A consulting firm playing a key role in UB's long-term planning process has raised concerns among some faculty and staff, who are questioning the company's history and current role at the university.
AVCOR Consulting, a California firm, was contracted by the university to play a key role in the UB2020 process. The company has ties to UB President John Simpson from his days at UC Santa Cruz, and was hired to consult on the UB2020 planning process - but the university did not open the contract to bidding, and will not disclose the financial terms of the contract.
University officials say the company is experienced in higher education and excels at assisting discussion about UB's future.
"They have a role as facilitator in looking at a number of critical, important issues the campus has to come to grips with," said Simpson. "They're good people and they're really focusing missions and business practices."
Some faculty members say they are wary of AVCOR and the firm's history, along with what they claim is a level of secrecy around the firm's role.
AVCOR was hired without a bidding process and the contract amount is not a matter of public record because the firm is being paid with money from the UB Foundation, a private corporation funded by alumni, according to Simpson's office.
United University Professors, a union representing much of the faculty and staff at UB, recently took up a fact-finding mission to investigate AVCOR's history and current function at UB.
"I don't think the university has been very forthcoming," said Harvey Axlerod, President of the Buffalo Center Chapter of UUP. "There is a certain fog around AVCOR."
Scott Nostaja, the president of AVCOR, said such skepticism is unfounded and stressed AVCOR does not make decisions about UB's future, but merely facilitates discussions between members of the university.
"Our role is to help the university advance a strategic plan. Our role is not to embed new thoughts and thinking," Nostaja said. "Does every person on the campus need to know? Probably not. Is anybody keeping it a secret? No."
AVCOR on campus
According to Simpson, AVCOR's role on campus is to provide a framework for discussions about UB's future - not to make decisions.
"The use of these people is really to give us strategy and methodology for what we want to do in solving our own problems," Simpson said. "They are not telling us what to do."
On a day-to-day basis, representatives from AVCOR set up meetings between various members of the UB community, and then guide and document the discussion.
Nostaja and two to three AVCOR representatives commute to UB from Los Angeles each week and spend anywhere from three to five days on campus. Nostaja would not comment on whether UB picks up the tab for the weekly commutes between Los Angeles and Buffalo.
Peter Nickerson, chairman of the Faculty Senate, has worked closely with AVCOR representatives. He said his experience so far has been very positive.
"From my observation, they've been facilitators," Nickerson said. "They haven't come up with a plan. They have allowed the faculty and staff to figure out what the plans will be."
Nickerson said AVCOR consultants call committee meetings of university stakeholders, and identify tasks for the meeting. The consultants will call upon people to express opinions, take notes and produce a summary of the meeting.
"They're very good at keeping people on task," Nickerson added. "They've been extremely efficient."
Maureen Jameson, chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, said she had a different experience with AVCOR at a recent strategic planning session. A representative from AVCOR was supposed to show up, but did not.
"Some degree of confusion is to be expected in a faculty planning session, but there is a widespread perception that the consultants are making things up as they go along," Jameson said. "What I have heard several people say, and my impression as well, is that (AVCOR) is not conversant with academic culture, and so fail to realize that the techniques they use for promoting organizational reform in the corporate world will be greeted with skepticism here unless there is careful preparation."
"And careful preparation is exactly what has been missing," Jameson added.
Question of credentials
Paul Zarembka, a professor of economics, echoed Jameson's concerns about AVCOR's inability to operate in an academic setting.
"From an academic point of view, they have minimal credentials," he said. "What can any outside firm do that cannot be done at a large campus like this, that has lots of talent?"
AVCOR was founded four years ago by Nostaja, and got its first job in higher education working in the University of California system - namely, at UC Santa Cruz where Simpson, serving as Campus Provost, brought the firm in to help with academic planning and also to identify possible areas of savings during a budget crunch.
AVCOR is beginning a strategic planning process for the entire University of California system, and has worked at UC San Diego and UC Los Angeles.
Outside of the California system, AVCOR is also helping Los Alamos National Laboratory establish a human resources strategy.
Nostaja said AVCOR is well versed in higher education, and feels his company is suited to work at an institution like UB.
"We've worked hard to understand the culture unique to higher education. We recognize institutions of higher education are unlike any other," Nostaja said. "In the last four to five years we've become sensitive to that."
A low profile
Many faculty members have no opinion of AVCOR because they are not aware of the company or its function in UB's strategic planning.
Zarembka said very few of his colleagues are aware of AVCOR. He said the administration has not mentioned AVCOR or communicated the company's role to the faculty and staff.
"From an academic point of view, you want to know if they are here for academic issues or non-academic issues. It's simply murky," Zarembka said.
Axlerod, the union president, said he finds the lack of communication troubling.
"I think that's tragic, unless they have something to hide. There is some distrust, some insecurities about AVCOR," Axlerod said. "(The administration) should disclose as much as they can, not the least."
Simpson said the faculty is intimately involved in every step of the planning process, which he feels is more important than specific knowledge of AVCOR.
"The faculty are aware of efforts that have gone forward in major campus-wide academic planning," Simpson said. "It doesn't matter if they're specifically aware that it's AVCOR that is facilitating the process."
Looking to the future
Simpson's office said it has no plans to disclose the terms of the contract with AVCOR, and that the firm will be around at least though the completion of the UB2020 planning, scheduled to end in September.
Simpson said he sees no role for AVCOR after UB2020 is on paper, but Nostaja said a longer stay is possible. He said department chairs have approached him about facilitating planning processes for their departments.
Many faculty members skeptical of AVCOR's role say they would be at ease if the administration provided more specific details about the firm.
Zarembka said aside from knowing what payment AVCOR is receiving from the university, their role in academic planning should be clearly outlined.
Axlerod said he hopes Simpson becomes more forthcoming about AVCOR's role, because he believes it hurts Simpson's image to the faculty.
"AVCOR seems to be dragging him down," Axlerod said.
Simpson acknowledged there was skepticism on campus about AVCOR, but said it's common at a time when the university is looking towards the future.
"Any time there's substantial change, people are very cautious, skeptical and cynical about what's happening," Simpson said. "It's related to an agenda of change."
Jameson said the faculty wants to be optimistic about the future, but has very serious concerns about the relatively young consulting firm's ability to operate in an academic setting.
"The ironic thing is that, like the audience at a high school play, the faculty really want the show to succeed," Jameson said. "We want to suspend disbelief and move forward with optimism and enthusiasm, but AVCOR keeps reminding us that they're not really academic planners, they're just dressed up that way."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
