UUP Press Releases

CONTACT: Denyce Duncan Lacy or Don Feldstein at (518) 640-6600
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NEWS FROM NEW YORK NEWS CONNECTION

A statewide news service for New York

 Producer: Jane Metzler, 68 Cortlandt Place, Tenafly, NJ 07670 Phone: 201-266-4249  E-mail: nyncnews@publicnewsservice.org

 Sound files at: www.publicnewsservice.org

February 3, 2005

Lawmakers Warned About SUNY Layoffs, Hospital Privatization

Albany, NY—  New York lawmakers are getting an earful about Governor Pataki’s proposal to close a budget gap by raising tuition and privatizing public teaching hospitals in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Here are comments from William Scheuerman, President of United University Professions, which represents nearly 30 thousand faculty and staff members on 29 State University of New York campuses .

Intervewer: State lawmakers are getting quite an earful from advocates for New York’s state university system. They’re being told the Governor’s proposal to pay for SUNY’s estimated $85 million dollar yearly operating cost with a tuition increase is both a shaky and unpopular way to go. William Scheuerman is with United University Professions, representing nearly thirty thousand faculty and staff members on 29 State University of New York campuses. He says the proposal will result in massive faculty layoffs.

(Click here to listen to Bill Scheuerman's answer.)

Interviewer: Scheuerman says making the state university more expensive conflicts with Governor Pataki’s plan to pay campuses a bounty for graduating students in four years.  SUNY students take six years to finish, on average. Scheuerman says that’s because many of them take time off to work to pay for their schooling.

Also troubling to advocates for New York’s higher education system…Governor Pataki’s proposal to privatize major teaching hospitals in the SUNY system. Scheuerman says that could leave more New Yorkers without any healthcare options, especially people who depend on the Upstate Medical Center near Syracuse

(Click here to listen to Bill Scheuerman's answer.)

Interviewer: Scheuerman says this budget battle is nothing new, but he’s concerned.

(Click here to listen to Bill Scheuerman's answer.)

Interviewer: Since lawmakers haven’t been able to come up with much in the way of new ideas, Scheuerman says the Fiscal Policy Institute will release its own proposal on funding the state university system in a few weeks.

UUP represents more then 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York State-operated campuses, and is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).    

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