Report Criticizes Affirmative Action Stance of UCI Librarian : Administration: Faculty committee asks immediate review of Dr. Calvin Boyer’s performance. He denies allegations and points to library’s successes.

A special faculty committee, studying charges of bias in the UC Irvine Library, criticized its chief administrator for his alleged “dubious” commitment to affirmative action and poor management in a report issued Friday.

The report, prepared after a five-month study, alleged that the head librarian, Dr. Calvin Boyer, neglected to stem discriminatory practices in the library because of his lack of “leadership qualities.” The paper further urged Chancellor Jack W. Peltason to survey the library’s staff “with a view to determining whether Dr. Boyer is to continue in his post.”

”. . . . Racism and other forms of intolerance are only some of the problems that beset the UCI Library at present,” the report says. “These problems can only be surmounted in a library whose departmental operations and personnel procedures are clearly, decisively and vigorously managed.

“It is the almost unanimous judgment of the librarians we have surveyed and interviewed (that) the library is not well-managed.”

The report recommends that the university review Boyer’s performance “at once,” and change policy to allow head librarians to be moved to another department if their performance is inadequate. Currently, the head librarian holds no other academic post and would have to be fired to be removed.

In response to Friday’s report, Boyer said he has always acted to head off problems in the library and spoke of advancements in affirmative action and implementation of innovative programs.

“If I’m to shoulder the responsibility for shortcomings, which every manager accepts, may we not also talk about the successes, which are numerous as well?” Boyer asked.

The six-member committee, chaired by English professor Myron Simon, was convened last summer by the Academic Senate after press reports detailed allegations of widespread mistreatment of minority employees and patrons of the library.

The report alleged several instances of discrimination:

- Foreign-born employees using “imperfect English” were “singled out for disapproval by colleagues and supervisors.”

- Charges by minority librarians that “their advancement (is) markedly slower than that of others with comparable educational background, experience and performance records.”

- Charges that complaints by Middle Eastern and Asian students who said they were ridiculed by library staffers were “swept under the rug” by library administrators.

- An “at-best dubious” record of recruitment and retention of minority employees, “despite the university librarian’s assertions to the contrary.”

“While we do not wish to minimize in any way the subtle but nonetheless substantial affirmative-action problems in the library, we have determined--on the basis of our extensive investigation--that these problems should be viewed as symptoms of a far more pervasive crisis in the library,” the report says.

The “crisis” described in the report is the result of “the very serious morale problem that exists in the library,” the report says. It describes the library staff as deeply split and its administrators as unresponsive or insensitive to conflicts and concerns within the staff.

“It was said (by library employees) that questions disappear into a ‘black hole’ of the library administration. . . . Everything seems to drift without direction,” the report says.

Despite the harsh criticism, Simon called Boyer “a very serious librarian who’s done a lot for the library.” But, Simon added, “the problem is he doesn’t seem to have skill in conflict-solving and decision-making. What is needed clearly is organizational skill and a director who’s able to stay on top of things.”

On Friday, Boyer pointed to successes under his administration, including the hiring of members of minority groups for 37.5% of permanent library openings in the last four years, and the start of a $32-million project in which a new science library will be designed and constructed.

Still, the report contends that “little has been done to effect change, and what has been done is tardy and inconclusive--much of it superficially reactive to the damaging press reports and the creation of this committee.”

But Boyer argued that the media coverage and committee interviews were the very factors responsible for charges by employees of mismanagement and low morale in the library.

“I think it is not surprising that morale is at one level in a circumstance like that and the same individuals in another time may well report the other side with equal conviction,” Boyer said. “In my opinion, in some of the major departments of the library, morale and camaraderie has never been higher.”

Simon and members of the library staff disagreed. Simon noted that disgruntled librarians eager to voice grievances often stretched interviews with the committee--scheduled to last no more than 30 minutes--to two hours.

“I think there are serious morale problems in the library,” he said.

Daniel Tsang, an Asian-American bibliographer who was among the first to complain of discrimination in the library, said animosity among the staff “still exists.”

“The ship is adrift and the captain is coming under review,” Tsang said.

UCI LIBRARY STAFF’S ETHNICITY

In the period between 1986 and 1990, 37.5% of those appointed to permanent librarian jobs were African-American, Latino or Asian-American. Women and minorities accounted for 70.3% of all hires in that period, and six of the seven librarians hired in 1989 were members of minority groups.

The number of permanent librarians on the UCI library staff is 48; one more, an African-American woman, is scheduled to start work in April. Here are breakdowns of the staffby sex and ethnic group:

Category Number Percent FEMALE Asian 5 10.4% Black * 2 4.2% Caucasian 24 50.0% Latino 1 2.1% Subtotal 32 66.7% MALE Asian 2 4.2% Black 0 -- Caucasian 13 27.1% Latino 1 2.1% Subtotal 16 33.3% TOTAL 48 100.0%

* Another black woman will join the staff in April.

Source: UC Irvine