UBSPECTRUM.COM
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
QASIM RASHID DISCUSSES ‘TRUE’ ISLAM AT UB P.4
MSA PRESENTS ‘EXPOSING RADICAL ISLAMOPHOBES’ PANEL P.5
UB’S BLACK FACULTY:
DWINDLING AND ISOLATED UB continues to experience significant decline in black faculty
ASHLEY INKUMSAH, THE SPECTRUM
Professor Henry Taylor sits in his office in Hayes Hall . Taylor, and other black faculty members feel they are undervalued at UB.
ASHLEY INKUMSAH SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Omar David has never had a black professor. Most UB students haven’t. UB’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion website says the university prides itself on the diversity of its community. But black students and black faculty feel left out of the diversity conversation. For years, UB has struggled to bring in
minority faculty. That is partially because black professors are demanding higher salaries because there are so few. UB does not have the money to compete with larger universities and offer higher pay. UB also struggles to bring in black faculty because the few who are here feel undervalued. And many who start here, leave, because they felt isolated. Often they were the only black people working in their departments. Or they felt the university didn’t put enough
“The whole premise that Spencer was starting off from was inherently very biased. He got up there and he coal mined some texts here and there and tried to portray some narrative against Muslims,”
VOLUME 66 NO. 50
LIFE IN THE MOUNTAINS P.10
money, time or resources into black studies. And students – many of whom come to UB for its diverse student population – feel discouraged because almost none of their professors look like them. In a city as diverse as Buffalo and at a time when racial tensions are exploding across the nation, students say they expect more racial equality from UB. Black people make up 38.6 percent of the Buffalo population, according to the U.S. Census. Yet as of fall 2015, out of 2,513 faculty at UB, only 98 were black, according to UB Spokesperson John Della Contrada. That’s 3.8 percent. Out of those 98, only 41 were tenure track, which brings the total down to 1.6 percent. David, a senior biological sciences major, feels having a black professor would have been inspirational. He thinks he would have aspired for greater leadership roles at UB if he had seen someone who looked like him and shared the same struggles achieve success. But David never got his wish. In the past 10 years, black faculty have continued to leave the university. Data from Teresa Miller, vice provost for Equity and Inclusion shows black faculty continued to decline from 2005 to 2015. Miller has spent the last three years trying to recruit faculty of color. Faculty acknowledge Miller has worked hard, but say the university as a whole needs to take more responsibility in hiring black faculty. Della Contrada said the university employs 202 state-supported staff “the second-largest race/ethnicity group, after whites for staff.” “So that’s basically janitors and Campus Dining food workers…” David said. “That doesn’t make the lack of black faculty any better, if anything that makes it worse because it’s just placing more black people in more marginalized menial work.”
Gray areas
UB’s photo policy concerns students MAX KALNITZ SENIOR ARTS EDITOR
Like many excited freshmen, Michael Kuczkowski hurriedly clicked through all the rules and regulations on the UB website so he could complete his enrollment process for the start of the Fall 2016 semester. It was a giddy time for him. He was excited to sign up for his political science major, explore UB’s numerous clubs and start his college experience. As he scrolled through and rapidly hit “accept,” he never considered what powers he was granting UB or that he was – as UB argues – giving the university the right to use his image. “I just clicked the ‘I accept’ box and didn’t click on any other links to read about UB’s policies,” Kuczkowski said. “Filling out all that paperwork is tedious and I think most people don’t pay attention to what they’re actually agreeing to.” Among the rules and regulations every freshman clicks and has to accept is the following statement: “Photographs of University events and members of the campus community are taken regularly, and are subsequently displayed in various media. If you do not want your picture used in this manner, please advise the photographer.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
A CAMPUS DIVIDED STORY ON PAGE 2
- Yousuf Zubairi, senior computer sciences major
"You can't come to a place like this and not listen to what someone has to say and then automatically say 'no, I don't like it,'" -Kevin Wall, a freshman electrical engineering major
"Students have every right to oppose [Robert Spencer's] views and student groups have every right to bring him here on campus,"
- Teresa Miller, vice provost for Equity and Inclusion
ubspectrum.com
KAINAN GUO, THE SPECTRUM
(top left) MSA holds sit-in before Robert Spencer’s speech. (top right) UPD tries to keep students from entering Knox Hall. (bottom left) UB College Republicans take photos of Dr. Otham Shibly. (bottom right) Robert Spencer takes photos of the crowd in Knox Hall.
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