In a tight vote, the Student Association (SA) Senate voted Wednesday night to call on College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dean Robin Schulze to resign.
Eight senators voted in favor of the resolution, and seven abstained, including SA President Becky Paul-Odionhin, Treasurer Unnati Agarwal and Senate Chair Gavin Krauciunas. No senators voted against the measure.
The call for Schulze’s resignation follows more than a month of protests against hiring cutbacks led by graduate students in the Classics Department. Since those protests began, details of the college’s financial situation have gradually come to light.
The resolution, introduced by council coordinators Aidan Sumrall and Jacob Murphy, says Schulze’s handling of the situation reflects poorly on the college.
“‘Freezes,’ ‘pauses,’ and budgeting difficulties reflect poorly upon UB’s status as ‘New York State’s Flagship,’ and therefore both directly and indirectly impact undergraduate student rights and student welfare,” the resolution reads.
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robin Schulze (seated, dressed in black) attending a speech given by Senator Chuck Schumer two weeks ago.
Sumrall, a sophomore studying bioinformatics and theatre, said he has seen job candidate searches canceled and vacant seats go unfilled, hollowing out the Department of Theatre and Dance, which is under CAS. He told senators that though Schulze is not solely responsible for the situation, she should have done more to avert it.
Murphy was not present at Wednesday’s meeting.
Schulze took responsibility for the college’s troubles at a voting-faculty meeting last Monday, telling attendees that she had “overspent” on hiring in hopes that the additional faculty members would attract more students. She said those student-retention figures failed to meet her expectations.
CAS faculty met last Tuesday to vote on holding a confidence referendum in Schulze, as well as in UB President Satish Tripathi and Provost A. Scott Weber. That vote was postponed after attendance fell short of the body’s quorum, the minimum number of members required to hold a meeting.
At that meeting, faculty were divided on whether Schulze should shoulder blame for the cutbacks.
In addition to the resolution calling for Schulze’s resignation, the Senate on Wednesday passed policies enabling club supplemental funding reform and raising hourly wages for some graduate student workers.
UB spokesperson John Della Contrada had little to say.
“The vote is non-binding,” he wrote in a text message. “That is my statement. Thank you.”
Sol Hauser is the senior news editor and can be reached at sol.hauser@ubspectrum.com
