By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-835740.mp3
Amherst, NY – A group of UB professors says the University is discriminating against women when it comes to granting tenure promotions.
It was an orderly and quiet demonstration. But a few dozen faculty members and supporters showed up with picket signs that carried their message loud and clear. They say UB denies tenure to women more than twice as often as men.
Some signs read UB 23-10, using the disparity percentages to mock the University's long-range vision UB 2020. Professor James Holston helped organize the protest. Holston says there is nothing visionary about promotion policy at UB.
He says candidates for tenure go through several layers of evaluation before the last step - the President's Review Board. The ad hoc group asked the Senate to take a look at why that last review is so often a dead end for women.
Lucinda Finley is Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at UB. She says the ad hoc group's data is incomplete and inaccurately skewed. But Finley says a 28-member special commission has been appointed to study any possible disparities.
Librarian Jean Dickson isn't hopeful. Dickson says she's seen how the University has dealt with similar issues of racial and gender bias over the years.
The Administration says that the commission is widely represented by faculty from departments across the University. According to Vice Provost Finley that includes one member appointed from the ad hoc committee.
Click the audio player above to hear Joyce Kryszak's story now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.