UUP Press Releases

CONTACT: Denyce Duncan Lacy or Don Feldstein at (518) 640-6600
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 7 , 2006

UUP unveils legislative agenda, gets support from key lawmakers

The president of the nation’s largest higher education union today appealed to New York state lawmakers for increased funding to hire more faculty at the State University of New York’s 29 state-operated campuses.

 

William E. Scheuerman, President of United University Professions, unveiled the union’s 2006 legislative agenda during UUP’s annual Legislative Luncheon in Albany. Supported by dozens of UUP members from SUNY campuses across the state and well as a number of state legislators, Scheuerman urged lawmakers to provide an additional $153.3 million in state funds for SUNY in the 2006-07 state budget.

 

“SUNY cannot afford to continue the trend of teaching more students with fewer full-time faculty,” Scheuerman said, pointing out that while SUNY’s student enrollment has risen by 44,000 in the last 12 years, the number of full-time academic faculty has fallen by nearly 1,200. “This chronic underfunding cannot continue without affecting the quality of education offered by SUNY.”

 

Among the top priorities in UUP’s legislative agenda is to achieve a level of funding so the number of full-time faculty at each campus reaches 70 percent. Scheuerman pointed to figures showing that the number of full-time academic faculty at SUNY’s state-operated campuses in 2004-05 had plunged to 59.8 percent, while the part-time academic faculty reached 40.2 percent

 

“This university will not be able to accommodate continued enrollment growth, nor will it be able to offer courses to allow many students to graduate within four years without more full-time faculty,” Scheuerman said.

 

Other major agenda items include:

 

• More funding for professional faculty to ensure high-quality services to students and patients;
• Giving  part-time faculty the opportunity for full-time employment; and
• Increasing funding to SUNY’s four Health Science Centers.


   

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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