Editor:
Thursday I testified in the public forum on the proposed elimination of the statistics department. This testimony was reported in the Wildcat, but a major part of the reported testimony bears no relation to anything that I said ("Faculty debates statistic fare," March 31).
My main message was that statistical reasoning is a vital part of undergraduate and graduate education and of much of the research enterprise.
The UA should resist the urge to camouflage spending on statistics by dispersing it through dozens of departments, but instead should maintain central leadership.
The UA has a responsibility to students and researchers alike to make statistics thrive.
William Faris
Mathematics Professor