Capitol corner: Flat budget won’t fit the bill, UUP says

Late last month, the governor released a budget plan for 2002-03 that — as expected — rubber-stamped the SUNY Board of Trustees’ flat financial request of $1.77 billion for the University. While not a surprise, the Executive Budget proposal flew in the face of popular public opinion, which is — based on results of a poll commissioned by UUP — that the state should increase its fiscal support for SUNY.

“By failing to increase last year’s level of funding for the University, the executive proposal does not give sufficient forethought to SUNY’s role in the state’s revitalization,” said UUP President William Scheuerman.

“SUNY provides New York state with a highly educated work force and important research, both of which will expand and strengthen New York’s economy,” he said. “Especially now, during this time of renewal, the state must give the Univer-sity the resources it needs for our state to regain its competitive advantage.”

UUP urged lawmakers to fortify — not repeat — last year’s funding for SUNY in testimony it presented in mid-January to the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

“Last year’s ‘bare bones’ budget cuts of over $20 million had an unfortunate impact on SUNY,” said Phillip Smith, UUP’s statewide vice president for academics, in delivering the testimony. “If similar or larger cuts were to be imposed on the University this year, it would imperil SUNY’s ability to make what we believe is a vital contribution to our state’s economic recovery.”

Moreover, the budget must provide sufficient funding to protect faculty members’ jobs and meet students’ needs, the union said. UUP also continues to seek the restoration of the more than 1,000 full-time faculty lines lost at SUNY since the mid-1990s.

“SUNY touts increased enrollment figures, which show New Yorkers recognize the quality education SUNY offers,” Scheuerman said. “But, with more students flocking to a University without an adequate number of full-time faculty members, what will SUNY look like? Classrooms overflowing with students, but empty at the blackboard?”

Poll shows New Yorkers agree: It’s time to invest in SUNY

UUP’s reaction to the Executive Budget was supported by a large number of New Yorkers who want a greater investment in their public university system. Of 602 likely voters polled immediately after the governor’s State of the State address, almost 80 percent expressed a positive impression of SUNY. An overwhelming majority said state support for SUNY should be increased rather than remain flat.

“New Yorkers have an extremely high opinion of our state university,” Scheuerman said. “They understand that if we underfund SUNY, we undermine New York’s future.”

SUNY’s trustees — and the 2002-03 Executive Budget proposal — “ignore the pulse of the public,” Scheuerman said.

Because the trustees merely towed the line and failed to request sufficient funding for the University to meet its current needs, the union will work with state legislators for a SUNY budget that will position the University to tackle the many challenges it faces in this economic environment.

“Our members are currently uneasy as they envision the future of the SUNY system,” Scheuerman testified to the lawmakers. “They remember all too well that, in past economic crises, SUNY was often cut to the bone, while in good times the full measure of these cuts was never restored.”

It’s a new year but “once again, UUP will act as SUNY’s advocates,” Scheuerman said. “This role the trustees repeatedly neglect.”

— Lisa Feldman Reich