Nine out of 10 Shorter University faculty members who responded anonymously to a survey said they disagree with a “personal lifestyle statement” adopted last fall that prohibits, among other things, homosexuality and drinking alcohol in public.

Results of the survey published by the Rome (GA) News-Tribune found fewer than half of those polled plan to sign the mandatory statement approved by trustees last October. Of the 46 percent who said they would comply, more than three out of four said they are opposed to signing statements but would do it in order to keep their jobs.

Just 12 percent said they intend to remain at Shorter long term. One in five said they plan to resign at the end of the academic year and 44 percent are looking for another job. One quarter said their future is uncertain.

Nine out of 10 said they have no confidence in the direction that President Donald Dowless is taking the school. Dowless took over as Shorter’s 19th president in June 2011. He succeeded Harold Newman, Shorter’s longtime provost who became president in 2006 after the state Supreme Court gave the Georgia Baptist Convention complete control over trustee selection.

The survey, carried out by a group of current and former faculty calling itself Committee for Integrity, went out to 109 staff and faculty in January. Betty Zane Morris, a member of the committee and a former chair of the communications department at Shorter, told the newspaper that 61 responded.

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