UUP says ‘It’s time’

Although UUP and SUNY administrators disagree about whether the University has an adequate number of full-time faculty members — and how that number should be counted — they do agree that the state university is a sound investment. So now, according to the union, is the time to fund it.

While testifying in mid-February before a joint hearing of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways & Means committees, union President William Scheuerman emphasized that, while UUPers understand the severity of the economic problems confronting New York, they also know SUNY can play an important role in the state’s revitalization.

“UUP’s budgetary priorities this year focus on the state’s recovery,” Scheuerman told the lawmakers. “Our immediate priority is for you and your colleagues to protect SUNY from budget cuts that might diminish its ability to provide: workforce development; valuable research; cutting-edge technological education; medical education; patient care; and many other services that will help our state regain its competitive advantage.”

During his testimony, SUNY Chancellor Robert King noted that some 90 percent of SUNY students stay in New York state after graduating, adding that SUNY is “a very good investment.”

This led UUP to question why the SUNY Board of Trustees requests mediocre, flat budgets for the University year after year.

“Perhaps the best reason for investing in SUNY is to address the recent history of underfunding that has burdened the system, even during years when New York reported sizable surpluses,” Scheuerman testified.

Lawmakers made particular mention of the dedication and efforts of SUNY faculty. “You and your members are doing an outstanding job, under difficult circumstances,” said Sen. Ronald Stafford (R-Plattsburgh), chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

UUP also recommended that lawmakers set a “specific timetable for SUNY to reach the point where full-time faculty teach 70 percent of the courses at the state-operated campuses.”

Meanwhile, SUNY continued to manipulate its calculations of full-time faculty members in its testimony, implying that the University has reached that threshold and no longer has a shortage of full-timers. The SUNY analysis used a “full-time equivalent” (FTE) faculty measure to illustrate full- and part-time “efforts” across the University system, UUP said.

“This use of FTEs to measure faculty numbers, or ‘effort,’ is a departure from SUNY’s own statistical releases, which are based on headcounts,” Scheuerman said. “SUNY’s ‘80 percent figure’ is manipulated by ‘dual counting.’”

UUP’s political message that it’s time to invest in our future was echoed by New York Assemblyman Arthur Eve (D-Buffalo), deputy speaker and a member of the Assembly Ways & Means Committee, when he commented during the hearing that “public higher education” is the way “to empower the youngsters.”

It’s “their only hope for a future,” Eve said.

— Lisa Feldman Reich