University at Buffalo: Reporter

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Sending Letters to the Reporter
The Reporter welcomes letters from readers commenting on its stories and content. Letters should be brief and may be edited for style and length. Because of space limitations, the Reporter cannot publish all letters received. They must be received by 9 a.m. Monday to be considered for publication in that week's issue.

UUP, not state, has "refused to negotiate"
To the Editor:
As a faculty member who has never been a member of the UUP, but whose interests it allegedly represents, I think it necessary to say a few things in reply to the letter in the March 6 Reporter from a local committee of this union about the contract situation. It needs to be pointed out that we have not received any raises for two years, thus in real terms have seen our salaries decreasing, and we have lost significant health benefits which we had come to count on, to replace which we must do ourselves at our own cost. For this situation the union is entirely responsible. To uphold a purely theoretical and putative ideological position, the UUP, and not the state, has refused to negotiate, and especially as recommended by President Greiner, to compromise. That much the letter makes clear. "...UUP should never and will never accept any contract with provisions for out-sourcing." The ideocrats who run the union, rather than suffer an ideological reverse, seem willing to sacrifice everything and everyone else.

In light of this, I have been trying to imagine what the master plan of the UUP's brain trust must be, and it finally came to me. Outwait the Pataki administration! Work like beavers to get a Democrat in the governor's chair, get him to appoint fellow-traveling GOER members, and by spring or summer of 1999 they will get the contract they want. Its simplicity is stunning, its scope and audacity breathtaking! Of course, there are some drawbacks. Suppose by some horrible chance Pataki is reelected, and again, it's true we'll have gone without a pay raise or many health benefits for another two or three years. But in spite of that a play worthy of the minds which conceived it.

On the other hand, I would like, as a taxpayer, to extend my heartiest congratulations to the GOER for having discovered a foolproof system to save the taxpayers of this state tens of millions of completely unexpected dollars by the simple expedient of offering the UUP a contract provision which it will not negotiate. It is truly an amazing world.

Sincerely,
Thomas C. Barry
Classics

Research Foundation firings not on UB campus
Editor:
A letter in last week's Reporter regarding the UUP contract stalemate made reference to the firing of Research Foundation employees as a result of union-organizing activities. Since the writers did not do so, I would like to make clear that the situation referred to did not occur at this campus. Furthermore, I would suggest that the "facts" presented may reflect less than a full picture of the situation, rendering the "conclusions" drawn at best incomplete, and at worst, inaccurate.

Barbara A. Burke
Director, Sponsored Programs Personnel

Excuses delay needed work for faculty diversity
To The Editor:
Professor Howard Foster's letter uses two rhetorical devices to present his argument against the efforts needed to address the diversity in gender and race among the faculty at UB. Since he cited my letter in bringing his argument forward, I would like to respond.

First, Professor Foster compliments my letter, and then states he does not know the situation in the sciences, but goes on to raise the possibility that I do not understand potential inaccuracy and imprecision (or at least would want to question them) of the numbers that are presented in the report of the Task Force on Women at UB. With all due respect to the conventions of "collegial" discourse, if Professor Foster really cared about whether I understood the data presented, or if I questioned them, he could have called me to ask. Needless to say he didn't. The reason for that is this was simply a means to advance his thesis. That thesis can be summarized as follows; Since Professor Foster has doubts about the numbers presented in his field, then perhaps the entire database is at doubt. Jumping to such conclusions is, at best, simple minded and lacking in statistical validity, at worst, a cover for further delay tactics. I will comment further about that below.

As an analytical chemist, my profession is deeply concerned with accuracy, precision, statistics and interpretation in complex measurements. Perhaps because of that I do examine the sources and values of numbers presented in my field. However, I do not rely on any one simple measurement to draw my conclusions. In my discipline, I am well aware of the statistics on current and projected availability of women and minorities. I have followed this data for over 10 years, and was involved in presenting seminars in diversity and career opportunities in science based on national statistics developed by NSF, while a program officer at NSF in 1989/90. Further, I would suggest that any projections based on availability of Ph.Ds in science are just that, projections and obviously subject to (interminable, academic) debate. A number of metrics are available about performance at UB in affirmative action over the past years; the most important, of course, is the bottom line. In Chemistry, we have one woman faculty member out of 26. Another interesting metric Professor Foster may examine is the rate of hiring, which in Chemistry, over the past 10 years, is zero (one hired, one left). Either of these measures is absolute, not open to debate about accuracy and the qualifications of the pool, and these data indicate that we will not get any further improvement if they continue. Finally, I would note that I am well aware of what our peer institutions have done and are doing to deal with increasing numbers of women and minority faculty; in my previous letter I noted some important things we have not done and could do in the sciences. Comparison of data at those peer institutions serve as another metric (common in science) to guide us to the conclusion that more can be done.

I restricted my comments to the situation in sciences because I do know these data and I do know that we can do more and that we have not done enough. I do not have any doubts about my conclusions, and carefully restricted my arguments to what I know about, and did not project these to other areas. I feel Howard Foster's intention of calling all data into doubt is disingenuous.

The second, irritating device Professor Foster uses is to identify potential problems with his argument, perhaps to convince us that he is really on our side, and to note that he could be accused of nitpicking. I would not say he is nitpicking about his data; I believe he is practicing a common tactic of providing excuses to delay the work which needs to be done. My advice to anyone who wants to delay progress by further debate about numbers is to identify all metrics which prove that we are on track with hiring women and minorities, not to get into the standard debate that we cannot do anything until we agree on the magnitude of the problem. There is a problem in the sciences, and there are many ways to measure it. Any projection of the pool of qualified Ph.D. candidates is likely to be frought with imprecision. I think it is also important to limit our discussions of what we can do to where we have expertise.

Let's stop using excuses under the cover of "reasoned debate" and get to solving this problem.

Sincerely,
Joseph A. Gardella Jr.
Professor of Chemistry

Blue light phones integral part of campus safety
To the Editor:
In 1974, the University at Buffalo Public Safety Officers numbered 54, the maximum amount of patrol officers ever. The subsequent 22 years have seen the loss of 14 positions to budget cuts, bringing the Division to its present staff of 40.

While crime prevention formulas combine training requirements, officer vacation schedules, and number of calls (includes crime, medical and service) to suggest a 52-person force for UB, the university has been forced to find alternate and innovative means to assure campus safety. As is the trend in so many other professions, law enforcement has turned to technology to improve effectiveness and efficiency in light of staffing shortages.

With two campuses, each located in separate municipalities, UB faces the problem of dealing with different community safety issues. The Main Street Campus is located within the boundaries of the City of Buffalo. A large population of students reside in the neighborhood around the South Campus and several local merchants (bookstores, grocery stores and bars) frequented by UB students are within walking distance of the area. In contrast to the South Campus, the North Campus is largely self-contained. Located in Amherst, the city voted "Safest City in America, 1996" by Forbes magazine, the area around the North Campus boasts a crime ratio, 1:30, a figure markedly better than that of the city, 1:13. Striking a balance between the urban threats surrounding the Main Street Campus and the "safe" suburban town of the North Campus, Public Safety is able to maintain an overall crime ratio of 1:45 for the university community.

While Public Safety works conjointly with local law enforcement agencies, officers also rely on student volunteers and service organizations, like the Anti-Rape Task Force, to help promote awareness and to deter crime. But, to a certain extent, the success of any crime prevention program depends on individual members of the community. Blue light phones, elevator emergency phones and building corridor phones are three examples of how civilians and technology work together to make the university a more secure place.

Imagine that you see someone walking to their car in Capen Lot. Suddenly you see someone else, a suspicious person trying to stay in the shadows, following that person. What would you do? Well, you could yell and hope to startle the attacker, but what if you were too far away? Maybe you could run over and confront the suspicious individual, but then again if that person had a weapon you could be seriously injured. Why don't you just pick up a blue light emergency phone and report everything to the 24-hour emergency dispatcher? Even if you are afraid to identify yourself, just taking a blue light phone off the hook ensures that Public Safety will be there in seconds.

There are 28 blue light phones serving both campuses. The phones are placed with consideration to student traffic, but with less than 30 phones serving the entire UB community, the system is still expanding. Each phone carries an approximate installation fee of $3000, depending on the remoteness of the location, and at least one phone is figured into the overall cost of construction for any new parking lots.

This past September, the Personal Safety Committee recommended the addition of 14 new blue light phones in specific locations. Although money is not immediately available to install all 14 phones, the University Administration has assured students that "three new phones" would be installed this year. The Office of Student Affairs has stated that it is reasonable to plan for two or three new phones per year to be constructed and linked to Public Safety.

With crucial locations like the Health Sciences Library and Women's Heath Initiative on the South Campus, and North Campus parking lots like Jarvis A&B, all Ellicott lots, and Governors C&D still without blue light emergency lines, a dedicated source of funding must be found to supplement current blue light phone resources.

Even though no immediate statistics are available from Public Safety to demonstrate the benefit of the safety phones, the phones have become a symbol of empowerment for students and staff, as well as a deterrent to those considering committing an assault. The bottom line: the emergency phones, whether they are indoors or outdoors, are in integral part of campus safety. If you need assistance, then pick up a phone....Public Safety's help is only a call away.

Margaret M. Hausbeck
Assistant Director, Health Education and Human Services Division
A component of Sub Board I, Inc.
Member, Personal Safety Committee

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