8. Under the classified services there are no minority group member Administrators or Professionals. 9. Minority group underutilization in faculty positions is reflected by the following: 10. Of the twenty-seven (27) minority facutly members listed in Item 9, eighteen (18) are in the Afro-Culture Program. 11. There is a dearth of tenured minority group faculty members i.e. three (3) out of a total of twenty-seven (27). Also forty-three (43) percent of the faculty has tenure. Minority group faculty members, however, comprise less than one percent of the tenured faculty. 12. A review of the new hires in the past twelve (12) months discloses that less than five (5) percent were minority group members. Additionally, many departments have hired no minority group members. 13. Women comprise only eighteen (18) percent of the total faculty. Further, only six (6) percent of the Professors and fourteen (14) percent of the Associate Professors are female. While in the lower level positions females comprise twenty-four (24) percent of the Assistant Professors; thirty-five (35) percent of the Instructors and thirty-five (35) percent are below the Instructor level. Male distribution by job classification on the faculty is as follows: 35% are Professors. 23% are Associate Professors. 25% are Assistant Professors. 8% are Instructors. 8% are below Instructor level. Female distribution: 9% are Professors. 19% are Associate. 36% are Assistant Professors. 18% are Lecturers. 18% are below Instructor level. These statistics further indicate that there is a disproportionate percentage of females on the faculty in the lower level positions. 14. Thirty (30) percent of the women have tenure as opposed to fifty-six (56) percent of the men. Only fifty (50) percent, however, of the females with tenure are in the higher level positions while eighty-nine (89) percent of the males with tenure are in these higher classifications. These facts tend to indicate (a) a greater percentage of men are being hired into the Professors and Associate Professor rank than women (b) women are spending a longer time in the lower ranks than men. 15. Only twenty (20) percent of the new faculty hires during the past twelve (12) months were women. Further, many departments hired no female faculty members. 16. It was noted that there were only three (3) minority group members and four (4) females in the salary bracket of $20,000 a year or higher as opposed to one hundred sixty-eigth (168) males in this classification. Hence, less than four (4) percent of the faculty members earning $20,000 or more are women and minority group members. 16(A) There is, in fact, a marked pattern of salary differentials between men and women in nearly all job classifications on the faculty. For example, all male Full Professors are higher paid than women. 17. In the Department of Nursing there are twenty-three (23) female faculty members. Not any of them, however, are Full Professors. It was also noted that there are no male faculty members in this department. 18. There is a dearth of minority group member representation in the Laborer category, Grades 1-6 i.e. five (5) percent. In the higher levels-Grades 7-20, there is only one minority group member and no females. 19. Minority group members represent less than one (1) percent of the Service Workers in the Grade Levels 1-14. There are no minorities nor females in the higher levels of 14-20. 20. In the Protective Service Worker Category there are no females and less than three (3) percent are minority group workers. 21. There is a paucity of minority group members and females at all job levels in the category of Operators. 22. In the Craftsmen category there is only one (1) minority group member and no females out of a total of eighty-three (83) employees. 23. Minority group members and females are conspicuously absent in the Technicians category-especially at the higher grade levels of 21–30. 24. Minority group members comprise less than three (3) percent of the Clerical Workers. Additionally, there are only two (2) at the levels of 7-13 and none are in the classifications of 14-30. Before a contractor can be found in compliance with the Executive Order, it must make a specific commitment in writing outlining the action it intends to take to correct any and all deficiencies. We are requesting that you submit to us, within 10 days, a letter which will indicate in clear terms the specific steps which your administration will take to correct the deficiencies noted in this letter (except item 2). We would appreciate it if your response would follow the numerical sequence of the stated deficiencies. It is recognized that the University must first complete its Affirmative Action Plan, and in view of this fact, you may defer submitting your College plan until 30 days after the University submits its plan. However, in the meantime, it is suggested that you begin to gather the essential ingredients for the plan based on the information outlined in Order No. 4. We are asking that you submit to us in your letter of commitment a full explanation and justification in cases where the salaries of women and minorities are lower than for men and majorities. Should you have any question or need further clarification on any portion of this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely yours, THOMAS W. BARNETTE, Contract Compliance Specialist, Office for Civil Rights. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY, MEMORANDUM To: Vice presidents, deans, directors, and department chairmen. June 8, 1971. SUNY-Albany is one of the test campuses selected throughout the country for Compliance Review in the area of equal employment. We have been visited by officials of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to whom we supplied detailed records. The eventual report from Mr. Thomas W. Barnette of the Regional Office of HEW in New York is of such uncompromising nature that we are enclosing it for each of you to peruse. This is not an academic exercise. The sanctions, as you may know, involve the termination of Federal grants of all types. We are replying as required and will shortly put together a plan of Affirmative Action. We find not all items listed to be comletely accurate; at several points our position has not been fully described. We will specify those points in our reply. We expect to engage each of you in the difficult work of changing the University's record in minority and women's employment at all levels and classes. May I ask for your understanding in this matter for which, in turn, I pledge my efforts to face with you the many problems that will be involved. Mr. Barnette and the office he represents expressed understanding that dramatic change overnight is not possible; but definite programs of change will be expected of us in the months ahead. LOUIS T. BENEZET. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY, MEMORANDUM June 11, 1971. To: Vice presidents, deans, directors, and department chairmen. Region), we feel it is important for you to be kept informed of our full response on the matter of equal employment status for minorities and women. Therefore I am attaching a copy of our "letter of commitment" which we were required to send back to the Office for Civil Rights within ten days after receipt of their letter. There will, of course, be much to say and do in implementing these procedures. We will need to work together in countless ways to move forward on the changes which quite literally are going to be required of us. LOUIS T. BENEZET. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY, Mr. THOMAS W. BARNETTE, June 11, 1971. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, DEAR MR. BARNETTE: This letter may be interpreted by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as a statement of commitment in response to your letter of May 27, 1971 which was delivered to us on June 4. My colleagues and I appreciated the interchange with you in our office on June 4. As a general acknowledgement, State University of New York at Albany is aware that employment and status of minorities and women have not been at a satisfactory level. The fact that this is an almost universal condition throughout universities in the country does not affect our commitment to improve. What we can do and how fast we can do it will start with a spirit of resolve. It will by necessity be affected also by our ability both to recruit more minorities and women throughout the University and to arrange the necessary discretionary funding. This last is a critical problem at State University of New York this year. The Legislature and the State Division of the Budget have so constrained us that we anticipate literally no discretionary funds with which to make salary adjustments for 1971-72, and it appears that we will have only limited discretion in filling positions as they become vacant. I cite these circumstances not as excuses for inaction but as fundamental facts of our current economic condition. With these pre-conditions, we shall move to prepare a plan of Affirmative Action for SUNY-Albany which you are to receive not more than 30 days following the submission of a plan for the entire State University of New York. This first letter of official reply is, as you have requested, a comment upon each of the items you have listed in your May 27 letter. Where we acknowledge deficiency without qualification, you may assume that such acknowledgement implies a commitment that we will inquire further into the circumstances of deficiencies and work for improvements as part of the forthcoming plan of Affirmative Action. The balance of this letter follows the itemization in yours of May 27. 1. Comment.-Machinery was established during 1970-71 to disseminate and implement State University of New York at Albany's policy on Equal Employment Opportunity. An all-university committee functioned throughout the academic year to develop and recommend strategies for carrying out this responsibility across the board. This committee met with each Academic Dean to determine the status of minority and female employment in each school, to identify the magnitude of special recruitment efforts, and to urge the development of a plan for affirmative action. Two other faculty-staff committees were created during the spring semester of 1970-71: one for minority employment, and one for female employment. These committees are working closely with all academic departments and administrative offices to upgrade the recruitment and career development efforts for minorities and women in these units. All three of the above committees will make major inputs to State University of New York at Albany's affirmative action plan. Minority and female employment have been action items on the agenda of both the Deans and Directors groups and the Conference of Academic Deansthroughout the year. These groups committed all new secretarial items anticipated in the 1971-72 budget to minority employment. Unfortunately, all those items were deleted from our budget by the Legislature. Commitment.-Through the Equal Employment Opportunity Committees, the several regular administrative councils, and the University Senate, State University of New York at Albany's policy on Equal Employment Opportunity will be disseminated widely and our commitment and implementation will be reinforced throughout the University during the 1971-72 academic year. Future handbooks and other employee media will contain a statement of policy regarding the Equal Employment Opportunity Program. An addendum to the present handbook will be distributed reflecting the Equal Employment Opportunity policy. There will be periodic feature articles in the University campus newspaper, The Tower Tribune, on the Equal Employment Opportunity policy. 2. Comment.-An Affirmative Action Plan will be submitted 30 days after the plan of the Central Office of the State University of New York has been submitted. 3. Comment.-The State University at Albany is one of many state agencies required to purchase under the General Specifications of the State Office of General Services. These specifications are provided to each contractor and include the general statement regarding the seller's responsibility for compliance with the anti-discrimination clause of these General Specifications. Standard State purchase order and voucher forms are used. Commitment.-Effective immediately, vouchers and purchase orders for services and/or goods released directly to the vendor by this University will be stamped with a statement referring to the anti-discrimination clause of the General Specifications. 4. Commitment.-Personnel who deal with the news media will be instructed by letter that the inclusion of the statement, "Equal Employment Opportunity Employer," is to be included in all advertisements recruiting employees or soliciting services. This requirement will be included in the University's Affirmative Action Plan. 5. Comment.-The Department of Civil Service, State of New York, has statewide responsibility for State employee testing and test validation. It has been assumed that validation required by the Federal Contract Compliance is accomplished by this agency. Commitment. In coordination with the Central Office of the State University a letter will be forwarded to the New York State Commissioner of Civil Service requesting information relative to test validation requirements of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. 6. Comment.-Apparently, the personnel information reviewed by the Compliance Review Team failed to identify the Associate Dean for Innovative and Developmental Programs in this category. Commitment.-Deans and any future Search Committees for Deanships will be requested to make efforts to recruit minority candidates for Assistant Deans, Associate Deans and Deans. 7. Comment.-Apparently, the personnel information reviewed by the Compliance Review Team did not reveal a number of women holding positions at the level of Assistant Dean or higher. Among those not identified are: the Associate Dean of the School of Library Science; the Director and two University Physicians, and the Nurse Administrator in the Student Health Service; the Associate Dean of Students; the Associate Director of the Educational Opportunities Program; the Assistant Dean of the School of Nursing, and an Assistant Dean of the School of Social Welfare. All these are at the level of Assistant Dean or higher. Commitment.-Special efforts will be made to recruit women candidates for all positions at or above the level of Assistant Dean. 8. Comment.-Under New York State Civil Service categories, classified service does not include administrators or professionals. However, we acknowledge a deficiency of minority employees in supervisory and professional positions. Commitment.-Priority will be given to the recruitment of prospective minority group administrators and professionals. 9. Comment.-Our personnel information system indicates 71 non-white faculty members instead of the 27 contained in your findings. This larger figure includes other ethnic minorities in addition to Puerto Ricans and Negroes. The deficiency with respect to Negro and Puerto Rican underutilization is acknowledged. Commitment.-Through our newly installed faculty vacancy control system, our recruitment committees for minorities and women, and our faculty line allocation and appointment decisions, wke will provide a major stimulus to the acquisition of minority faculty members. Through a more aggressive prosecution of our financial aid program for mniority graduate students we will endeavor to make a larger contribution to the available supply of prospective minority faculty members. 10. Coment.The concentration of minority faculty members in the AfroAmerican Studies Department is acknowledged. Commitment.-Through the steps in 9 (above) we will strive to achieve a wider distribution of our minority faculty resources across all academic departments. 11. Comment.-Statement acknowledged. Since the bulk of Black faculty are concentrated in a single, relatively new academic department, the proportion of tenured faculty is lower than for the faculty as a whole. Using our total of 71 non-white faculty members noted in 9 (above) we find 24 of these or 6%-to be tenured. Tenured decisions are based upon broadly-based collegial judgments made at departmental, school and university levels, and are thus not matters of administrative discretion. Commitment. To insure full opportunity to all present minority faculty members, we will ask departments to initiate tenure consideration for all eligible minority faculty members who wish to be considered during 1971-72. 12. Comment.-Deficiency acknowledged. Commitment. For faculty, commitment in 9 (above) applies; for academic administrators commitment in 6 (above) applies; for professional and administrative classified positions, commitment in 8 (above) applies. 13. Comment.-Deficiency acknowledged. Many females leave University employment after beginning teaching careers as instructors or assistant professors, because of marriage and family responsibilities. Commitment.-An appropriate enlargement of female representation on the faculty particularly at the higher ranks will be sought through the mechanisms described in 9 (above). To insure full opportunity to all present women faculty members, we will ask departments to initiate promotion consideration for all eligible women faculty members who wish to be considered during 1971-72. 14. Comment.-Apparently the analysis of tenure in the letter of findings was based on a comparison of tenured faculty with total faculty, including part-time personnel. Since part-time personnel cannot achieve tenure, this base may not be appropriate. Based on full-time personel, our records indicate that 44% of women faculty have tenure while 60% of male faculty are tenured. Likewise. we find that 73% of tenured female faculty hold ranks of Associate Professor and Professor, compared 94% of male tenured faculty at those ranks. These data do not appear to support your conclusion about level of appointment and length of service in lower ranks for women. Commitment. To insure full opportunity to all present women faculty members, we will ask departments to initiate tenure consideration for all eligible women faculty members who wish to be considered during 1971-72. 15. Comment.-Deficiency acknowledged. Commitment.-An appropriate enlargement of female representation on the faculty will be sought through the mechanisms described in 9 (above). 16 and 16A. Comment.-Deficiency acknowledged. Our records show that all faculty members earning $20,000 or more, 12 are minority group members and 6 are women compared with 117 white males-a proportion of 13%. Of all professional personnel earning over $20.000, 13 are minority group members and 8 are women compared with 168 white males-a proportion of 11%. Commitment.-We are initiating an analysis of the salary history of each female and minority faculty member compared with per white faculty members in the same departments, where applicable. The concerned department chairmen and deans will be required to justify any clear differentials in salary treatment of women and minority faculty members. In cases of unjustified salary discriminations we will seek authorization from the State University of New York Central Office and the New York State Budget Division to effect equitable redress. This University campus is not authorized to take such salary actions without extraordinary approvals of higher authorities and the provision of such discretionary funds from the State government. 17. Comment.-The School of Nursing is the newest School on this campus and presently offers only an undergraduate major. Its faculty are all quite recent to the University and their rank distribution accords with the level of instructional responsibility. The Dean of the School is a full Professor. During 1970-71 the School of Nursing had one full-time and one part-time male faculty member. Commitment.-The faculty of this School will be accorded the opportunity described in commitment 13 (above) dealing with promotion. The School of Nursing will have a second full time male faculty member beginning in September 1971. 18-24. Comment.-Deficiencies acknowledged. Commitment.-A policy of one-to-one hiring of minorities has been announced by the Vice President for Management and Planning and will affect all of the |