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• “If you look at this year, the rest of this year, next year and the year after, at least as we see today, things are not in great shape.”

  Provost Satish K. Tripathi

By CHARLOTTE HSU

Published: October 7, 2009

The budget crisis shows no signs of abating: Gov. David Paterson has ordered SUNY to slash spending by an additional $90 million, which means more challenging financial times lie ahead for UB, Provost Satish K. Tripathi told members of the Faculty Senate at Tuesday’s meeting, the first of this academic year.

In providing senators with an update on the budget, Tripathi summed up the cuts that UB already has suffered: about $21 million last year, along with an additional $10 to $11 million this year, including reductions in state funding and other revenues. He said that besides asking individual units to make cuts, the university is leaving many vacant positions open.

Tripathi indicated that more challenging times lie ahead, pointing out that New York, like many other states, has funded some public services through federal stimulus money set to dry up in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

“If you look at this year, the rest of this year, next year and the year after, at least as we see today,” Tripathi said, “things are not in great shape.”

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, Vincent Clark, director of community relations, provided the senate with information on efforts to help UB connect with the Buffalo Niagara community.

Clark said prior to the establishment of the Office of Community Relations about three years ago, UB discovered through interviews and surveys that perceptions existed in the region that the university had abandoned the community and that UB was an unfriendly and uninviting place.

He said in recent years, he and his staff have worked to build bridges between UB and outside stakeholders, helping residents and community groups learn about and "tap into" university resources.

Today, activities such as UB on the Green, volunteer events, and a block party and safety fair for people living around the South Campus bring members of the UB and Buffalo Niagara community together, Clark said. Residents of the University Heights neighborhood receive a UB newsletter. The university also has hosted programs to introduce economically disadvantaged youth to college and careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Clark said besides continuing and building upon existing outreach programs, one of his goals is to create new incentives for faculty members to get involved with the community. His office has researched innovative models that other institutions have implemented to encourage such activity. One West Coast university, he said, gives an award and grant money to faculty and community partners engaged in a collaborative service or research project.

“I hear all the time from faculty that I engage who bemoan the fact that there’s almost a disincentive to be engaged in the community in some ways, especially relative to getting tenure and things of that nature,” Clark said. “I hear that all the time.”

Also at Tuesday’s Jim Holstun, professor of English and a member of the self-appointed Ad Hoc Task Force on Gender Equity in Promotions at UB, sparked debate when he demanded that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee activate the senate’s Tenure and Privileges Committee, which has been dormant.

A joint commission of the Faculty Senate and the Office of the Provost that has been discussing gender equity in the tenure process is an insufficient replacement, Holstun said, because members of that body have not been told they are taking on the duties of the inactive senate committee.

With the Tenure and Privileges Committee “extinct,” Holstun said, “Those persons who are in deep distress with their careers have nowhere to go.”

Faculty Senate Chair Robert Hoeing said he disagreed with Holstun’s contention that faculty members with grievances related to tenure appointments had no Faculty Senate committee to turn to for help. Of the Faculty Senate and Office of the Provost’s joint Commission on Academic Excellence and Equity, Hoeing said, “Are they addressing these serious issues? You’re damn right they are. Of course they are.”

The commission has been charged with recommending to the provost and the Faculty Senate how the university community “can support a culture of academic excellence and sustained scholarly accomplishments by all UB faculty.”

The panel specifically has been asked to identify barriers that impede faculty success and develop policy and practice recommendations designed to lift these barriers so that faculty can excel, regardless of gender/race/ethnicity.

Hoeing reiterated a point he has made in the past—that finding volunteers to staff senate committees can be difficult. Both he and David Shucard, professor of neurology, encouraged their colleagues to participate more in university affairs. Just 32 of 88 Faculty Senate members showed up for this week’s meeting.

“What is the role of the Faculty Senate? …If you look around, we have a lot of empty chairs. …If the university is the domain of the faculty, and should represent the faculty’s voice, where is the faculty in speaking out about these issues and others, or at least having a dialogue about it?” Shucard asked.

Hoeing, for his part, said that while he believed faculty who are sitting on senate committees already are playing an important role in advising the administration, he, too, would appreciate increased attendance at senate meetings.

“I can’t hold a gun to people’s heads and force them to come to the senate,” he said. “We can only encourage them as we’ve tried in the past.”