UB Council passes resolution to ‘un-name’ Kapoor Hall

The UB Council unanimously passed a resolution at its public meeting on Monday to remove the name “John and Editha Kapoor Hall” from the South Campus building housing the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

John N. Kapoor, a UB alumnus, was convicted of a racketeering conspiracy by a federal jury last month.

The council’s naming revocation will be forwarded to SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson, and subsequently to the SUNY Board of Trustees for consideration and action.

Kapoor, who received a doctorate in pharmacy from UB in 1972, founded and served as CEO of Insys Therapeutics, which developed Subsys, a highly addictive opioid that is 80 times more potent than morphine. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved Subsys only to manage breakthrough pain in adult cancer patients, prosecutors accused Insys of paying doctors to prescribe the medication to non-cancer patients and then lying to insurance companies to ensure it was covered by insurance.

“(The) illegal actions by Dr. John N. Kapoor are wholly contrary to the University at Buffalo’s values, to our culture of excellence and integrity, and to our mission to bring the benefits of our education and research to local and global communities so that we may positively impact the world,” the resolution states.

“… in accordance with the University at Buffalo Naming Policy, the naming of the ‘John and Editha Kapoor Hall’ is hereby revoked on the basis that the actions of John N. Kapoor are wholly inconsistent with the mission and values of the University at Buffalo and undermine the accomplishments and reputation of the university.”

Upon the Board of Trustees’ approval of the council resolution, UB’s naming committee will follow university guidelines for namings not associated with gifts and will recommend a new name for the building, which was the former Acheson Hall chemistry building before a $62 million renovation project was completed in 2012.

In other business, the council also passed resolutions:

• Recommending that the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UB’s highest honor, be awarded to L. Nelson Hopkins, SUNY Distinguished Professor, former longtime chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and a pioneer in the treatment of cerebrovascular disorders.
• Naming the foyer of the Murchie Family Fieldhouse the Keller Family Foyer in honor of the Keller Family in appreciation for their support of UB student-athletes.
• Naming the Murphy Family Seminar Room in the Clinical and Translational Research Center in honor of Timothy F. Murphy, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Medicine and director of UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and his wife, Vicki.

Graduate students seeking an increase in their stipends continued their series of protests at the council’s regular meetings, this time silently moving behind council members seated at a rectangular table in The Buffalo Room to hold signs featuring slogans that included “UB works because we do,” and “Our university is not a corporation.”

At the council’s previous meeting on March 4 protestors had disrupted the meeting by speaking over council members, despite being advised that the meeting’s agenda did not provide time for public comments.