In an annual survey conducted by the Faculty Senate, faculty members expressed frustration about the university administration’s lack of transparency with the Northeastern community amid federal attacks on higher education.

In the survey, originally released to faculty Oct. 29, 2025 and published on the Faculty Senate website alongside the Jan. 28 meeting minutes, faculty were asked to comment on the university’s “climate.” Faculty overwhelmingly said they were angered by the recent budget cuts to their departments, frustrated with the upper administration of Northeastern and concerned about salary pay and the treatment of tenure and non-tenure track faculty. 

“Survey results inform Senate resolutions, committee charges, and policy recommendations to university leadership, ensuring faculty input is grounded in broad, documented evidence,” Dee Spencer, chair of the Faculty Senate, wrote in a March 23 email to The Huntington News. 

Reviewed by Erica Homan, an associate professor of biology and a faculty senator for the College of Science, the survey represents approximately one-fifth of the Northeastern faculty with the non-tenure track faculty being the most predominant respondents, according to the Jan. 28 meeting minutes. 

The survey collected 180 responses and consisted of two parts. The first section prompted respondents to answer 56 multiple-choice questions about their satisfaction with salary, healthcare benefits and tenure opportunities, among other topics.  

“University leaders value input and ideas from all Northeastern constituencies, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and other key stakeholders,” said Renata Nyul, vice president for communications, in a statement to The News.   

When asked about salary satisfaction, 59% of tenure-track faculty reported they were dissatisfied. Only 20% of non-tenure track, 12% of tenure-track and 22% of tenured faculty reported being satisfied with their salary. 

In response to a question asking if faculty feel valued by the administration, 45% of non-tenure track, 34% of tenure-track and 42% of tenured faculty responded with “agree” or “strongly agree.” 

In terms of overall job satisfaction, 62% of non-tenure-track, 49% of tenure-track and 46% of tenured faculty reported being “satisfied” or “very satisfied.” 

The second portion asked the open-ended prompt of “Any additional comments you would like to add about Northeastern’s climate?” Responses to the survey were all anonymous. The results included 22 pages of responses to the question, the majority of which addressed frustrations about budget cuts across the university and lack of transparency from university administration about the severity and timing of budget cuts. 

The discretionary budgets of the College of Social Science and Humanities, for example, were cut by about 75 to 80% this academic year. Additionally, funds set aside for faculty research and administrative staff were significantly decreased. 

“The university has instituted internal budget cuts with essentially zero explanation or transparency — this dates to several years before the current federal policy changes,” response 34 reads. “We’ve been repeatedly asked to do more with less, essentially, as our course enrollments and class sizes have continued to increase while course assistantships have been cut, and hiring of new faculty has slowed to sub-replacement-level.”

Many respondents said they feel their voices are disregarded or outright excluded from conversations about reducing financial strain, especially when it directly affects their departments.  

“We are provided with little if no information about enrollment figures and their impact on the budget. Bottom line — the faculty and staff should be informed as early as possible if the university plans to implement a reduction in force,” response 46 reads.

Several responses detailed irritation with the “top-down” style of governance within the university. Response 58 noted frustration with what the respondent said is the  university’s prioritization of administration and profit over the needs of its faculty and staff. 

“There is a growing and big concern that the current university leadership prioritizes administrative authority and financial considerations over the needs of frontline faculty and staff who work directly with students,” the response reads. 

There were several mentions of inadequate pay in comparison to other institutions in the Boston area. Northeastern’s professors, associate professors and assistant professors were paid 7%, 2% and 3%, respectively, less than the salary of peer institutions, respectively, in the 2023-24 academic year, according to the 2024-2025 Financial Affairs Committee report. 

“We have some of the lowest salaries and budgets in the area and yet our President is one of the highest paid in the country,” response 24 reads. 

Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun is the highest-paid university president in Massachusetts with his total compensation historically exceeding $2 million, according to the university’s Form 990 from Fiscal Year 2023. 

In the first part of the survey, when asked whether respondents thought their salary is competitive compared to other peer institutions, 55% of non-tenure track, 73% of tenure track and 51% of tenured staff responded “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”

Respondents also raised concerns about job security for tenure versus non-tenure track employees. The survey found that non-tenure track faculty felt less valued by the university, reporting unfair treatment because of their contract status. 

“Staff and [non-tenure track] faculty are treated as a commodity and not people. I have seen firsthand, employees be let go directly due to complications related to their disabilities,” response 24 reads. “I have been directly discriminated against at the college-level for my identity and have had to file Title IX reports.”

Other responses in the survey detailed concerns of discrimination among employees, with one respondent writing that “senior leadership has made marginalized faculty feel like they’ll be targeted if they speak up about discrimination.”

“As a remote [non-tenured track] faculty, I have received discrimination due to my remote status from both the department and college level. I have had to fight harder to retain my administrative role, and twice now have had my administrative title given away to less qualified [non-tentured track] faculty simply because they were onground, despite the fact that 100% of the role can be completed remotely,” response 148 reads. 

While the majority of respondents criticized the university, some had more favorable perspectives on university administration.

“The university administration at the highest level has achieved wonders for Northeastern thus far, especially over the last few decades,” response 150 reads. 

Some of the positive remarks came with caveats. 

“Northeastern has been very successful in many respects, particularly in undergraduate education and co-op. On the strength of this success, the university is run in a highly top-down manner. Again, it is hard to argue with the track record of success but this approach does not enhance the climate of the university,” response 180 reads. 

Beyond frustrations about budget cuts and transparency, many faculty lack trust in the university administration’s ability to support their needs. 

“Northeastern has truly lost its way. Students come in with dreams and ambitions, led by false promises from administrators, that then have to be made true by faculty and staff,” response 10 read. “We spend more time on propaganda and gloss than actually listening to people and being reflective. Thank God the students are so resilient, and that you have staff that are devoted (or desperate) enough to take care of them.”