UBSPECTRUM
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
VOL. 69 NO. 29 | FEBRUARY 6, 2020
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Committee confirms Student Association president suspended for potential conflict-of-interest violations Details and evidence ‘classified’ until at least next week, roughly 40 students attended Tuesday meeting for information about suspension JULIAN ROBERTS-GRMELA SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
The Student Association Board of Directors (BOD) will keep documents which led to SA President Yousouf Amolegbe’s suspension private until at least next Tuesday, 11 days after the vote to suspend him. But students say they want answers now. Roughly 40 students attended the board’s Rules, Administration and Government Oversight Committee (RAGO) meeting, where RAGO confirmed its investigation –– which prompted the BOD to suspend Amolegbe of his presidential duties –– concerned potential conflict-ofinterest violations regarding SA events. RAGO meetings are not typically attended by members of the public, according to RAGO Chairman Eric Weinman. RAGO, a six-person committee composed of BOD members, said its investigation documents will remain classified until at least next Tuesday, when the BOD will vote on whether or not to declassify the information. UB community members can attend
Tuesday’s meeting and may be given the opportunity to speak on Amolegbe’s suspension. The BOD had the opportunity to vote to publicize the investigation and the underlying information last Friday –– during the meeting when members voted to suspend Amolegbe –– if a board member motioned to do so and the motion passed, according to Weinman. Weinman said the reason no one made the motion was likely due to “oversight.” Weinman said RAGO could not declassify the investigation documents on Tuesday night because the deliberations regarding Amolegbe’s suspension and RAGO’s
inquiry took place in executive sessions. Weinman said there are no SA bylaws preventing BOD members from sharing information pertaining to executive sessions, but that it is standard practice of boards and deliberative bodies to keep information confidential until the board decides to make it public information. “Matters considered in executive session are to be held confidential among members of the board until the board later determines,” Weinman said. “All the previous matters regarding the inquiry were considered in executive session, [and] as such, have to remain confidential and considered only in executive session until oth-
erwise determined.” On Tuesday, RAGO passed a resolution recommending the BOD suspend Amolegbe from presidential duties, although the board already suspended Amolegbe last Friday via motion. Weinman said the resolution, although inconsequential, “clarifies the reasons for the suspension and provides a better method for the board to consider [suspension], opposed to simply a motion.” RAGO’s suspension recommendation will not affect whether or not Amolegbe is suspended. The BOD’s motion to suspend Amolegbe was sufficient to suspend his presidential duties and, even if the new resolution to suspend him fails, Amolegbe will remain suspended. Weinman said the only way to reverse Amolegbe’s suspension is if two-thirds of the BOD votes to lift the suspension. RAGO also passed a resolution to recommend a certain format for the BOD’s meeting next Tuesday. If passed, Amolegbe would have at least an hour to defend himself, the public would have 40 minutes
Puzzling Pathways: Students concerned with UB general education topics
JuliAn roBerts-grMelA | The SpecTrum roughly 40 StudentS attend Student aSSociation board of directorS’ ruleS, adminiStration and government overSight committee meeting on tueSday.
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Students search for common ground with College of Arts and Sciences dean CAS dean discusses black faculty, African and African American Studies Program with students at BSU town hall ALEXANDRA MOYEN SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
During a heated two-hour meeting on Tuesday, a group of Black Student Union members challenged College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robin Schulze on UB’s minority hiring and retention process, on the low numbers of black faculty and on the future of the struggling African and African American Studies Program. Schulze came to the meeting on the invitation of the students and spent much of the session defending her policies and choices. The 20 students pressed her on her commitment to the AAS program and she responded that she has “committed” $500,000 so that AAS can separate from Transnational Studies and “relaunch.” The program currently has three faculty members. She also discussed the SUNY-funded, five-year ProdiG program, which will begin in fall 2020 and is designed to increase minority hires. According to the program, SUNY will pay new black faculty members’ full salaries for the first year, half for the second and a quarter for the third. Schulze said Maura Belliveau, director for UB’s Center for Diversity Innovation, who has been at UB since 2019, will oversee the hiring process to ensure black faculty are prioritized. Schulze plans to hire UB alum and Duke AAS Chair Mark Anthony Neal, as a facilitator to restructure the program.
Despite Schulze’s optimism, most students were skeptical about UB’s commitment to diversity and to hiring black faculty outside of AAS. BSU Historian Josephina Nimarko, a junior nursing major, also questioned Belliveau’s experience and ability to attract black candidates. “Oftentimes people tend to go talk to people they look like,” Nimarko said. “Like a black person may not feel comfortable going to talk to [Belliveau], but if you brought somebody who does look like them then they’ll be like, ‘Oh shoot the school really needs black people. This is a black person telling me that and now I’m more inclined to go over there and listen and potentially apply for that position.’” Schulze said Belliveau has experience from “a lot of organizations” and “knows every African American in her field.” Belliveau came to UB from Long Island University where she was an associate professor of management. She received her Ph.D. in organizational behavior and industrial relations from University of California, Berkeley. She is the first to hold this office at UB. Schulze also said SUNY will allow CAS to practice targeted hiring, but the college can’t ensure new hires will be black because it would be “discriminatory.” “It’s discriminatory for us to go out and say we’re only going to hire an African American scholar,” Schulze said. “We go out, we ask for the very best scholars who work on ‘blank and blank,’ we look at the pool that comes in and
then we are sensitive inside the structure of that pool to get people of color. But by New York state law, just in the same way we can’t say ‘whites only’ we can’t go out and say ‘only blacks.’” Keith Griffler, an AAS professor, said he had no idea Neal would be involved in the hiring of new faculty and said he was frustrated because the “faculty has been essentially cut out of this process.” “Our concern is that we have voiced again and again that African American Studies is still here and it doesn’t need to be reconstituted. All of the people here are taking our courses and we have wonderful teachers teaching our courses,” Griffler said to Schulze. “So it concerns me deeply to hear that you don’t trust us enough to take on this responsibility ourselves. We have been doing this for decades.”
Teaching assistant James Ponzo also agreed, saying the professors already in the department “should be the ones that drive the process.” Nimarko said many people in the meeting were shocked to find out AAS faculty wasn’t notified about the facilitator, and said most don’t feel as though the meeting was as “progressive” as everyone wanted it to be. “A lot of it now is just to wait but still continue to demand,” Nimarko said. “One of the biggest things that I know I personally would like to see is the [AAS Program] involved in the new planning for this new project and to bring more diverse people in the school.” Email: Alexandra.Moyen@ubspectrum.com Twitter: @AlexandraMoyen
Brenton BlAnChet | The SpecTrum the college of artS and ScienceS dean’S office on the eighth floor of clemenS hall.