Greiner forms task force on racial, ethnic diversity
Nominations for membership being sought from various campus constituencies

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
News Services Editor

Calling it "urgent and important," President William R. Greiner has announced the formation of the Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Diversity at UB.

"The formation of our task force is a direct result of our need to address the key issues of diversity in our university community," Greiner said in a memorandum dated Jan. 21. "America's history regarding racial-, ethnic- and gender-based intolerance dictates that its institutions regularly review the conditions and attitudes in our current environment to be sure that we continue to move forward from our past in these regards.

"At UB, we have been careful over the years to address these issues by policy and legislative mandate. However, in recent years, we have not conducted an in-depth internal review of the causes, extent and results of racial and ethnic discrimination and their impact on the university community."

The task force will be asked to assess the campus climate regarding racial and ethnic diversity, assemble and analyze data on campus progress and advise Greiner on what steps need to be taken to improve the university's performance in this area.

"We can't solve all of our society's problems in this regard, but we certainly can try to do our fair share and more, and to be leaders in this area," Greiner said. "The creation of this task force is a step toward developing strategies and actions to assure that we take and remain in such a leadership role. This is urgent and important work, and in order that the task force may get its work underway soon, I ask that we constitute the membership as promptly as possible."

According to its charge, the task force will be made up of five faculty members, three professional-staff members, two classified-staff members, three student and two community members. The president will appoint two co-chairs from among its members.

Ex-officio members will be selected from the university staff; in particular, the offices of Human Resources, Admissions, and Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration.

Nominations to the task force are being sought from the provost; senior vice president; vice presidents; deans; Faculty Senate Executive Committee; Professional Staff Senate Executive Committee; United University Professions Health Sciences and Buffalo Center chapters; UB Local 602, Civil Service Employees Association; Council 82, Local Division 358, Public Employees Federation; Student Association; Graduate Student Association; Graduate Student Employees Union; the UB Council, and the UB Alumni Association. Appointments to the task force will be made by Greiner.

The deadline for submitting nominations is Feb. 5; nominations should be sent to Eileen Cain, deputy to the president. For more information, call Cain at 645-2901.

The task force will be charged with improving the campus clities, taking into consideration the special needs of diverse and underrepresented groups, and making sure that faculty, staff and student governance bodies reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of society.

The charge calls for the task force to deliver an interim report to the president by Dec. 1.

The Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Diversity at UB, Greiner said in his memorandum, "will enable us to better serve our large and richly diverse university community. Its creation signals UB's absolute commitment to upholding our responsibility - for our own UB family as well as our many constituencies across the region and the state - to actively develop and advance the most diverse, equitable, progressive and productive climate for higher education."

Noting that the population of New York State is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse in the nation, Greiner said that "historically, New York has had a large and very significant community of African Americans, but they are being joined by rapidly increasing numbers of Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and other emerging ethnic groups.

"The future of New York State will depend on this highly diverse populace, all of whom deserve and must have equal educational and economic opportunities."

Creation of the task force took root in the spring of 1997, when the Faculty Senate's Affirmative Action Committee recommended its formation to address issues pertaining to race separately from those pertaining exclusively to women.

The recommendation was endorsed by the full Faculty Senate in November 1997, and the recommendations were forwarded to the president.

At that time, the Faculty Senate recommended that among its duties, the task force consider salary inequities; recruitment and retention of minority students, faculty and staff, and inclusion of minorities in policy and decision-making, and recommend solutions as they may seem appropriate.