Portland State survey highlights rift between institutional leadership and everyone else on campus

Results from a campus climate survey of students, faculty and staff at Portland State University give a glimpse of what it’s like to study, teach and work at the downtown-based institution.

Overall, respondents showed a striking duality at PSU: Students and employees reported high levels of belonging and respect among immediate peers but a severe lack of trust toward the university’s top leadership.

“It’s kind of disheartening, but I’m unfortunately not surprised by these answers,” Associated Students of Portland State University President Rowan Bean said.

PSU’s former Office of Global, Diversity and Inclusion conducted the survey over a five-month period, from May to September 2025. Findings from the survey were publicly released earlier this month in two separate reports: one summarizing student responses and the other reviewing feedback from faculty, staff and administrators.

The two reports are meant to be a general assessment of the university’s efforts toward building an inclusive and diverse campus. That work appears to be paying off in some areas.

Students and employees at PSU who responded to the survey said they feel accepted for who they are at the university, with over 70% reporting they feel welcomed when on campus. An even higher percentage of students, faculty and staff — more than 80% — said they feel respected by their day-to-day peers. Though students who identified as living with a disability or those who were affiliated with the military noted lower feelings of belonging at the university.

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Students also had a high appreciation for support services like PSU’s food pantry and health care services, while faculty and staff reported a strong dedication to their jobs and the university’s mission.

But the pair of reports revealed a disconnect among both students and employees when it comes to Portland State’s senior leaders and board of trustees.

Feelings of distrust and disrespect revealed in PSU survey

Eighty-three percent of students reported feeling respected by faculty and staff, but just 60% reported that same feeling from administrators. The sentiment was worse among some students, with nearly one-in-five students saying they felt disrespected by administrators.

“That is probably the one thing that is the most accurate among most of the students here, regardless if they filled the survey out,” said Bean, who is a senior at PSU.

Her biggest concern with the survey results was a lack of representation from students. Just 11% of the more than 15,000 students who received invitations to participate in the survey responded.

A much greater share of staff — about 36% of PSU’s nearly 4,000 employees — participated.

University employees are skeptical of the direction PSU leaders are moving the university toward, with just 31% saying they believe the welfare of the institution takes precedence over donor demands and political interests. Nearly half of the faculty surveyed disagreed with that statement.

Respondents were surveyed on the heels of a difficult year at Portland State. University leaders had just closed a multi-million dollar budget gap through program and workforce eliminations. Now the university is prepping for at least two more years of cuts as it looks to fill a projected $35 million budget deficit by the end of the 2027-28 school year.

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Workload and burnout was another top concern for employees, with some describing their work life as unsustainable. Close to half of the faculty reported feeling overburdened at PSU. That’s a feeling shared by administrators — more than 60% of whom said their workload is too heavy.

With more employee reductions on the horizon, that strain could become even heavier.

“There’s a real hidden cost to efficiency,” PSU Faculty Senate Presiding Officer Matt Chorpenning said. He said many of the findings from the reports are resonating with faculty.

“If we keep asking fewer and fewer people to do more and more, it’s a recipe for disaster,” Chorpenning said. “It’s a recipe for burning out really talented people.”

In a statement to the campus community last week, Portland State President Ann Cudd said she is taking the survey results to heart.

“We are navigating a period of profound institutional change,” Cudd wrote. “I know this change is difficult, and I know it can strain trust. But we are undertaking this work in service of a singular goal: creating a sustainable, vibrant future for PSU.”

What PSU plans to do with the results from the climate survey are not clear yet, but university leaders say the report is a first step toward building a more sustainable institution.

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The office that originally administered the survey was shuttered last year. PSU said it will determine specific actions to take on the findings after hiring a new Chief Diversity Officer, which is currently in process. The report said this approach will “ensure that next steps are not top-down mandates, but rather solutions co-created by the community most affected by them.”

It’s difficult for some faculty at Portland State to see any positive outcomes coming out of the report.

“I don’t see the survey as indicating a high level of trust in the administration,” said Bill Knight, president of Portland State’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. “We have a lot of work to do before we can become co-creators of Portland State’s future.”