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Tower
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Vol. 2, No. 38
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TATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY
August 9, 1971
SUNY Professional Staff Members
Continue Negotiations for Contract
Negotiations have resumed between
the Senate Professional Association and
the NYS Office of Employee Relations in
the effort to obtain a contract for
SUNY’s 13,300 teaching and non-
teaching professional staff members. SPA
had declared an impasse in negotiations
early last May and later called upon the
Public Employment Relations Board to
institute fact-finding. A three-member
fact-finding team had been named and
was about to begin work when SPA and
OER agreed to return to the bargaining
table on July 20.
SPA President Robert Granger met
with Albany professionals on Wednesday,
July 28, to bring them up to date on the
talks. He declared that both sides were
making progress and hoped to reach an
agreement without fact-finding. If that is
possible an agreement should be ready for
membership ratification in September.
If the talks break down again and
fact-finding is necessary, it will be insti-
tuted in late August, with the date of any
final settlement delayed accordingly.
Mr. Granger indicated that agreement
had been reached in some areas. However,
several crucial issues remain unresolved.
They include the economic aspects of the
contract, job security and career pro-
motional plans for non-teaching pro-
fessionals, incorporation of Board of
Trustees policies as stipulations of the
contract, definition of workloads, and de-
mands of the medical center.
In response to questions, Mr. Granger
indicated that SPA is seeking economic
benefits retroactive to July 1, the be-
ginning of the fiscal year. He noted that
some money has been set aside to provide
for a settlement but that the Legislature
would have to appropriate any additional
funds necessary.
When an agreement is reached it will
be submitted for ratification to a one-
man, one-vote poll of SPA’s dues-paying
membership. At present SPA has about
2,000 members statewide.
The State University Professional As-
sociation at Albany (SUPA) held a special
meeting Thursday noon in the Campus
Center Assembly Hall. On the agenda
were proposed constitutional
amendments, proposed by-law revision to
the constitution, nominations for state-
wide SUPA officers, and the president’s
report.
Earl Droessler
SUNYA S-U Grading Exceptions
Explained to Incoming Freshmen
A letter has been sent by the Office
of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies to
all incoming freshmen concerning their
right to petition for A-E grades. Under
current university policy, all grades for
freshmen and sophomores are submitted
to the registrar as S (satisfactory, credit)
or U (unsatisfactory, no credit).
The letter states: “Some students
planning to enter Albany in the fall of
1971 as pre-medical students had reason
to believe that they might be able to re-
ceive A-E grading. Any student who
feels that he did expect to have this
option available and is desirous of con-
sideration for A-E grading, should ad-
dress a letter requesting A-E
grading. . including his specific reasons
therefore...” Deadline for petitions is
Aug. 18.
Michael B. Freedman, assistant dean
of undergraduate studies, explained that
the letter simply affirms each student’s
right to petition for A- E grading. It was
reportedly sent in response to numerous
questions from parents attending the
parents’ portion of the Summer Planning
Conference.
In the past, petitions have been re-
viewed by the Committee on Academic
Standing of the Undergraduate Academic
Council. Exceptions to S - U grading were
granted to 72 pre-medical students in the
fall of 1970 and to 141 pre-medical stu-
dents in the spring of 1971. Ten of 18
petitioners in other programs were also
granted exceptions.
In April of 1971 the committee de-
cided that it would grant no more ex-
ceptions to S-U grading, However, that
committee went out of office on June 30
and a new committee has yet to be con-
stituted. The new Undergraduate Aca-
demic Council will hold its first meeting
on Wednesday and is expected to con-
sider the question of the petitions as well
as the organization of a new committee.
V.P. Droessler
Resigns Post
Earl G.Droessler, vice president for
research here since 1966, has resigned his
position to take a new post. Effective
Oct. 1 he will become administrative dean
for research at North Carolina State Uni-
versity at Raleigh.
President Benezet, in a memorandum
to members of the University Council,
said, “I know you will join the rest of us
in due course in giving Earl the thanks
and appreciation due for a solid
accomplishment during the past five years
at State University of New York at Al-
bany, during which time our sponsored
research funds have grown from
$400,000 to $6,000,000.”
In a statement prepared for the
Tower Tribune Dr. Droessler commented,
“After five years at SUNYA it is difficult
to leave our many friends at the Uni-
versity and throughout the Albany area.
The research and scholarly programs have
grown by leaps and bounds during the
period, and it has been my special privi-
lege to work with the faculty, students,
and staff engaging in the national com-
petition for grants and contracts.”
He continued, “More recently | have
found university development work es-
pecially rewarding, and I am pleased that
the SUNYA Foundation now enjoys a
modest and healthy presence on the cam-
pus. I predict that the resources gathered
through the Foundation will become
more and more vital as SUNYA continues
its forward drive to become a university
of first quality.”
Three - Year-Old Audit Surfaces
A Department of Audit and Control
report covering the university’s ac-
counting, financial, and operating con-
trols and practices from 1960 to 1968,
hit the headlines and airwaves last week,
after a period of 17 months had elapsed
from the filing date, Mar. 9, 1970. Vic
Summer Program Orients EOP Students
Ninety-one of some 300 freshmen
who have been admitted to the university
through the Educational Opportunities
SUMMER ASSISTANTS for the EOP
summer program include Madelyn Boyd,
Anthony Belcher, Constance Bryant,
Donnell Underwood, and Vivian Solis.
Not shown are Anthony Cheh and Regi-
nald Knox. Jerry Lee serves as coordi-
nator of the assistants.
Program have been spending the summer
here in a seven-week EOP summer orien-
tation program. They have been living in
Stuyvesant Tower on Dutch Quad, taking
six to eight hours of EOP and university
courses, and receiving both formal and in-
formal guidance to the many facets of
student life at SUNYA.
The program encompasses a full
range of academic and extracurricular ac-
tivities. Freshmen were tested at the be-
ginning of the summer and will be tested
again at the end of the program to un-
cover any academic difficulties which
should be dealt with. During the summer
they have had the benefit of EOP’s tu-
torial staff and in some cases have formed
study groups to help each other with
course work,
In their leisure time they have had a
varied program of EOP picnics, dances,
movies, and sports in addition to events
in the regular Summer Activities Program.
Seven continuing EOP students have
been working with the freshmen as sum-
mer assistants, By living with the frosh,
leading group discussions, chaperoning
social events, and just being friends, they
have added a peer group dimension to the
orientation.
Their supervisor, Marcia Warrington,
had high praise for the summer assistants
who, she says, have helped greatly in de-
veloping the program. “Students seem to
like having older students to go to,” she
said, adding that through one-to-one con-
tact with the frosh the summer assistants
have identified many needs which might
otherwise have gone unrecognized. She
also noted that they themselves were re-
ceiving leadership training through their
summer experience.
EOP freshmen who were not able to
attend the summer program will return to
campus a week before classes for their
orientation. In addition, most of the 300
frosh have been coming to the three-day
Summer Planning Conferences for general
university orientation.
Ostrowidski, political affairs editor of the
Albany Times Union, wrote the original
article about the report and described it
as “highly critical”, adding that the re-
port indicated that university officials
had corrected many of the deficiencies
outlined in it.
John W. Hartley, vice president for
management and planning, said in a pre-
pared statement: “It is the university’s
feeling that the article in today’s (Aug. 2)
Times Union , bylined by Victor Ostro-
widski, brings up issues that have for the
most part already been resolved. The
period covered by the report ended three
years ago. Many of the ex-
ceptions ---and I underscore that they
are exceptions to standard audit pro-
cedures and not accusations - - - have
been corrected. We have made replies to
the auditor’s reports. Most of the ex-
ceptions have been reconciled and that is
a matter of record.”
The audit report was concerned, in
part, with average faculty salaries,
teaching hours, non-teaching faculty as-
signments, undeposited receipts, delin-
quent billings for room and board, pur-
chasing procedures, mail operations, and
master keys. It also made note of the
numbers of total faculty, full-time
teachers, and courses offered.
Mr. Hartley, who pointed out that
many of the matters had been reconciled
before the report was made, stressed that
there continue to be reservations about
judgments concerning faculty responsi-
bilities.
Committee Named To Study
Three-year Baccalaureate
Seth W. Spellman, assistant to the
president, has been chosen to head a fac-
ulty group to study the concept of a
three-year baccalaureate. The 11 man
committee, which held its initial meeting
July 23, has been asked by Vice President
Phillip Sirotkin to review some of the pre-
liminary plans, further develop the de-
tails, and make recommendations.
The group has been divided into two
subcommittees, one of which will study
the lower division and the other, upper
division. Dr. Spellman will serve on both
subcommittees.
Students Report
Endeavors, Goals
Albany’s Student Association, in its
annual report to members, highlights its
accomplishments over the past year and
outlines its goals for next year,
Among the major accomplishments
listed was the adoption of a new S.A.
constitution. This, for the first time in six
years, provides for direct election of the
S.A. President and Vice President and
Central Council. Also credited to Student
Association was the inception of the
football club and of on-campus Grey-
hound bus service to several major New
York cities.
In the area of student living, the as-
sociation pushed for reform of FSA,
helped in securing 10% board and 15%
room rebates for residents of the still un-
finished Indian Quad, and provided for
the formation of two corporations to
build low cost student housing in the
area.
The association’s plans for 1971-72
include continued efforts to reform FSA
and to improve academic grievance
machinery. The association also wants to
see increased student participation in resi-
dence staff selection.
Funds for Student Association ac-
tivities come from the mandatory Stu-
dent Activity Assessment. This year’s fee
is $30 per semester. Various fee waivers
are available to students who cannot af-
ford the fee, off-campus student teachers,
and married students. Applications for
waivers, available in CC 346, must be
made within two weeks of the due date
of the student’s university bill.
Concert Offered
A tape concert of electronic music
will be given in the Art Gallery on
Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. Admission is
free. Works scheduled are by American
composers Charles Dodge, Alvin Lucier,
Peter Doell, and Warren Burt.
Tentatively scheduled are com
positions by British composers Rodger
Smalley and Bryn Harris and by Belgian
composers Gottfried Willem Raes and
Michael Caesar. The selections will in-
clude a wide variety of styles, from com-
puter composition to chance music.
Tower Tribune
Edited and published weekly when
classes are in session by the Community
Relations Office as a service to the
university community; AD 235; 7-4901.
Communications to the editor should be
typed and must be signed. All material is
subject to editing. Opinions expressed in
signed articles and columns are those of
the writer and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the Tribune or the univer-
sity. Items for “Campus Exchange”
should be submitted to AD 262, 7-4630.
The lower division group, which will
concentrate on grades 12 and 13, includes
Thomas Boehm, Mauritz Johnson,
Benjamin Chi, Nathaniel Friedman, and
Leonard Lapinski.
The upper division group will study
“Man and His Institutions” and is com-
posed of Robert Hoffman, Morris Eson,
Robert Guerrin, Richard Goldman, and
Donald Birn.
During the past winter and spring, a
Staff Planning Task Force appointed by
Dr. Benezet recommended as one of its
proposals that the university establish a
program which would effectively com-
press from eight to seven the high school
and college years. This would be accom-
plished by combining the current senior
year of high school and the freshman year
of college.
In June, SUNY Central Adminis-
tration held a three-day, state-wide
meeting at Rensselaerville at which the
concept of a three-year baccalaureate was
discussed. The Albany plan differed in
some significant ways from that of the
Central Administration and was enthusi-
astically received by the participants.
EOP Graduates
Two students in the Educational Op-
portunities Program are scheduled to re-
ceive Bachelor of Arts degrees this month
from the College of Arts and Sciences.
They are Lynn Gilmore, of Albany, and
Benjamin Lorick, of New York.
Both seniors have majored in Afro-
American studies. The latter is expected
to receive his degree with honors.
Also scheduled to be graduated is
Leon Petty who originally was in the EOP
program when he transferred here from
State University College at Oneonta. He
has not been affiliated with the program
for the past year.
Mr. Petty, now of Albany and
formerly of Buffalo, is scheduled to re-
ceive his BA in rhetoric and public ad-
dress.
630 Special Students
Enrolled for Summer
Total enrollment for the summer ses-
sion has been announced as 5,436 by the
Registrar’s office. The total includes 630
undergraduates enrolled from 198 col-
leges and universities according to the Of-
fice of Admissions.
The 630 special undergraduate stu-
dents represent an increase from last
year’s 504 students from 182 different
schools.
The students represent colleges from
Maine (Husson College) to Hawaii (Uni-
versity of Hawaii), from Canada (McGill
University) to Florida (University of
Miami).
The largest number of students from
a single institution is 38 from SUC Platts-
burgh. Other branches of the university
system are also well represented, in-
cluding junior colleges.
Local colleges such as the College of
St. Rose, R.P.I., Russell Sage, Siena, Skid-
more, and Union are all represented by
more than 12 undergraduates each.
Correction
The last paragraph of the Tower
Tribune article “Orientation Film” in the
Aug. 2 issue was inaccurate. Orientation
films produced by the Educational Com-
munications Center were first used in
1966. This is the second year that student
film-makers have been used extensively in
the production of the films.
CAMPUS SECURITY OFFICERS from 11 State University campuses attended a two-
week training school recently held on campus. B. George Belofsky, assistant co-
ordinator of security services, was the school’s director. Pictured above is the class in
“Multi Media First Aid’. Classes were also held in narcotics control, handling of
explosives, and fire safety.
Round the Campus
McKown’s Grove is the place and Sept. 11 is the date for the annual steak bake of the
university chapter of the Civil Service Employees Association. It will be held from 1
p.m. to 3:30 p.m, On the menu will also be raw clams, hot dogs, hamburgers, soda,
and beer. There'll be dancing in the evening from 6 to 9, a raffle, and door prizes. John
Burke, chairman of the social committee, is the man to see about tickets. . .The
university community is hereby notified that the 1971-72 Creative Artists Public
Service Program is opening a new round of commissions to professional creative artists
in the fields of choreography, film, graphics, multi-media, music composition,
painting, photography, playwriting, poetry, prose, sculpture and videotape. Approxi-
mately 60 artists will be contracted through commissions averaging $3,000 each to
complete works in progress or to create new works. Applications will be available in
September at 250 West 57th Street, New York 10019. . .Bertilla Baker, majoring in
drama here, was a winner in the Intercollegiate Song Festival held recently at White-
hall...And yet more praise Writes
Nancy Curran in the Schenectady Union
Star in her review of the Lake George
Opera Festival’s “Faust”, “Collective
hero of the evening was the contingent
from the Albany Symphony and the
State University of New York at Al-
bany”.. Joseph A. Steger, associate pro-
fessor of psychology, has been chosen as
Outstanding Educator of America for
1971. Guidelines for selection included
an educator’s talents in the classroom,
contributions to research, administrative
abilities, civic service, and professional
recognition. . President Benezet will ad-
dress Albany Rotary Thursday on
“SUNYA: Changes in the Wind”. Also,
on the same day, William E, Seymour, di-
rector of the SUNYA Center for Eco-
nomic Education and of the New York
State Council on Economic Education,
will speak on “Economics in the 70’s:
Challenge and Opportunity” at a council-
sponsored workshop at SUC at Platts-
burgh...A survey of Jewish philosophy
as it has developed in the 20th Century in
the United States is the subject of a
course to be offered Tuesday evenings in
the fall by Jerome Eckstein. It may be
taken for credit or audit and registration
is Aug. 30. . Paul B. Pettit leaves tomor-
row for England to participate in a semi-
nar on British theater.
Campus Exchange
FOR RENT: 3-bedroom apartment near
campus on university bus line, furnished
or unfurnished, utility equipped, available
immediately. Call 7-4957 days or
489-0564 after 4 p.m.
FOR SALE: 4-bedroom Center Square
townhouse, 2% baths, living room, dining
room, modern kitchen, enclosed garden,
roof terrace, carpeting, draperies; com-
pletely redecorated; $50,000. Call HO2-
4181 or HOS-3591.
WANTED: Small furnished apartment for
couple. Call 393-2507 after 6 p.m.
Albany Youth Nabbed
By Security Officer
University Security Officer Robert
Storey apprehended a 17-year-old Albany
youth on July 27 and charged him with
petty larceny and possession of burglary
tools.
The youth was apprehended on
Washington Ave. after a call was received
by the Security Office that someone was
tampering with a bicycle in front of the
library.
The youth pleaded guilty as charged,
and was scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 5
at the Albany Police Court.
The Security Office reports that the
bicycle, a blue Western Flyer, has not yet
been claimed.
Course on Family
A study course on the “Future of
Family and Sex” will be offered in the
fall under the joint sponsorship of the
Ecumenical Committee for the Con-
tinuing Education of Clergy and the
College of General Studies.
The course has two bases: one, as a
student participation project, the other,
as academic direction under Louis Lieber-
man, assistant professor of sociology.
Dr. Lieberman will use his new book,
Newsex and Morality as a springboard for
his lectures.
The course will be meeting from
9:30 to 11:30 a.m, Wednesdays from
Sept. 15 through Nov. 17 in Hu 290.
Several openings exist in the course and
further information is available from
Warren Scott, AD 242.
more events...
MONDAY - Film:“Diabolique”, LC 18, 7
and 9 p.m.
TUESDAY - Film:“The Big Bounce”, LC
18,7 and 9 p.m.
THURSDAY - Ice Cream Social, CC For-
mal Gardens, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
