SEPTEMBER 3, 1998-vol30n2:FSEC discusses the future of Statistics

VOLUME 30, NUMBER 2 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1998

FSEC discusses the future of Statistics
Proposal incorporating department into Social and Preventive Medicine spurs hot debate

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee's 1998-99 academic year got off to a vigorous start Aug. 26 with an impassioned discussion of the future of the Department of Statistics.

A proposal that took effect Tuesday, according to a memorandum issued Aug. 4 by Provost Thomas E. Headrick, incorporates the department as a biostatistics unit into the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Discussion of the proposal was tense from the beginning, when FSEC chair Peter Nickerson, calling the move an issue that has been with the university "for quite some time," noted that he had served on a committee that was asked to make a recommendation about the future of the department as a member of the medical-school faculty, not as chair of the Faculty Senate.

"That's news to me," responded Nicolas Goodman, vice provost for undergraduate education. Goodman and David J. Triggle, vice provost for graduate education and research and dean of the Graduate School, both served on the committee and represented the provost's office at the FSEC meeting.

"The statistics issue is one of considerable confusion," noted Triggle at the beginning of the discussion. "I've been involved with it for 15 years of my life."

The committee on statistics "analyzed the situation and came up with a report that offered three choices," Triggle continued.

Issued May 11, the report offered three solutions: do nothing, recreate the department or incorporate statistics into Social and Preventive Medicine.

Calling the first choice "unacceptable," Triggle told the FSEC that the department was being incorporated into the medical school in part because it is not large enough to support graduate-level students, and in part because given the "flat, diminishing resources of the institution versus where we need to go ideally...to have a first-class Department of Statistics."

"If we are going to achieve national prominence," Goodman added, "we have to concentrate resources....We have to be willing to let some projects go even if programs are intrinsically worthy. I don't see any alternative to such a strategy. If we're going to move in that direction, we're going to have to make the decisions we're making this afternoon. We can't oppose every decision to eliminate (programs) or we will become increasingly mediocre."

"My sense is we are making a grievous mistake," said John Boot, professor and chair of Management Science and Systems, who presented a passionate and lengthy discourse opposing the proposal and detailing the department's more recent history.

He said the committee formed to look at the organization of the department was "handpicked by the provost," and contended that its meetings had no minutes, no formal vote on the fate of statistics and that its final report "was signed only by Dean Triggle."

Boot also staunchly supported the efforts of Irwin Guttman, professor and chair of statistics, calling him a "competent and constructive chairman," and a "stellar mind, a stellar man and a stellar performer."

"He deserves all our respect and our condolences," Boot said.

"It is sad that the faculty is really not considered worthwhile to be informed about changes in the structure of our school," said Boris Albini, professor of microbiology.

He noted that changes in departmental structure in the medical school have to be reviewed by a committee of the school's Faculty Council.

"We'll reactivate this committee and ask them to reconsider this development," Albini said. He added that the Faculty Council was not involved in the decision to move Statistics into Social and Preventive Medicine, and first was informed of what was going on "earlier this month."

The statistics situation "has been handled badly," said Powhatan Wooldridge, associate professor of nursing.

"I find it rather strange that this report by a panel of experts sees statistics and biostatistics as identical," Wooldridge noted. "To me, as a social statistician, I don't see them as the same at all....I don't know how biostatiticians are supposed to meet the needs of a whole university.

"It seems that there is a notion that a statistician is a statistician is a statistician, and that's naive."

The proposed incorporation will make it difficult for the university to recruit prestigious faculty, he added.

"It is my experience that high-level people want to be identified with something that is something in its own right," and not part of another unit, Wooldridge said.

"What statistician of repute would want to come to a unit that is part of another unit?"

A "build-up of bad decisions and practices has brought the department to the verge of extinction," said Herbert Schuel, professor of anatomical sciences.

"I don't want to attach blame to anybody, but if we want to be a nationally ranked institution...we need a strong program in statistics....We're cutting our own throats. A better solution has to come."

The problem, said Victor Doyno, professor of English, is one of strong personalities.

"The issue underneath this is 'eagles' are hard to maintain when they're on the faculty. They're demanding, sometimes obstreperous. This school does not do a good job of retaining 'eagles,'" Doyno said.

Goodman called Boot's comments about the Department of Statistics "profoundly misleading."

"This is not a proposal to create a superb program (in statistics). This is a proposal to get out of that business because we feel we don't want to invest the resources," he said.

Instead, the "modest goal" of the proposed move is "to meet the statistical needs of Social and Preventive Medicine."

Boot questioned whether there were any guarantees that empty statistics faculty positions would be filled by statisticians. Triggle responded that "the lines will be filled by statisticians. I've spoken to Maurizio (Trevisan, chair of social and preventive medicine) about it."

The chair of statistics predicted the demise of his department.

"Dr. Goodman is exactly right . This is not a decision about perpetuating statistics. Statistics will be dead," said Guttman, who also attended the meeting.

But the death of the department will have ramifications far beyond statistics, he suggested.

"Who will come here? I would not have come here. I would not have looked at the advertisement twice," said Guttman, who joined UB in 1993.

Instead, UB will be left with a statistics program "worthy of a community college."

Calling the university "prisoners of our own history," Triggle said the university has "to make decisions in a whole host of areas....We need to strengthen some areas and to take some chances.

"I will continue, as long as I am dean of the Graduate School, to recommend that those decisions be made."

The proposal to incorporate the Department of Statistics into the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine was referred to the FSEC's academic planning committee for discussion.