Letter to Editor

February 15, 2005

Letters to the Editor
Times Union
Box 15000
Albany. NY 12212

To the Editor:

United University Professions (UUP) applauds Fred LeBrun’s observation that Gov. Pataki’s plan to accelerate college completion time is a “rush to judgment” (Feb. 8). We agree that offering SUNY campuses $500 for each student who stays the course and graduates in exactly four years is not the solution to the problem of delayed graduations.

LeBrun rightly notes the shortage of classes students need to graduate as a “frequent reason for a fifth year.” In fact, the lack of available classes may be the biggest reason today’s students must spend extra semesters or years earning their undergraduate degrees.

 But why is there a shortage of classes? The lack of available classes is directly related to a major decrease in the number of full-time faculty.  SUNY has lost more than 1,000 full-time faculty in the last decade. Right now, full-time faculty teach only 49 percent of the courses, which means more than half the courses are taught by part-time adjunct faculty. Because of their part-time schedule, these instructors­­— though well trained and hard-working — are not able to offer classes to students on a widely available basis. That is why is United University Professions is calling for the restoration of full-time faculty to the recommended level of 70 percent as the cornerstone of our legislative agenda this year.  

While faculty lines have been decreasing, the number of students has been sharply rising. Since 1998, SUNY enrollments at the senior colleges have risen by more than 17,500 students, without a commensurate increase in full-time faculty or state funding.

The high cost of higher education is often also to blame for delays in student graduation rate, especially at SUNY institutions.

Students who must work to help pay for college often find their required courses are only offered at times that conflict with their job schedules.

The combination of fewer full-time faculty, more students, and more working students adds up to more students who cannot take the required courses they need to graduate “on time.”

Until SUNY can guarantee sufficient course offerings for students to graduate in four years, the Legislature should not consider this plan.

Instead, state policy-makers should increase the number of full-time SUNY faculty so students receive the courses, opportunity programs and services they need to graduate in four years.  Blaming the victims – our students – for an under funded SUNY is not the solution.

It’s time for the state to make a greater investment in its public university so that the hard-working students of SUNY get what they need and deserve.

Sincerely,

William E. Scheuerman
President, United University Professions