In this study, the relational survey model was used to investigate how research assistants in education faculties evaluated the political environment in their paternalistic relationships with the professors with whom they worked. The universe of research consists of research assistants working in the education faculties of state universities in Turkey. In the study, stratified sampling and random sampling methods were applied gradually. Parametric statistics are used in the analysis of the data. The researchers emailed scales of paternalistic leadership and perceptions of organizational policy to 459 research associates and collected the data. According to the research results, the helpfulness levels of the research assistants towards the faculty members they work with are medium, their morality levels are medium-high, and their authoritarianism levels are medium-low. While research assistants' perceptions of organizational policy are medium-high in the dimensions of doing what is necessary to raise honesty and work ethic, they are moderate in general political behavior. Research assistants' perceptions of paternalistic leadership and organizational policy increase with organizational seniority but are similar in gender. Negative correlations were observed between paternalistic leadership dimensions and perception of organizational policy dimensions. It was determined that paternalistic leadership is an essential predictor of the perception of organizational policy. Based on these results, some suggestions are made for practitioners and researchers who will conduct similar studies.