<p> This study explores how faculty perceived difficult decisions made by institutional administrators during a time of complex change in higher education. We employ an institutional striving framework to analyze responses to a campus-wide survey to all faculty at a large university in the United States that was struggling to maintain its Very High Research Productivity (R1) status. Losing R1 likely decreases prestige, so striving is important to understanding how survey respondents reflect on the institutional decisions to seek to maintain R1 status. Our findings show faculty struggle to make sense of the new mission, changes in reward systems, and their institutional membership. This study suggests that altering the mission(s) of a university is not only a complex governance process, but also a socio-cultural one, tied to history, identity, and membership. When higher education institutions strive for mission shift, administrators need to consider that process of striving in the broader context of institutional resources and governance as well as the experience of personnel, such as faculty. Faculty need more support when they experience institutional mission transition to reorient themselves to institutional culture, norms, and community.</p>