UUP stands up for University

As budget debates endured last month in Albany, UUPers continued to meet regularly with lawmakers to help ensure that, in the ultimate spending plan, SUNY remains a funding priority and all its campuses remain public institutions.

Health science center (HSC) members converged at the Capitol on a recent Tuesday to express the union’s concerns about the Executive Budget proposal to transfer control of SUNY’s three teaching hospitals at Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse to private corporations.

“Privatization is not a workable solution” to New York’s fiscal problems, said Upstate UUPer David Peckham to Assemblyman William Magnarelli (D-Syracuse), who agreed.

“We’re always on the lookout for these ideas,” said Magnarelli, who pledged “without equivocation” his continued support of the public mission of Upstate Medical University.

That mission — which allows the hospitals to educate medical students and other health care workers, treat indigent patients and provide tertiary care throughout the state — was also on the mind of Assemblyman Clarence Norman (D-Brooklyn), who met with a large group of UUPers from Brooklyn HSC. “I’m with you in the battle, to make sure the SUNY hospitals are secure and to strengthen Downstate,” he said.

All of the SUNY’s state-operated campuses — hurt by years of chronic underfunding — now face the potential impact of a proposed Executive Budget cut of $183.5 million. If the cut is not fully restored by the Legislature, UUP estimates about 4,000 faculty jobs could be lost.

With layoffs looming, the HSC teaching programs are also jeopardized. “Now, during a severe nursing shortage, we’re turning away students who could be excellent nurses because we don’t have enough faculty to teach them,” said Stony Brook HSCer Kathleen Southerton in a meeting with Assemblyman Robert Barra (R-Valley Stream).

So, too, do problems persist at Buffalo HSC. “Our School of Medicine took a $400,000 cut in its operating budget,” said Chapter President Raymond Dannenhoffer. “If the proposed budget goes forward, we’ll take another hit of about $2 million. We just can’t do it.”

UUPers from university centers, colleges and NYSTI also advocated in Albany in recent weeks for a stronger state investment in SUNY.

NYSTI members urged legislators to fund the theater institute with the $240,000 it needs annually to maintain its budget and hold its program together. “The potential cut to us, of $240,000, means the loss of 20 jobs,” NYSTI Chapter President John Romeo told Assembly Deputy Minority Leader Howard Mills (R-Middletown).

Similarly, UUPers from the Binghamton and Albany chapters detailed the impact of the proposed funding scheme on their campuses, both numerically and anecdotally.

Binghamton Chapter President Darryl Wood emphasized: “Economic revitalization depends on the University. If the state is going to recover from the economic situation it’s in, you (lawmakers) will have to figure out a way to fund SUNY and keep it viable.”

On the SUNY Albany campus, there’s no longer sufficient numbers of faculty and staff to adequately advise students, keep the libraries open all week or maintain the grounds, said Albany Chapter President Candace Merbler in a meeting in Assemblyman James Tedisco’s (R-Schenectady) office.

“We’re not shouting for the cream on top of our strawberries here,” added Albany UUPer Ivan Steen. “We’re just asking for the minimum, so we can continue to exist.”

— Lisa Feldman Reich