Reporter Volume 25, No.24 April 14, 1994

President's Statement on Affirmative Action

	If the University at Buffalo is to be a forum for the exchange
and testing of ideas, a public institution whose service to all our
constituencies matters, and a community where people are encouraged to
develop to the fullest of their potentialQif we are to achieve these
high standards that we have set ourselves, we must actively foster and
celebrate UB's diversity.
	We all learn, serve, and grow to the extent that we explore
our differences and allow ourselves to be challenged by them. We as a
university community are committed to this principle: the broader the
range of perspectives and influences we can recognize and consider,
the greater our individual and collective progress will be.
	In intellectual terms, this principle underlies the concept of
academic freedom, which UB fully and vigorously supports. In legal,
social, economic, andQmost importantlyQmoral terms, our commitment to
diversity shapes UB's policy of equal access to all educational and
employment opportunities.
	The University at Buffalo upholds the state and federal laws
that ensure such access for all Americans, regardless of age, religion
or creed, color, physical ability, national origin, race, ethnicity,
gender, and marital or veteran status. UB also subscribes to Governor
Cuomo's Executive Order Number 28, which prohibits discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation. Further, this campus embraces the
SUNY Trustees' policy that no judgment concerning any member of our
university community shall be based on personal matters, such as
sexual orientation and private expression, that are unrelated to
performance.
	In addition to these commitments, UB has also pledged to
develop and maintain an environment in which all the members of our
academic communityQand especially those whose access to opportunities
for education and professional advancement has historically been
limitedQare welcomed and encouraged to grow. A number of current
initiatives are directed toward achieving this goal, including these:
	n Provost Bloch has created the new position of Vice Provost
for Faculty Development, and a search to fill this position is now
under way; this new officer's responsibilities will include a
significant emphasis on support for women and members of
underrepresented groups who are among UB's faculty;
	n the Underrepresented Faculty Initiative, another key
component of the Provost's faculty development strategy, allows UB to
leverage SUNY funds in recruiting and retaining faculty members from
underrepresented groups, and provostal evaluations of UB schools' and
faculties' performance and budgets will be increasingly tied to these
areas' Affirmative Action accomplishments;
	n Senior Vice President Wagner has established for University
Services units a focus on how the strengths that diversity brings our
academic community can be used in improving quality and providing
service excellence;
	n the Division of Student Affairs has recently created a new
Office of Multicultural Affairs and will place renewed emphasis on the
value of diversity in this summer's new student orientations;
	n Student Affairs has also made training in diversity issues
for Public Safety officers a divisional priority;
	n all campus constituencies are represented on the UB
Committee for the Promotion of Tolerance and Diversity, a
collaborative effort to develop long-range strategies for increasing
understanding of diversity issues throughout our academic community in
order to prevent intolerant behaviors; and
	n a campuswide Task Force on Women is now being formed (the
charge to this Task Force appears in the accompanying sidebar).
	Moreover, UB's Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Office is
available to address questions and concerns regarding the university's
statutory compliance with policies and laws pertaining to equality of
access and opportunity. The EO/AA Office, which reports directly to
the president, is located in 517 Capen Hall (645-2266).
	The University at Buffalo has done and is doing much to ensure
and explore the diversity our our academic communityQbut there is
still a great deal for us to do. In order for the university as a
whole to achieve these crucially important aims, every one of us must
make an individual commitment to help preserve each other's rights and
dignity. As we accept, foster, and draw new strength from the
remarkably rich array of differences that constitutes our university,
we will become all the more universal, and all the better prepared for
the 21st-century world that is just around the corner.

William R. Greiner
April 1994