Greiner envisions expanded role for council

Greiner detailed his vision for the council April 10 at the group's final meeting of the academic year and in the continuation of a discussion that began on Feb. 6.

The changes in form and structure that Greiner is recommending are "the culmination of a lot of conversations over several years," he said.

"I think we ought to manage ourselves differently....It's time for us to consider this. The future of the university is going to depend on a variety of efforts," including changes to the council's role, Greiner said.

The changes Greiner is recommending would give the council more power and responsibility in matters concerning both UB and SUNY.

Among the areas Greiner said he would like to see the council involved in is the review of major institutional plans, which then would be submitted, with council recommendations, for approval by the SUNY Trustees.

"We might wake up a sleeping lion, but I think on a campus this size the council should...establish a direct and important working relationship with the (SUNY) Board of Trustees while the president has a direct and important working relationship with the chancellor," Greiner said.

Areas the council might be asked to consider could include, for example, the

appraisal or improvement of the faculty and other personnel, expansion or restriction of student admissions, appraisal or improvement of academic programs and of standards for earning degrees, expansion of institutional plants, appraisal or improvement of student activities and housing and other major plans as determined by the SUNY Trustees.

The council also would play a more influential role in the recommendation to the SUNY Trustees of candidates for appointment as campus president; in the formation of regulations governing the care, custody and management of lands, grounds, buildings and equipment, and in the review of UB's proposed budget requests and recommendations made to the SUNY Trustees.

Greiner said he wants to see the development of citizens' committees that would advise the council on issues coming before it.

"We've made a lot of decisions that we think we did really well, but we'd have done much better if we had consulted with volunteers and others," Greiner said.

The appointment of citizens' committees would be a benefit not only because of the "careful work and full public debate" that would be involved, but also because appointing UB alumni who live out of state to these committees would provide the university with a more national presence, he added.

Greiner compared the proposed model for the council to those in place at the University of Illinois and Indiana University, schools that are run "more as public corporations than state institutions.

"The fact that they've been (run as) public corporations is one of the greatest sources of their strength," he said. "The time to make these changes is right now...but we have to seize the moment. We've got to change the way we're doing some things to make it work."

Greiner asked the council to come back in the fall with recommendations on whether it should go in this direction. He asked the council to "review, reconsider and reconfirm" UB's mission and vision statement as well as other documents to ensure they are consistent with the council's goals and its work.

In other business, Greiner praised the efforts of two departing councilmembers,

John F. Kopczynski Sr. and James P. Phillips, who are being succeeded by Jeremy M. Jacobs Sr. and Gerald S. Lippes. Jacobs and Lippes were appointed to the council last week by Gov. George E. Pataki.

Noting Kopczynski's and Phillips' long service to the university, Greiner said they had "served extraordinarily well" and "both were...members of the council who saw fit to appoint me president, and I'm eternally grateful for that."

Council Chair Lawrence Castellani also thanked Kopczynski and Phillips for their "commitment and support to the university."

The council also passed a resolution recommending that the name of UB's women's athletic teams be changed from the Royals to the Bulls.

"We're all one institution and we're all one team," Greiner noted in proposing the change to the council.