Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Logo of The Spectrum
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Sources: UB Ignores SUNY Guidelines

The Presidential Search Committee may not be adhering to SUNY guidelines as it pursues UB's 15th president.

It has been speculated that the final candidates have already been recommended to SUNY; however, if true, UB would have violated step 10 of "The Search Process" section listed in the SUNY Guidelines for Conducting [a] Presidential Search.

The step states that once finalists are selected, schools are required to schedule campus visits for each of the remaining candidates and are to publically announce the names of those left in the running.

UB has taken neither of those steps.

The committee, chaired by Jeremy Jacobs, has been searching for President John B. Simpson's successor since Simpson announced his retirement on the first day of classes in late August. The current president was set to retire on Jan. 15; however, on Jan. 5, he announced he would "continue to serve as president for a limited period of time beyond Jan. 15th while the search process moves toward a conclusion," in a statement released to UB officials.

Now, well into March, the UB community remains uninformed about the progress of the search. Sources have revealed – but officials have not confirmed – that the committee has narrowed its pool to two candidates who may have been recommended to SUNY: Vice Provost Satish Tripathi and another unknown individual from outside of the UB community. The ultimate decision rests with the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Despite conjecture, the only comment that the university is willing to make is that it has no comment. On March 2, UB officials released a statement saying, "It would not be appropriate for the university to comment on speculation regarding specific or potential candidates."

"The necessity for anonymity and confidentiality of the process was emphasized at every turn in that if someone is going to be a viable candidate and not be chosen, they will want to keep their position at another university," said Joshua Boston, student representative of the UB Council. "We're talking about provosts at other top universities, presidents at other universities, deans; people that have a lot at stake and would be extremely viable candidates, but at the end, would want to go back to their positions without the public knowing."

UB 2020 has put a strain on relations between SUNY and UB. It's possible that SUNY may be hesitant to appoint a candidate, such as Tripathi, who shares the same vision for UB's future as Simpson.

"The relationship between UB and SUNY, since I've been here in 2006, has always been weak," Boston said. "It's been a poor relationship so far as [UB] following SUNY guidelines. I don't think we pay particular attention to [the guidelines] but I'm not familiar with how the committee operated, as I'm on the council [and not on the search committee]."

Last Friday, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher rejected both of the candidates that the Binghamton University Council Search Committee had proposed last December. Following an eight-month selection process, SUNY deliberated over the two recommended candidates for three months before throwing out both choices. Within the eight-month process, BU conducted open sessions for its five candidates over a two-week span in which 150-200 people attended, according to Pipe Dream, Binghamton's student newspaper.

Students at UB would prefer such an open process.

Mary Schwartzmyer, a freshman biology major, thinks the closed process is unfair to students who are paying tuition to attend the university. Akinsele Walker, a senior English major, thinks that students should be involved.

"We should be informed in the process of helping to elect or just [be able] to give our opinion on who [we think] should be the next president," Walker said.

The last statement made by the Presidential Search Committee, issued on Jan. 20, stated how swiftly the selection process was moving.

Jacobs, the only person permitted to speak on behalf of the committee, is currently out of town and has consistently denied comment. Jacobs, however, was far more willing to speak in 2003 when he chaired the search committee that helped choose Simpson as UB's 14th president. He frequently commented on election processes, but he wouldn't comment on the candidates (see the Timeline).

The process of electing Simpson in 2003 is similar to the current finding of UB's 15th president, with the exception of the controversy surrounding Scott D. Nostaja's illegitimate appointment as interim president.

On Aug. 30, 2010, Jacobs announced that Nostaja, UB's senior vice president and chief operations officer, would serve as interim president following Simpson's retirement, in a press release.

This appointment also did not follow SUNY guidelines, which state that Zimpher must recommend an interim president to the SUNY Board of Trustees before he can be appointed. Nostaja later asked that his name not be recommended to the Board of Trustees.

"The council recommended, with Jacobs, to elect Nostaja as interim," Boston said. "SUNY's reaction and the faculty's reaction at UB was a poor one; there was no public discourse about it, it was all in one day – Simpson's retiring, [Nostaja] as interim."

Boston assumes that if UB is following SUNY guidelines, that it must be close to the end of the process since Simpson decided to stay at his post until the end of the search.

E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com


Comments


Popular









Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Spectrum