October 27, 1994: Vol26n8: Biochemistry proposal for name change is tabled

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
The timeless question: "What's in a name?" came before the FSEC on
Oct. 19. Their answer: plenty.
	A proposal by the biochemistry department to change its name
to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was tabled for
a second time by the FSEC amid charges that faculty in other
departments would be adversely impacted by such a change. A week
earlier, the FSEC had tabled the resolution in order to receive
written confirmation from Vice Provost Kenneth Levy that these other
departments did not object to the name change.
	Mathematics Professor Samuel Schack called the request "very
peculiar." At a time when the university is striving to develop
interdisciplinary fields of endeavor, these departments seem to be
fighting over who can lay claim to molecular biology. Other FSEC
members added that they feared the change could have a big impact on
the "recruitment potential" of other science departments.
	Levy explained that similar reservations were expressed by
various science department deans over a year ago, when the proposal
first surfaced. That is why, he speculated, the proposal was killed.
Several months later, the chair of the biochemistry department asked
that it be reconsidered.
	Biochemistry chair Mulchand Patel told the Reporter that
biochemistry departments nationally were moving toward recognizing the
molecular biological components of what they do in their names. "Even
the national association, the American Society for Biochemistry is
changing," explained Patel, "to the American Society for Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology." Patel added that "changing our name will not
change what we do...we already do molecular biology."
	The FSEC referred the proposal back to the faculty council of
the medical school for their approval before reconsidering the change
at a future date.