Faculty members across the state are considering leaving Alabama due to concerns about salary and a new anti-DEI law.

About 29% of Alabama professors who responded to a recent survey have applied to jobs outside of the state, according to the American Association of University Professors. This reflects a national trend among higher education in the South.

“I am about to leave the school and move to a position in a new, blue state due to the overall political climate in Alabama,” one survey respondent said. “I conduct government funded research and am taking my grants with me, costing the school hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Many of the 88 survey respondents mentioned SB 129, the so-called “anti-DEI” legislation. Starting Oct. 1, no state institution can use public funding for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Gender, race, and sexual orientation are considered “divisive concepts.” The law also mandates people use bathrooms according to their biological sex.

In response, universities closed DEI offices and some campus resource centers, or asked students and staff to pivot. One survey respondent said the law is “an impediment to inclusive learning communities. It is also a challenge to how we work in our classrooms and a threat to our freedom.” A third respondent said art teachers were no longer allowed to post artwork that reflects diversity.

AAUP conducted the survey in August and received 2,924 responses from faculty in in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. Approximately 60% of respondents would not recommend their state as a desirable place to work.

That trend tracks with the statewide data, where about 57% of the Alabama respondents said they wouldn’t recommend their state to higher education faculty in other states. One respondent plans to retire because of the new law.

Multiple respondents noted that low salaries are a major concern among faculty. Salaries are one of the biggest concerns nationwide as well. Nationally, about 56% noted salary as a reason why they are dissatisfied and leaving the South.

“Salaries at my school for contract faculty are deeply depressed compared to peer institutions,” said one Alabama faculty member. “The raise pool remains low each and every year and merit raises are almost nonexistent.”

Several factors may affect this data. The sample size for Alabama was small compared to other states like Texas, where 955 people responded. There was a lack of diversity amongst the participants in Alabama. About 90% of the respondents were white and 56% were tenured.

Auburn AAUP president Luke Oeding, who distributed the survey locally, said there could be some bias introduced into the study. Most of the time, people who have strong, negative feelings may be more inclined to participate.

Oeding, an associate professor in mathematics and statistics, also said more time and subsequent surveys should be done to show any changing attitudes among higher education faculty. He also said professors’ leanings often skew left but most Southern states’ politics skew right.

“There’s going to be a clash on culture and politics,” Oeding said.

Nearly every Southern state has either introduced or passed anti-DEI legislation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle reports that 205 colleges have been affected in 32 states.