From: www.publicnewsservice.org
September 19, 2008
Albany, NY — The faculty union at the State University of New York (SUNY) says things are going to get worse for students and teachers unless SUNY administrators come up with a plan. The latest cuts of $96 million were announced in July, and Phillip Smith, president of United University Professions, wonders why the SUNY board is taking so long to react.
"As of right now, I am not aware of any solid plan that's in place. The campuses are all going off in different directions. As a result, we have 29 or 30 different campuses that are doing their own thing."
Smith says all the recent cuts amount to a quarter of a billion dollars. A SUNY spokesman says the budget issues are very complex because SUNY has so many campuses, but he says they are working on a plan to mitigate the negative impact of the cuts.
Smith suggests that the SUNY board take a cue from the City University of New York (CUNY), which also has a large number of campuses and just had to absorb a $50 million cut. Smith says CUNY came up with a plan in a matter of days that puts the emphasis on protecting education.
"With CUNY, we are protecting our core mission. Student services will not be impacted, we're continuing with faculty searches and we are protecting faculty positions because CUNY's core mission is, of course, the same as SUNY's, which is education."
Smith says by making cuts in non-education related programs and things like equipment purchases, SUNY, too, could chart a path through this latest round of budget cuts without sacrificing the quality of learning.