Category: Bearometer

The Faculty Bearometer sent the following question on October 14, 2025 to 2,614 faculty senate members:

What percentage of undergraduate students attend your lecture on any given day?

180 faculty answered this survey. The results are available at the link provided to faculty.

The Faculty Bearometer sent the following question on October 7, 2025 to 2,620 faculty senate members:

What do you enjoy most about being a faculty member at Berkeley? (open text response). 138 responded.

The Bearometer also sought votes for the following nominated questions (in randomized order). 114 responded.

• Should the faculty have opportunities to rate senior administrators? (likert)
• Ought the undergraduate colleges adopt a grade curve? (Scaled response: No, Yes, with X, Y, or Z distribution)
• How, if at all, have you changed formative and summative assessment of your students because of generative AI? (open text)
• What percentage of undergraduate students attend your lecture on any given day? (two digit numeric)
• How often have you “not done the right thing” at Berkeley because it would require cycles of your time spent on paperwork or compliance? (likert)
• How would you describe current practices around disability accommodation at Berkeley, based on what you have observed? (open text)

The Faculty Bearometer sent the following question on September 23, 2025 to 2,630 faculty senate members:

Has the use of student evaluations of teaching in faculty merit and promotion cases affected the difficulty of your course? If so, how? 238 responded.

Respondents could choose multiple responses:

• It hasn’t affected the difficulty of my course.
• Yes, it has led me to reduce course rigor/demand.
• Yes, it has led me to increase course rigor/demand.
• Yes, it has led me to award higher grades (more As or lenient distributions)
• Yes, it has led me to award lower grades (fewer As or stricter distributions)
• Other

All, here are some methods updates on the Bearometer for Fall 2025.

Our faculty changes, and so our N fluctuates. In September 2025, we added new faculty who have joined the campus this fall, and eliminated entries for those departed. Our N also decreases over time as faculty opt out of the Bearometer.

When we report units, we do so in an aggregated fashion. We aggregate units according to the table below so that all reported units have at least 50 members. Columns A and C are the most granular unit identifiers; these come directly out of CalNet and represent the respondent’s home department. To be clear, respondent identity is suppressed in Qualtrics; survey responses only carry the “Reported category” below.

We have also added an isStem flag based upon column A. We did this based on our own judgment. If you believe we should reclassify an entity, please email us. There are a few disciplines that could go either day, and departments that have subunits that are arguably stem, with others in social sciences and humanites.

Column B is what the Bearometer uses to report results in order to preserve respondent privacy. In some cases, we suppress results (e.g. Faculty administrators) because the number of participants is so small that reporting may identify the respondent.

Here are some interesting aspects of our categorization:

• We count 2,713 senate faculty members. However, our N will always be smaller because of email delivery errors, and opt outs.
• Our methods tag 1,414 members as STEM based upon their primary department categorization
• 1,017 have emeritus status
• This is our population breakdown by reported unit

bearometerCat	count
Civil & Environ Engineer	69
College of Chemistry	97
College of Computing, Data Science, and Society	42
College of Engineering	124
College of Environmental Design	51
College of Natural Resources	189
Comp Sci Div Operations	83
Department of Social Welfare	30
Dept of Architecture	51
Economics	61
Elect Eng Div Operations	71
English	86
Faculty administrators	15
Haas School of Business	132
History	80
Integrative Biology	64
L&S – Arts & Humanities	334
L&S – Biological Sciences	30
L&S – Mathematical & Physical Sciences	57
L&S – Social Sciences	156
L&S – Undergraduate Studies	2
Mathematics	90
Mechanical Engineering	56
Molecular & Cell Biology	109
Physics	83
Political Science	65
Professional School	85
Psychology	54
School of Education	52
School of Law	113
School of Public Health	99
School of Public Policy	30
Sociology	53
(blank)	0
Total	2713

The Faculty Bearometer sent the following question on April 29, 2025 to 2,564 faculty senate members:

Thinking about the students you teach, what portion of them are exceptionally prepared, adequately prepared, minimally prepared, or not at all prepared for the level of rigor you believe UC Berkeley coursework requires? 238 responded. The results are available at the link available to faculty.

On April 22, 2025, we distributed the following question to senate faculty (2567 members) via Qualtrics email contacts. 237 completed the survey. Results are available in the link circulated to senate faculty.

Over the past 12 months, approximately how much have you personally spent on work-related expenses without getting fully reimbursed, because of policy rules or because it wasn’t worth your time to seek reimbursement?

The choices were: $0-$50; $51-$250; $251-$1,000; $1,001-$5,000; >$5,000

On April 16, 2025, we distributed the following question to senate faculty (2564 members) via Qualtrics email contacts. 291 completed the survey. Results are available in the link circulated to senate faculty.

In the current environment where our university’s mode of operation is being openly challenged by powerful outside forces, do you believe that some of the associated criticisms of higher education are valid and should be acted upon?

• The criticisms are invalid so we should not act on them
• Some criticisms may be valid, but we should not take action in the present environment because it would undermine university autonomy
• Some criticisms are valid, and we should take action deliberately through regular governance processes
• Some criticisms are valid and we should take action urgently
• Other

On April 8, 2025, we distributed the following question to senate faculty (2579 members) via Qualtrics email contacts. 155 completed the survey. Results are available in the link circulated to senate faculty.

A new chancellor means a new vision for Berkeley. What are the most important issues the strategic planning process should address?

On April 1, 2025, we distributed the following question to senate faculty (2588 members) via Qualtrics email contacts. 335 completed the survey. Results are available in the link circulated to senate faculty.

Are you concerned about retaliation when you speak, or is your speech chilled by any of the classes of people listed below?

• Not chilled/not concerned
• Trump administration
• UC Regents / UCOP
• UCB administrators, deans, or department chairs
• Other faculty
• Students
• Social media
• Other

On March 4, 2025, we distributed the following question to senate faculty (2635 members) via Qualtrics email contacts. 341 completed the survey. Results are available in the link sent to senate faculty members.

What level of priority should Berkeley place on intercollegiate athletics?

• We should increase funding to pursue more national championships.
• Funding should remain at or near current levels to maintain nationally competitive Division I programs.
• We should reduce funding even if it means losing more games or moving to a weaker conference or division.
• We should only support athletics programs like physical education and intramural or club sports that directly benefit a higher proportion of our community members.
• Other