Letter to the editor

To the Editor:

A recent issue of The Voice contained a piece on the proposed merger of SUNY Alfred and Alfred University that requires my comment.

Two reasons for discontinuing the merger talks were given, one of which is so seriously flawed that I cannot imagine it was made public. That is the statement by SUNY Alfred President (William) Rezak regarding the “fairness” of discrepancy of seat costs between SUNY and Alfred University students who might attend the same class.

Surely anyone who is the least bit familiar with the SUNY system, especially someone in the Alfred community, knows that such a discrepancy already exists and has not prevented SUNY-Private cohabitation. For example, what does the Alfred College of Ceramics student pay compared to the Alfred University student on the same campus? Or even more interesting is the case at Cornell, where the students in the statuatory and the endowed colleges may be in the same class.

I expect costs are part of the merger breakdown, as well as are other reasons, but the “seat cost” argument is an obfuscation.

James A. Clum

Professor emeritus, mechanical engineering, Binghamton