SUNY is a vital resource in New York’s restoration

SUNY is a valuable part of the fabric of New York and UUP has fashioned its 2002 legislative agenda to emphasize — as recovery from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks continues — that support for the University is an essential element in the state’s renewal.

“There’s a sea change at this time in American history,” said UUP President William Scheuerman. “Especially in times of crisis, SUNY is important for New York’s economic health and we have to make sure it’s adequately funded.”

The funding UUP will seek during the state budget process centers around rebuilding the University’s full-time academic and professional faculty lines. The union will call for the restoration of the more than 1,000 full-time lines lost since the 1995-96 academic year to reach a SUNYwide level of at least 70 percent full-timers.

“Enrollments at SUNY are up 4 percent to 5 percent, and the demand for public higher education generally increases as the economy declines,” Scheuerman said. “This is no time to lose full-time faculty.”

UUP’s Executive Board last month approved the agenda, which was prepared and recommended by the union’s Legislation and Political Action committees under the leadership of Patricia Bentley of SUNY Plattsburgh and Frederick Floss of Buffalo State, respectively.

“The University is a critical part of New York’s ability to respond to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 catastrophe,” Bentley said. “Our specialized centers were mobilized and on call, ready to help.”

And, she said, SUNY provides the “education and training that will be the tools needed to revitalize new economies.”

The University’s four health science centers offer health care education, biomedical research and public health services. Yet they are underfunded; UUP’s agenda will seek the state support necessary to safeguard these institutions.

While the state-imposed deficit at SUNY’s teaching hospitals remains unresolved, the University borrowed millions from the state to address the shortfall. The governor began to tackle the deficit with a $92 million proposal that the Legislature retained in its bare-bones budget this summer; UUP will continue to advocate for a solution to the crisis that preserves jobs, programs and the facilities’ vital public health mission.

“SUNY should not have to borrow funds to serve the poor,” Scheuerman said. “Nor should it borrow for services that private hospitals may choose not to offer, like the burn unit at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.”

Not only does the Clark Burn Center provide tertiary care to citizens in a multi-county region, it was activated to accept and treat victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center — 200 miles from the crime scene.

“One lesson recently learned from the aftermath of the national tragedies is that burn units and other emergency care facilities are necessities, not luxuries,” Scheuerman said. “We need SUNY’s health science centers now more than ever.”

As UUP lobbies to ensure the University’s security, Scheuerman said the union wouldn’t lose sight of its “primary objective, which is to protect the membership. We won’t back away from it.”

— Lisa Feldman Reich

Also on the agenda: UUP’s 2002 legislative agenda seeks: restoration of full-time faculty lines; state funding for the health science centers, four-year programs at the University Colleges of Technology, the New York State Theatre Institute, teacher ed requirements and general ed mandates; a five-year operating budget plan; the incorporation of qualitative assessments into the RAM formula; pension equity for SUNY employees; a sweatshop code of conduct; and the restoration of civil and human rights for public employees.