismissed as a separate, and by implication lesser, class of college professors" (National Center, 1998, p. 43).

Four-year faculty dominate the academic power structure that sets research agendas, privileges research over teaching, and values a cosmopolitan orientation over a local or institutional orientation. As a consequence, two-year college faculty are implicitly marginalized and devalued within academe. One manifestation of this marginalization is the reluctance with which many four-year college faculty accept community college courses as equivalent to lower-division four-year courses. Four-year college faculty often have difficulty believing two-year college courses can truly be equivalent to four-year college courses, partly because two-year college faculty are not viewed as contributing members to their discipline (Palmer, 1996).

Although there is a belief among community college leaders and faculty that four-year college and university faculty perceive the community college and its faculty as operating on the margins of higher education, it is not clear if the faculty have internalized this sense of marginalization. This present study was designed to gain a better understanding of two-year college faculty's perceptions of four-year college faculty's attitudes toward the community college and its faculty, as well as their own place within academe.

Methodology and Data Source

The City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) system consists of seven community colleges located throughout Chicago. The population for the study was all individuals designated by CCC as full-time faculty (whether or not their responsibilities included instruction) during the 1996-97 year. Thus, the population was 713 individuals.

In spring 1997 this group was mailed a two-page, researcher-designed questionnaire. Content validity for all statements had been determined by a panel of five higher education scholars, including two specializing in the community college. Additionally, the survey was pilot-tested with a small group of faculty in a community college located near one of the researchers. The format of the instrument was modified as a result, and two items were eliminated. The final survey included 27 statements about the two-year college. Respondents used a Likert scale of 1 to 5 to indicate their agreement or disagreement with the statements (1 = agree completely, 2 = agree somewhat, 3 = no opinion, 4 = disagree somewhat, 5 = disagree completely). This paper reports on the respondents' ratings to four statements on the questionnaire that were grouped under the title "Attitudes Toward the Two-Year College and Its Faculty." In addition, faculty were asked to indicate their age and any experience as a full-time four-year faculty member (not counting as a teaching assistant). The sex of each respondent was known to the researchers so it did not need to be asked on the questionnaire.

Responses to the four statements were the dependent variables. The independent variables were the demographic variables of previous experience as a full-time four-year faculty member and sex of respondent. Experience as a four-year college faculty was selected because it seemed likely that those community college faculty who had previously taught at a four-year college would be more aware of four-year faculty's opinions than would two-year faculty without this experience. Likewise, female and male community college faculty could differ in their perceptions regarding their marginalization within academe. Townsend's (1998) qualitative study of women community college faculty found that some women regarded themselves as marginalized because they taught at a community college whereas others did not. For some, the decision to teach at the community college occurred by default: they could not obtain a tenure-track position in a four-year college, so they came to the two-year school. For others, teaching at the community college was a first choice rather than second-best career decision. Teaching at the community college enabled them successfully to combine family and career responsibilities.

The hypotheses regarding sex of the respondents were as follows: both female and male two-year college faculty would perceive four-year college and university faculty as being unsupportive of the two-year college and as viewing its faculty as being on the margins of higher education. Also both female and male faculty would perceive themselves to have felt the disdain of four-year college and university faculty. Male two-year college faculty would be more likely to perceive themselves as marginalized within academe because they taught at a two-year college.

Hypotheses relating to previous experience in the four-year sector were that former four-year college faculty would be more likely to perceive four-year college and university faculty as being unsupportive of the two-year college and as viewing its faculty as being on the margins of higher education. Also, former four-year college faculty would be more likely to claim they had felt the disdain of four-year college faculty and to consider themselves to have a marginal position in higher education.

Results

After two mailings to respondents' institutional addresses, the response rate was 44% of the population ((311 faculty members). Surveys with incomplete responses to all the questions were eliminated, leaving the total number of usable responses at 266 or 37% of the population.

Almost half of the 266 respondents were female (116 or 43.6%), and over half (150 or 56.4%) were male. In the population for the study (713), 43.5% were female and 56.5% were male. Based on the similarities in gender composition of the respondents and population, the results of the survey were deemed to be generalizable to the population. Almost 30% of survey respondents (46 men and 31 women) had been a full-time faculty member at a four-year institution.

Sex of Respondent

The values of t tests for the independent variable of respondent's sex revealed no statistically significant differences at p [is less than] .01 for any of the four statements (see Table 2). Based on the 1 to 5 Likert scale, both sexes basically expressed no opinion regarding the statement, "I consider four-year college and university faculty to be unsupportive of the two-year college" (M = 2.84 for women and 2.91 for men). Both female and male two-year college faculty agreed somewhat that "Four-year college and university faculty consider two-year college faculty as being on the margins of higher education" (M = 2.33 for women and 2.35 for men). Male faculty were slightly more apt than female faculty to have no opinion on the statement, "I have felt the disdain of faculty from four-year colleges and universities" (M = 3.03 for men and 2.83 for women). In spite of respondents' belief that four-year faculty perceive them as being marginal in academe, both female and male faculty disagreed somewhat that they had "a marginal position in higher education" (M = 4.26 for women and 4.14 for men). In sum, the hypotheses that both female and male two-year college faculty would perceive four-year college and university faculty as viewing them to be on the margins of higher education was accepted, but the other hypotheses were rejected.

Table 2 Attitudes toward the Two-Year College and its Faculty: Means and Standard Deviations by Experience as Four-Year College Faculty and t Test Results (N=266)

                                    Experience
                                   as Four-Year
                                      (n= 77)

                                     M     SD

I consider four-year college and   2.92   1.06
university faculty in general to
be unsupportive of the two-year
college.

Four-year college and university   2.22    .88
faculty consider two-year
college faculty as being on the
margins of higher education.

As a two-year college faculty      2.79   1.37
member, I have felt the disdain
of faculty from four-year
colleges and universities.

I consider myself to have a        4.22   1.24
marginal position in higher
education because I teach at a
two-year college.

                                   No Experience
                                    as Four-Year
                                     (n= 189)

                                     M     SD       t test

I consider four-year college and   2.89   1.14     -.22
university faculty in general to
be unsupportive of the two-year
college.

Four-year college and university   2.41   1.07     1.39(*)
faculty consider two-year
college faculty as being on the
margins of higher education.

As a two-year college faculty      2.98   1.28     1.09
member, I have felt the disdain
of faculty from four-year
colleges and universities.

I consider myself to have a        4.18   1.17     -.22
marginal position in higher
education because I teach at a
two-year college.

Note. Values are based on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 where 1=agree completely, 2=agree somewhat, 3=no opinion, 4=disagree somewhat, and 5=disagree completely.

(*) p < .01

Experience as a Full-Time Faculty Member in a Four-Year School

Almost 30% of the responding faculty had once been a full-time faculty members in a four-year school. The values of t tests for the independent variable of experience as a full-time four-year college faculty member indicated only one significant difference at p [is less than] .01. Based on the 1 to 5 Likert scale, respondents who had been full-time four-year college faculty were more likely to agree somewhat with the statement, "Four-year college and university faculty consider two-year college faculty as being on the margins of higher education" (M = 2.22 for those with experience as four-year faculty and 2.41 for those without). Both groups of respondents had no opinion on the statement "I consider four-year college and university faculty to be unsupportive of the two-year college" (M = 2.92 for those with and 2.89 for those without experience) and no opinion on the statement, "As a two-year college faculty member, I have felt the disdain of faculty from four-year colleges and universities" (M = 2.79 for those with experience and 2.98 for those without). Neither group of respondents considered themselves to have "a marginal position in higher education" (M = 4.22 for those with four-year experience and 4.18 for those without).

Thus, the hypothesis that former four-year college faculty would be more likely to believe that four-year college and university faculty would consider two-year college faculty as being on the margins of higher education was accepted. The other hypotheses relating to the effect of previous work experience in the four-year sector were rejected.

Discussion and Implications

Regardless of their gender or experience (or lack of experience) as a faculty member in the four-year sector, the majority of community college faculty in this study agreed that four-year college and university faculty considered them to be "on the margins of higher education." In spite of this belief, most respondents had not internalized this perception as evidenced by their disagreement with the statement, "I consider myself to have a marginal position in higher education because I teach at a two-year college." Prior research bears out the deep commitment of many two-year faculty to their work and the concept of the community college (Cohen & Brawer, 1996; Seidman, 1985; Townsend, 1998). Such a commitment may be one reason for rejecting others' negative perceptions of community college faculty's role within academe. This commitment is an institutional strength that community college leaders need to reinforce and emphasize as they strive to tell the community college story, both nationally and locally.

Future research needs to elicit four-year faculty's attitudes toward the two-year college and its faculty. If research indicates that the majority of four-year faculty have negative perceptions of the community college and its faculty, these attitudes need to be addressed by leaders of both two- and four-year colleges. Four-year faculty's negative perceptions can and do influence their willingness to encourage the transfer of two-year college students and to work with these students, once transferred. Senior administrators in both sectors can work to change possible negative perceptions of two-year faculty in their college's service region by setting up meetings between two-year and four-year faculty in the same discipline, encouraging faculty exchanges, and publicizing scholarly accomplishments of two-year faculty. These same activities could also serve to change two-year faculty's perceptions of four-year faculty if community college faculty erroneously believe these colleagues do not support them.

Table 1 Attitudes toward the Two-Year College and Its Faculty: Means and Standard Deviations by Gender and t Test Results (N=266)

                                    Females
                                    (n=116)

                                     M     SD

I consider four-year college and   2.84   1.09
university faculty in general to
be unsupportive of the two-year
college.

Four-year college and university   2.33   1.03
faculty consider two-year
college faculty as being on the
margins of higher education.

As a two-year college faculty      2.83   1.27
member, I have felt the disdain
of faculty from four-year
colleges and universities.

I consider myself to have a        4.26   1.14
marginal position in higher
education because I teach at a
two-year college.

                                     Males
                                    (n=150)

                                     M     SD    t test

I consider four-year college and   2.91   1.14     -.28
university faculty in general to
be unsupportive of the two-year
college.

Four-year college and university   2.35   1.00     -.13
faculty consider two-year
college faculty as being on the
margins of higher education.

As a two-year college faculty      3.03   1.34    -1.26
member, I have felt the disdain
of faculty from four-year
colleges and universities.

I consider myself to have a        4.14   1.22      .81
marginal position in higher
education because I teach at a
two-year college.

Note. Values based on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 where 1=agree completely, 2=agree somewhat, 3=no opinion, 4=disagree somewhat, and 5=disagree completely.

References

Barry, R. J., & Barry, P.A. (1992). Establishing equity in the articulation process. In B.W. Dziech & W. R. Vilter (Eds.), Prisoners of elitism: The community college's struggle for stature (pp. 35-44). New Directions for Community Colleges, No. 78. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cohen, A., & Brawer, F. (1966). The American community college (3rd. ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Evelyn, J. (1998, September 7). Southern education has "miles to go." Community College Week, pp. 3, 11.

National Center for Postsecondary Improvement. (1998, November/December). Casting new light on old notions: A changing understanding of community college faculty. Change, pp. 43-46.

Palmer, J. (1996). Transfer as a function of interinstitutional faculty deliberations. In T. Rifkin (Ed.), Transfer and articulation: Improving policies to meet new needs (pp. 65-76). New Directions for Community Colleges, No. 96. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Seidman, E. (1985). In the words of the faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Townsend, B. (1998). Women faculty's satisfaction with employment in the community college. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 22(7), 655-661.

Barbara K. Townsend serves as associate dean for research and development at University of Missouri-Columbia in Columbia, Missouri, [e-mail]

Nancy LaPaglia is an adjunct instructor at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon. [e-mail]