Letter to the Editor: On the CSCAR closure

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Like other University of Michigan faculty members, I was dismayed and disappointed when I heard about the planned closure of the Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research. CSCAR is a unique and valuable resource for the U-M community, students, faculty and staff. To my knowledge, there is no other unit where one can so easily go to have a statistics question, large or small, answered. When I was a doctoral student more than 25 years ago, I benefited greatly from CSCAR services — receiving formal consultations, workshops and answers to various statistical or software questions asked over email. In the years since, I cannot even count the number of times I have recommended it to others, especially students and mentees. CSCAR enables non-statisticians to get the statistics help they need, when they need it. Knowing that CSCAR is there as a safety net allows us to be more ambitious while using new or more advanced analytic techniques in our work. Most services are free or low-cost, making them broadly accessible. I have no doubt that CSCAR’s overall impact on learning, research productivity and even well-being among its many users has been immense. It is truly a gem, and I am baffled by the decision to shut it down, at a time when academic research and higher education are facing challenges on so many fronts. This one, at least, is avoidable.

Mary Janevic is a research associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Equity. She can be reached at mjanevic@umich.edu.

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