UUP Press Releases

CONTACT: Denyce Duncan Lacy or Don Feldstein at (518) 640-6600
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 31 , 2006

UUP: Budget the tonic for what ails SUNY

William E. Scheuerman, president of United University Professions, praised legislators for the state budget they passed today, saying the funding reflects the state’s rededication to affordable, accessible public higher education in New York state.

Scheuerman said the spending plan “provides the tonic for what ails SUNY.”

“State lawmakers heard our message loud and clear that the cycle of underfunding for SUNY had to end. This budget takes a major step toward making a good university, great.”

Scheuerman said a key component of the budget was the addition of $25 million for the hiring of new full-time faculty to accommodate enrollment growth.

“This answers a critical need,” Scheuerman observed. “Last year, 7,500 community college graduates and transfers were unable to enroll in the SUNY four-year school of their choice, because there wasn’t enough faculty to teach them. The additional faculty will allow SUNY to grow while fulfilling the university’s mission to provide services of the highest quality with the broadest possible access.” The new faculty will help replenish the ranks of full-timers which have declined by 1,200 in the past decade, while SUNY’s total enrollment has grown by 44,000, he said.

Scheuerman added that the $25 million included in the budget will allow SUNY to hire as many as 500 new faculty. That will permit the university to widen the number of classes available, making it easier for more students to graduate within four years.

Overall, the Legislature’s budget provides a total of $148.8 million in additional operating aid that was sought by UUP and SUNY for SUNY’s 29 state-operated campuses. “We thank legislative leaders and lawmakers who worked in a bipartisan fashion to address the needs of public higher education,” Scheuerman said. “They rightfully gave higher education the high priority it deserves.”

Besides the $25 million for more full-time faculty, the additional state support includes:

 

1. $85.3 million that the Executive Budget suggested be raised through a $500 tuition increase;
2. $31.6 million in additional operating aid;
3. $2 million for high-need programs; and
4. $5 million for SUNY Albany’s East Campus Biomedical Technology Center.

 

Scheuerman also commended the Legislature for rejecting the governor’s plans to privatize SUNY’s three teaching hospitals in Syracuse, Brooklyn and Stony Brook. “Keeping these hospitals out of the private sector safeguards the health care needs of people who cannot afford to pay on their own,” Scheuerman said.

Scheuerman also thanked UUP members and other NYSUT members who faxed, called or visited their lawmakers advocating for the increased aid, and SUNY Chancellor John Ryan for working with UUP on the SUNY budget.

UUP represents more then 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York state-operated campuses, and is an affiliate of New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Scheuerman also serves as president of AFT’s Higher Education Program and Policy Council, representing 150,000 higher education union members across the nation.     

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