ubspectrum.com
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Vol. 61 NO. 71
Inside The Spectrum
Life
Commission Finds UB Lacks Gender Equity Among Faculty LISA EPSTEIN Staff Writer UB’s commitment to women’s equity and diversity fell short of expectations during a recent evaluation by a school-sponsored commission, and faculty and staff are not happy about the poor results.
Remembering Matthew Scarpati On July 20, 2009, at approximately midnight, three state troopers knocked on Lynn Scarpati’s front door bearing news that shattered her heart and ultimately altered the rest of her life. Story on Page 8
Arts
At Tuesday’s Faculty Senate Meeting, university faculty spoke about the Commission on Academic Excellence and Equity’s finding that UB lacks appropriate gender equity. The commission was established after the Ad Hoc Task Force on Gender Equity in Promotions recommended in 2009 that UB exercise greater fairness in the hiring, promotion, and tenure of women. The group is made up of scholars and teachers at UB. Professor Athena Mutua, chair of the Commission, said the group was charged in 2009 with making decisions about how the university community can support the culture of academic excellence and sustain scholarly accomplishments. “We tried to identify what we call the best practices, with a focus on AAU institutions, and then we looked at reports issued by other universities,” Mutua said during the meeting. “We also looked at a lot of association reports, so associations with subjects like political science, law, and physics. Those help us identify best practices.”
The commission set out to work on issues like tenure review, recruitment, advancement, mentoring, and work-life balance support for UB’s female staff. The report noted that UB is not nearly as diverse as it should be, nor as diverse as it should become to remain competitive as a university in the future. Prestigious female faculty will not come to UB if it has a reputation for not promoting and granting tenure to women.
staff despite their differences and across their diversity: It must ensure equity across diversity,” the commission’s report reads. Those at the meeting discussed briefly the entire report and the commission’s findings. The Senate voted on discussing the report in more detail at the next meeting. Mary Bisson, chair of the recruitment committee, agreed with the decision. “It’s a very substantial report, and I have to agree with the Senate, that they really didn’t have time to deal with any substantive issues,” Bisson said. “There’s going to need to be a lot more discussion about [the report], and I hope we get the time to do that.”
The 2009 task force also found that UB falls below the standard it set concerning diversity and equity. “Thus our faculty needs to be, in a word, diverse – diverse in perspective, intellect, and culture…[UB] must then ensure that its norms, structures, and systems are fair, and that these facilitate, as opposed to hinder, the success of all faculty, students, and
The commission’s goal is to spread the report to as many faculty members as possible, so that
Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum Faculty Senate: UB's faculty lacks gender equality, according to the findings of the Commission on Academic Excellence and Equity.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Will Not Remove ‘Basis of Faith’
A Week in Ink: Issue No. 49 DC’s The Fury of the Firestorm series has often recycled trite story ideas and blended them into a mediocre nuclear smoothie, and admittedly Issue No. 7 does little to alter the tried and true blend.
Risks derecognition by Student Association
Story on Page 13
MARK DAVIS Staff Writer Today (Wednesday) marks the deadline for the UB chapter of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to submit an amended constitution to the UB Student Association, but the group won’t yield to all the SA’s stipulations, thus risking derecognition and a possible court battle.
Sports
Offense Goes Missing in Buffalo Senior pitcher Cameron Copping pitched 10 scoreless innings on Friday. Most days that would be more than enough for a win, but not this weekend. The offense couldn’t push runs across when it needed them most.
INSIDE
Story on Page 20
Opinion s 3 News s 4 Lifes 7,8,9,10 Arts s 11,12,13 Classifieds & Daily Delightss 19 Sports s 20
Weather for the Week: Wednesday: Mostly Sunny- H: 53, L: 37 Thursday: Mostly Sunny- H: 45, L: 33 Friday: Sunny- H: 51, L: 35
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31 Candles Out, 31 Lives Lost Courtesy of flickr user isafmedia Students gathered on South Campus to light candles memorializing 31 victims of racial profiling and police brutality.
LYZI WHITE Life Editor The crowd was scarce but its voice was heard. The wind forcefully blew the candles those assembled held out, but the candles’ symbolism was still felt, even if their warmth was not. Fight the Power UB held a candlelight vigil and march through the University Heights Monday night, memorializing 31 victims of racial profiling or police brutality. The club previously held a rally raising awareness for Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old black teenager shot to death in Florida. Martin was the 31st name to be read aloud on Monday. The crowd looked up toward William Richardson, a senior sociology major, and his younger sister as the two read the 31 names, followed by the causes of each death. “Orlando Barlow: shot by a Las Vegas PD officer as he was on his knees surrendering.” The rally was not held only to raise awareness of the Trayvon Martin case, although that was an important aspect. It was also held to shed light on the racial profiling and discrimination that occurs throughout the entire nation as well as in Buffalo on a daily basis, according to Richardson.
The walk was about being part of a beginning – not just another small moment where people get frustrated but do nothing, according to Richardson. “This [rally was] important because it exemplifies that racism and profiling people, it still exists, it’s still alive,” said Jade Lewis, a junior environmental design and political science major. “Even if it may not be as blatant, in your face as maybe back in the civil rights era, it’s still here.” These young people had their lives taken. Whether they were guilty of a minor crime or just assumed to be guilty, their families were destroyed and their communities were shattered, according to Lewis. “Jean Charles de Menezes: 27-year-old Brazilian male mistaken for a bomber, killed by police.” It seems unfair to Lewis that many of her friends are unable to feel safe walking down their own streets. It’s unfair, in her mind, that no matter how much they might excel in school, how far they travel down a career path, someone might be there judging them – looking at them as though they were criminals. “It’s not fair just to be targeted because you are born a certain way,” Lewis said. “You can’t decide who you are, you’re just born.” Continued on page 17
Quentin Hall-Lochmann Van Bennekom, the outreach coordinator for the ministry, said the IVCF has prepared changes to its constitution. Yet according to Van Beenekom, the ministry will not be altering the primary portions of its constitution concerning its “basis of faith” clause. “We did make all the changes that the SA asked us to, with the exception of asking our leaders to ascribe to the statement of faith and purpose statement,” Van Bennekom said. “The club voted unanimously to keep that clause of the constitution because we believe that all clubs should to be able to expect that leaders hold the same core values as the group.” IVCF’s refusal will likely result in the Senate derecognizing the club at the next meeting (date not yet determined), and numerous SA officials have said they expect a lawsuit to ensue. Continued on page 2
Filling the Void Buffalo searches for next Athletic Director TYLER CADY Senior Sports Editor On Feb. 13 Warde Manuel left UB to take the athletic director position at UConn. Fifty-two days later the school is still searching for his replacement. If the school adheres to the deadline set by President Satish K. Tripathi, there will be less than 40 days before the new AD is hired. Tripathi named co-chairs to the search committee – vice-president for university life and services Dennis Black and vicepresident of the UB Foundation Francis Letro – and gave them until commencement to fill the position vacancy. To do so, Buffalo has hired Parker Executive Search to conduct the process narrowing in on candidates. It was this firm that aided in bringing head football coach Jeff Quinn to Buffalo. Continued on page 17