Faculty must give up some dreams to have a say in the new UB

Editor:

The reaction of the faculty to the Provost's plan for reorganizing and refocusing UB has been, at best, frosty. The Provost has been accused of fostering "destructive" competition, focusing almost exclusively on public-relations goals, and using "top down" management to implement a "recipe for disruption and decline." There is merit in some of the criticism but in all the documents that have been published I find it remarkable that nobody is questioning the assumptions of the plan. In simple terms, the Provost's report assumes that:

- Departments at UB are underfunded relative to peer schools.

- New York State is unlikely to give UB significant new resources.

The lack of criticism of these basic assumptions indicates to me that the university community, and especially the faculty, believe they are true. We know that departmental funding cannot be restored by cutting the maintenance staff or reducing heating costs. We know that no amount of "development" or winning football seasons will build our faculty to the levels of our colleagues at other universities.

If so, then how is the UB community supposed to respond? One response is simply to do the same thing we've always done but do it with less money. Another response is to change the university in some way. The Provost and the President have clearly decided that change is better than doing what we've always done. They have proposed change that has commanded attention (to say the least). They have described this plan in some detail and have (more or less) revealed their preferences. Criticism of this plan that does not deal with its assumptions is not useful and, in some cases, strikes me as dishonest. Critics have accepted the view that we cannot have the university that we had even five years ago but have not proposed what they would choose-other than more money for their departments. Faculty (who intend to stay at UB) need to deal honestly with the plan's assumptions by proposing goals and plans that are consistent with UB's lower level of funding. A "real dialogue" begins with reality. To criticize based on dreams of a better world is to increase the power of the President and Provost to implement their plan. Faculty will have to give up some dreams if we want to have a say in the new UB.

Charles Trzcinka
School of Management
(visiting New York University)
via e-mail