Scheuerman says no cutbacks to fill SUNY budget hole

After the state's recent announcement of a $110 million SUNY budget deficit, UUP President William Scheuerman voiced the union's concern about how that gap gets bridged.

"We are adamantly opposed to any fiscal resolution that would entail layoffs or program cuts at SUNY campuses or hospitals," Scheuerman said.

When Edward Sullivan (D-New York), chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, reacted to the announced budget shortfall, he pledged his support of SUNY employees, students, hospitals and campuses."

Tuition increases and cutbacks in services (are) not acceptable to me," Sullivan said. "Further, I will use whatever influence I have in the Legislature to see to it that these two options are not entertained."

Scheuerman also challenged SUNY's explanation of how the budgetary gap was created. University officials have claimed that a significant portion of the anticipated deficit is derived from a $77.6 million shortfall of expected revenues from its teaching hospitals in Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse during the last fiscal year. However, Scheuerman asserted that the shortfall is actually a long-time structural deficit that the state university built into the system by its continued, inappropriate transf ers of revenue from the teaching hospitals to academic programs on SUNY campuses.

"This is a contrived budget crisis - a SUNY-created deficit - which stems from irresponsible budgetary practices that are just now surfacing," Scheuerman said. Meanwhile, UUP leaders continue to work with state Comptroller H. Carl McCall and SUNY Syste m Administration to settle the fiscal matter. "We'll do what we have to, to prevent program cuts and layoffs at both academic campuses and hospitals," Scheuer-man said.

UUP has been assured that the state will come up with the $32.2 million remainder of the $110 million deficit, which will fund the recently expired contract.

Governor signs early retirement incentive bill

Optional Retirement Plan participants will now receive some equity with other state retirement systems under the recently enacted higher education amendment to the early retirement incentive program. Under the amendment, payme nts will not be taxed when paid. The state will deposit the money into participants' basic retirement TIAA-CREF or supplemental retirement accounts, to the extent permitted by the IRS, making them pre-tax payments. The IRS allows 25 percent of earnings up to $30,000 to be paid into a retirement account; any excesses are deposited into supplemental retirement accounts. Only amounts exceeding IRS limits will be paid in cash as after-tax payments.

The amendment also reduces the pay-out period, from 26 months to 24 months. As with previous incentives, the pay-out period begins after the last SUNY open period ends.

Retirees tapped by VOTE/COPE

UUP is looking to its increasingly active group of retiree members to boost VOTE/COPE coffers.

Eileen Landy of Old Westbury, UUP's statewide VOTE/COPE coordinator, has been working with the union's Committee on Active Retired Member-ship and the Retirees Legislative Action Group to make it more convenient for retirees to contribute to NYSUT's vo luntary, non-partisan political action fund.

UUP has about 1,900 retiree members. "And these people want to contribute," Landy said. "They realize the important role VOTE/COPE plays in the success of our legislative efforts."

Since retirees don't have the option of payroll deduction - the contribution method favored by most UUPers - a special form is being designed to make it easy for retirees to give to VOTE/COPE. In addition, Landy said, a VOTE/COPE coordinator charged wi th soliciting from retirees will soon be appointed.

"We're very excited that this retiree component of our VOTE/COPE drive will help us to establish some new records for UUP," Landy said.

Last year's campaign saw UUP collect approximately $103,000 for VOTE/COPE, an increase of about 30 percent from the previous year. Landy said bigger things are expected from the new campaign.

Union President Scheuerman agreed: "I expect that, with our new contract in place, we'll have many new contributors and some old contributors who may want to give more."

Scheuerman said he was encouraging UUPers to give to VOTE/COPE some of the $500 lump-sum payment accompanying contract ratification. He will also be writing a personal solicitation letter to members who do not give to the fund.

"Payroll deduction is still the best way to go," Scheuerman explained, "but contributing part of that $500 may be a good option for some members."

VOTE/COPE is used, in part, to fund legislative ad campaigns, to make bipartisan contributions to political candidates and to support lobbying and public awareness efforts.

FPI: Prosperity an illusion for most state residents

While much of the rest of the nation enjoys an economic boon, prosperity is an illusion for most New Yorkers, who are still likely to find themselves less economically secure than they were a decade ago.

That's the assessment of the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), a non-profit research and education think-tank with ties to organized labor, including UUP. In a report issued this fall, the FPI found that New York has been left behind the rest of the natio n in terms of income and wages, job prospects and statewide growth.

Here are some of the highlights of the report, The Illusion of Prosperity: New York in the New Economy:

• According to three major economic indicators - job, income and output growth - the performance of New York's economy has trailed the rest of the nation since 1992. New York's annual job growth has averaged 1.1 percent; income growth, 1.8 percent; and output growth, 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, the average growth for the entire U.S. has been 2.5 percent, 2.7 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
• Slow growth is a particular problem in upstate New York, which gained jobs at only 0.7 percent a year, less than three-fifths of the 1.3 percent growth for the downstate area. Upstate, with 37 percent of the state's job base, accounted for only 25 per cent of the state's job growth between 1992 and 1998. Low-paying service jobs have replaced high-paying manufacturing jobs in most upstate regions; the result has been a net decline in population in most of these regions as working-age adults move their f amilies out of New York in search of better salaries and opportunities.
• The median hourly wage of New York workers, which increased 1.8 percent in the 1980s, fell 6.3 percent in the 1990s; New Yorkers' median wage declined despite a 7.9 percent increase in output per worker and a 7.1 percent increase in average wages.
• Wage inequity increased in New York in the 1990s, with only the highest-paid 20 percent of the population experiencing wage gains.- The gap between rich and poor and between the rich and those in the middle class is greater in New York than in any oth er state. The top 20 percent of families gained 29 percent in average income from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Meanwhile, everyone else lost income; rates of loss were greatest for those with the lowest incomes.
• Manufacturers, corporate headquarters, banks, military producers, utilities and government have reduced employment by nearly 400,000, resulting in the loss of many middle-income jobs. Meanwhile, employment services expanded by more than 400,000, produ cing a much more pronounced shift toward services than occurred nationally. Overall, these changes have meant the loss of high-wage jobs and the growth of jobs paying wages at or below the statewide average.
• While New Yorkers enjoy the second-highest degree of unionization in the nation (behind Hawaii), levels of unionization declined 7 percent compared to the nation's 5 percent decline from 1988 to 1998.The FPI recommends that government policy "capitali ze on New York's tremendous human and physical resources to promote economic activity that is shared by all New Yorkers." Its suggestions include: restoring wages to a decent level by establishing a meaningful minimum wage (in the range of $7.65 per hour) ; encouraging unionization and collective bargaining; and encouraging pay equity and adoption of strong living-wage ordinances;- investing in people by supporting education, both K-12 and higher ed; linking workforce training with economic development; pr oviding the training and support services necessary for the welfare-to-work process to reduce poverty; expanding health-care coverage to low-income adults in a way that does not place at a disadvantage responsible small businesses that provide health insu rance; and ensuring adequate investment in the state's public infrastructure and transportation system; and- redirecting economic development and revitalizing upstate by fostering cooperation among business, government and labor; encouraging more effectiv e land use and reuse; and developing and implementing a comprehensive revitalization plan for upstate cities.
• Copies of the complete report can be obtained from the FPI at (518) 786-3156.

UUP contract implementation dates

The following is a breakdown of the direct compensation package in the union's new four-year agreement, as well as the anticipated implementation date of each:

• A $500 lump-sum payment, prorated for part-timers, will be in paychecks as soon as practicable. Eligible for the full amount are employees on the payroll Sept. 29, 1999, who have worked at least one semester or five months between Sept. 1, 1998, and A ug. 31, 1999; and full-timers on leave at partial pay. Employees on authorized leave without pay, if they return to the payroll before Dec. 31, 2000, will receive the amount appropriate to their full- or part-time status when they return. Part-time profes sionals and academics who do not teach courses and who earn up to $9,104 will receive $100; $9,105-$13,657, $200; $13,658-$18,210, $400; $18,211 or higher, $500. Part-time academics who, in either the fall 1999 or the spring 2000 semester, teach one cours e, $50; two courses, $100; three courses, $200; and more than three courses, $250. Part-time academics who teach in both the fall 1999 and spring 2000 semesters will receive the appropriate payment in both semesters.
• Effective on the first day of the pay period closest to Jan. 1 (in all four contract years), calendar- and college-year employees will receive a 3 percent increase in base pay.
• Effective on the first day of the pay period closest to March 1 (in all four years of the agreement), academic-year employees will receive a 3 percent increase in base pay. (Academic-year employees on 21 pay periods will receive the base-pay increase on Jan. 13, 2000; Jan. 10, 2001; Jan. 8, 2002; and Jan. 7, 2003.)
• Each contract year, discretionary increases of 1 percent as of the June 30 payroll are available; these must be paid by Dec. 31 and will be retroactive to July 1 for calendar- and college-year employees and Sept. 1 for academic-year employees.
• On-call pay is up from $2.25 an hour to $3.50 an hour as of July 2, 1999.
• Effective in January of each contract year, location stipend (for those whose work site is in New York City, Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk or Westchester counties) will increase to $500 for 2000; $600, 2001; $700, 2002; and $1,200, 2003.

Setting sail? Mission change proposed for Maritime raises questions, concerns

SUNY Maritime, familiar to many because of its ship, Empire State VI, is about to undergo a sea change due to enrollment drops.

In order to make itself more versatile, the Bronx college may dispose of its ship, develop more business courses and elect to make its cadet program optional. These are just some of the options under consideration in ongoing long-range planning meeting s.

Undergraduate enrollment is now about 650 students at this specialized college, which can handle up to 900 students on campus, according to Admiral David Brown, president of Maritime. Even that maximum, he said, is "not a sufficient enrollment to bring us retained tuition and state support. We need 1,500 students."

Funding increases needed to revitalize the college must come through the SUNY budget allocation process, which is an enrollment-based formula. Various plans to reshape the specialized college are being reviewed in order to make Maritime more attractive to more students.

Losing the Empire State VI "would be a big change," said Maritime's UUP chapter President Antonio DelToro, an instructional support associate in the science department. "The identity of Maritime lies within the training ship. It's an integral pa rt of the curriculum. ..."Why are we abandoning our traditional programs?" he asked. "The trustees, under their charge from the governor, are redoing and rethinking the direction of this college. In the eyes and the opinions of a lot of chapter members, t here's a lot of doubt out there. Is this for better or for worse?"

Eliminating the ship could take classes away from full- and part-time faculty, many of whom are UUPers who teach aboard the ship as it travels to foreign ports, and it could mean the loss of jobs for the ship's officers, who are also members of UUP.

DelToro acknowledged that the hulking white vessel takes up a lot of Maritime's budget. In fact, Brown said it is 15 percent to 18 percent of the college's budget, or about $1.8 million a year. He said, because of the ship, Maritime has the largest sin gle-cost item per student of any SUNY school.

"This is an emotional issue," Brown said in a letter to the college community, "and we are respectful of and listening to all viewpoints." Students help operate the 17,000-ton converted cargo vessel as part of their training, while learning about the c hain of command in a structured environment. The Empire State VI is owned by the federal government, according to Brown. No matter what future plans entail, the admiral said, the ship will stay at Maritime at least three years to meet Summer Sea Te rm commitments for presently enrolled students.

One suggestion that has been floated is that the college share ships with other institutions, or initiate a placement system to offer students experience on commercial ships. The ship itself could generate additional revenues.

Another part of the proposal to reshape Maritime -- making the cadet program optional -- could attract those students who might otherwise be deterred by the uniform and discipline of cadet life, according to DelToro.

"Even if they were to hire more admissions counselors, they'd be hard pressed to sell traditional programs," DelToro said. "The regiment turns away applicants."

Currently, every undergraduate is enrolled in a licensed program, such as third mate (license to sail) or third engineer, which requires an additional 40 credit hours of college and a semester at sea beyond the traditional 120 credit hours.

If the college implements its plan to offer a program of study outside the cadet regiment, students who don't enroll as cadets would not be required to live on campus. All undergraduates are now a part of cadet training and lifestyle. Some new housing would still have to be built if enrollment increases.

Jon Sorensen, associate vice chancellor for public relations at SUNY System Administration, said the shift at Maritime is a "redefinition of its mission to augment a long tradition that needs to be updated." SUNY is contributing $2 million in transitio n funding, along with 20 senior staff members, to help develop a plan to rebuild the campus, Brown said.

DelToro said Maritime is one of three state maritime colleges on the East Coast, including Massachusetts Maritime and Maine Maritime. They differ from colleges such as the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in that their graduates are free to choose whatever career path they want upon graduation, whether it is the military or the private shipping industry.

Maritime has been in existence since 1874. It offers four-year degrees in majors such as marine transportation, mechanical engineering, marine engineering, naval architecture and humanities, as well as a two-year degree in small vessel operation.

Citizen SUNY: UUPers take to the streets

The impact of SUNY campuses on their communities has been assessed in terms of dollars and cents. But some could argue that people might be a more accurate measurement of the central role the University plays in cities and tow ns throughout New York.

Main Street runs through state university campuses. As faculty and staff - including UUP members - leave work at the end of the day, they become mayors and preachers. They're soccer moms and coaches. They volunteer and contribute. Some are heroes.

UUP members in every corner of the state take seriously their responsibilities as citizens. This month, The Voice looks at just a handful of UUPers who have made significant, and diverse, investments in their hometowns. They are a microcosm of a much-l arger group of involved academics and professionals who demonstrate every day a commitment to being leaders and good neighbors, embracing the notion that our role in society goes beyond job titles and paychecks.

Still, the fiscal impact of SUNY is as impressive as is the altruism of its workforce. From Cobleskill to Long Island, the University is an economic giant. Some numbers to consider:- from Cobleskill, a 1998 study places the economic impact of the techn ical college at $60 million in rural Schoharie County;- to Long Island, Stony Brook administrators say their campus is responsible for $1.6 billion of that suburban economy. Throughout Long Island, economists say, public and independent colleges and unive rsities - including community colleges - account for a fiscal impact of more than $5 billion; - and Albany, SUNY System Administration reported in 1996 that the entire system's impact on New York's economy was $10.4 billion in just one year. A year later, a coalition of public and private college leaders estimated their institutions were responsible for more than $1 billion in annual federal research grants alone.

These estimates take into account institutional purchasing; capital improvement projects; spending by faculty, staff, students and visitors; taxes paid by campus employees; and other financial criteria. They do not, however, calculate the countless hou rs, the energy and the creative drive contributed by UUPers who, in many instances, serve as the backbone, the brainpower and the heart of communities throughout the Empire State.

Citizen SUNY: UUPers make a community connection

UUPer Varick Chittenden, an English professor at SUNY Canton, says some people accuse him of never leaving work. And, in a way, he admits they're right. "My hobby is my discipline," he says.

It's also the way Chittenden makes a significant impact on his home community of Canton. Chittenden is the founder of a not-for-profit regional organization, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY), which works to preserve and celebrate Northern N ew York folk culture.

TAUNY, founded in 1986, runs a gallery in Canton that offers changing exhibits on folk culture and a museum shop selling folk art and crafts. The organization also sponsors an annual heritage award program honoring those who preserve traditions such as storytelling and quilting, and has sponsored traveling folk art exhibits.

"It's important for people in our own area to have a better understanding and appreciation of where we've come from and what we are," said Chittenden, whose academic specialty is American folklore and who has taught at Canton for 30 years. Chittenden s aid he had to observe life in the community for his own research and then felt "an obligation" to share his knowledge with the community.

Other UUPers would heartily agree that faculty should use their knowledge and expertise to give back to and make an impact on the community outside their campus.

"I think it's very important that we're not up in our Ivory Tower," said Margie Arnold, a UUPer and professor of recreation and leisure studies at Cortland. Arnold got down from the tower and up on a bike last summer for a cross-country trip to raise m oney for a children's program in Cortland. Arnold raised more than $3,500 in donations for the local YWCA Bridges for Kids program, a mentoring program similar to Big Brothers/Big Sisters. New to the community, Arnold wanted to find a way to get involved. She heard about the Bridges program from some of her students and quickly volunteered to be a mentor.

The 4,000-mile cross-country bike ride had long been a personal dream of Arnold's and the fund-raising idea came to her one day while she was training for the trip. Supporters donated a certain amount per mile or made lump-sum contributions.

"It was fun and it gave good recognition to the Bridges program," said Arnold, who made the trip with a friend.

Another Cortland professor, UUPer Craig Little, managed to snag a three-year, $400,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the city. The grant is part of a federal effort to get colleges and universities more inv olved in meeting the needs of their local communities by creating Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC). Cortland's COPC will work on a variety of outreach efforts, including assisting welfare recipients to enter the job market, providing services to domestic violence victims, and developing transitional housing for troubled teens.

Little, who is chair of SUNY Cortland's sociology department, said he was well aware of the community's need for such services.

"I've been involved in the community for the past 10 years," he said, noting that he has served as a consultant doing needs assessment, evaluations and strategic planning for numerous community agencies.

"A lot of colleges are on hills, as is Cortland, and when someone comes down from the hill, the community can be suspicious," Little said. However, Little had already earned a name for himself as someone interested and active in the community.

To Little, community involvement is an extension of what he does in the classroom. The educational mission doesn't stop at the campus gate.

Citizen SUNY: K-12 from a higher education perspective

SUNY Old Westbury was founded with the unique mission of meeting the needs of traditionally underserved students and fostering racial, ethnic and gender diversity.

UUPer Laura Anker, a professor of American studies there, firmly believes in that mission, but she has taken it a step further. She has brought that commitment to diversity into her home community of East Hampton, where she serves on the town's school board.

Despite East Hampton's reputation as a resort for the wealthy, the permanent residents of the town are much more economically and ethnically diverse than many Long Island communities.

"It's not as affluent as one might think," Anker said.

Anker, who grew up near downtown Brooklyn, has greatly enjoyed the feel of East Hampton's mix ever since she moved there in 1986."It's a small town with a lot of history, but accepting of newcomers," she said.

As a school board member, Anker said she has been an advocate for higher standards and for efforts to close the achievement gap between the educational haves and have-nots. During her tenure on the board, the district instituted one of the first all-Re gents curriculums, added more Advanced Placement courses, developed programs to celebrate diversity and eliminate prejudice, and better coordinated its curriculum with those of neighboring districts that send their students to East Hampton's high school.< /P>

Anker was also instrumental in the creation of a pre-kindergarten program in the district and the development of enhanced day-care services for the community.

First lady Hillary Clinton this year visited the East Hampton day-care center, which shares a building with the pre-K, and called it a model for the nation.

Anker initially got involved in the school district when her three children were small, but her overall commitment to public education has kept her involved. She was first elected to the school board in 1989 and, except for a two-year hiatus, has been on the board ever since.

"I'm an activist at heart," said Anker. "When you're an activist, you kind of pick your area and mine is education. I believe strong public education is the cornerstone of a democratic society."

Many other UUPers would agree; a number in several communities have also backed up their commitment by running for the school board. One other such UUP member is John Dornbush, a financial aid adviser at SUNY Albany, who has long been active in his chi ldren's schools and just recently began his first term on the Guilderland school board.

"I'm a firm believer in public education and this is one more way to support that," Dornbush said. "It is a moral thing. I believe we have to give back to the community."

Citizen SUNY: Some drawn to politics, public service

There's no doubt about it: Geneseo is a college town.

SUNY Geneseo's campus abuts Main Street in the heart of the village and students outnumber permanent residents. But there's little of the town-gown tensions that afflict many college towns. Chalk it up to a long-standing good relationship between the c ollege and village, and give some well-deserved credit to village Mayor Dick Hatheway, who also just happens to be a UUPer and chair of SUNY Geneseo's geology department.

Hatheway, who has been mayor since 1986 and a resident of Geneseo since 1968, is reluctant to claim any credit for the smooth integration of the campus into village life, but he does take pride in maintaining solid, open communications to deal with any issues that may arise.

Hatheway, who said he has long been involved in community activities, first entered public service as a village board member in 1982. A registered Republican, Hatheway doesn't see himself as a politician.

"I'm not really in politics," he said. "It's much more the community services aspect of it."

Hatheway isn't the only UUPer who views government service as a way to make a significant contribution to the community. Delhi UUPers have contributed to the local government structure as well. The current mayor, John Leddy, recently retired from Delhi where he worked part-time in the admissions office. Gary Manning, who retired from Delhi this past summer where he worked as director of the Equal Opportunity Program, is the town supervisor and a member of the Deleware County Board of Supervisors. Helen Desfosses, a UUP member and a professor of public administration and policy at SUNY Albany, enhanced a long career in extracurricular public service when she was elected president of the Albany Common Council in 1997. Desfosses is the first woman - and c ertainly the first UUP member - elected to this position in Albany's 300-plus year history.

Desfosses, who describes herself as a progressive, liberal Democrat, said her academic interests dovetail with her interest in politics and her belief that it is important to be involved in one's community. She said she is able to draw on faculty resea rch assistance and her own research about what's happening around the country and world for her role as council president.

Desfosses said that SUNY Albany has done an economic study that found the campus had a $7 billion impact on the Albany community over a 10-year period.

"The university should do a comparable study of faculty's community development impact," she said, noting that many academic and professional faculty are active in community and government groups.

"We help the community to see the university in a new light," Desfosses said.

Pounding the pavement: SUNY is making an effort to place education students in urban schools

In the course of preparing their pupils to become teachers, SUNY education departments have joined a growing movement among college programs that places students in urban schools as part of their fieldwork experience. The idea is to encourage them to teach in metropolitan areas after graduation.

This trend is both timely and topical; in September, the state Board of Regents adopted a series of teacher education reforms that will require prospective teachers to complete field experiences with diverse student populations beginning in the fall of 2000. Here's how some SUNY education programs have already been addressing the subject:

At SUNY Buffalo, fieldwork placements in the city of Buffalo are part of all students' pre-service teacher education. According to UUP member J. Terry Gates, the campus director of teacher education, that practice "demystifies" students of the "other." By habit, he said, beginning teachers want to stay where they are comfortable. "Whether they are from the suburbs or the inner city, the students have a biased view of the 'other.'" An overall goal in educational programs, Gates said, is to demystify - a nd thereby make more successful - the students' interactions with different types of people. "It comes down to experience," he said. "Our aim is to put the students in contact with the spread of educational settings, by building in experiences for student s that include placements in a wide variety of schools."

Most SUNY teacher education programs attempt to provide urban placements, making a "deliberate effort" to maintain contact with inner city schools, Gates said. On more isolated campuses such as rural Fredonia and Potsdam, he noted, the teacher educatio n programs maintain student teacher supervision centers in New York City and Syracuse. On the Cortland campus, "CURE" -Cortland Urban Recruitment of Educators - is now in its second year of operation. An "exciting new program," CURE provides full scholars hips to incoming students who are "underrepresented" at Cortland and hail from urban areas, according to UUPer Cynthia Benton DeCorse, education department chair. Mostly African-American and Hispanic students, she said, these future educators commit to te ach in city settings for two years after they graduate. Through a partnership with the Syracuse schools, CURE students participate in the classroom, observe the teachers and work in after-school programs at the city's Blodgette Elementary School. Funded b y the Ford Foundation and an anonymous private donor, CURE is supporting 25 students this year. Twelve were enrolled in last year's kick-off, with great success. "You'd be surprised at how committed these students are to helping students in urban schools, " Benton DeCorse remarked. She hopes this enthusiasm will grow, resulting in a "real core" of students - not just among those in CURE - who will want to return to cities to teach. "We're trying to integrate these partnerships with the Syracuse schools int o the education program in general," Benton DeCorse said. Some campuses seek to attract future teachers to urban education by conducting professional development programs in inner city settings. Binghamton's Professional Development School (PDS) is a part nership between SUNY and the city's school district that connects campus faculty, graduate students of education, two urban middle schools and the city's high school. Part of SUNY Binghamton's School of Education and Human Development, PDS offers master's students a variety of urban placements, while providing professional development to university faculty and district teachers.

Many PDS participants have determined, as a result of their placements in city schools, that they would like to teach in an urban setting, according to UUP member Beth Burch, an associate professor in Binghamton's School of Education and co-coordinator of PDS. "PDS has been instrumental in making the students feel more comfortable in urban schools," Burch said. Through the partnership, the master's students "gain confidence in the classroom and get involved in the life of the school in a collegial way, " she said. Through its School of Education's new urban education program, Albany now offers an undergraduate minor and graduate certificate in urban education, approved in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Developed under the leadership of UUPer Donald Biggs, a professor in the department of counseling psychology, the program is designed to enhance the teaching abilities and social understandings of educational professionals who work in urban settings. It features collaborative fieldwork courses with urban sc hools in the Capital District. "This trend toward urban education is worth watching," said Benton DeCorse. High-need schools are "debutantes," she said. "Everyone wants to get on their dance cards. It's the 'right thing to do,' and it's long overdue."

University administrators collaborate on urban initiative

A consortium of deans and directors of SUNY teacher education programs formed last year so current campus teacher education programs could work collectively on developing a systemwide initiative supporting student teaching and teacher placement in urban areas throughout the state. Spearheaded by SUNY Cortland President Judson Taylor, SUNY Urban Initiative in Teacher Education has identified the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers as urban areas where the collabo ration will endorse and develop placements. Recognizing New York City as a "priority" area, the initiative proposed to develop the first SUNY urban center for teacher education there.

In order to make its SUNY-wide agenda a reality, the consortium is focusing on funding and planning, curriculum, logistics and barriers. For now, the education programs, on their own, are placing student teachers and graduates in New York City - where, the consortium believes, the demand for teachers is so great.

1999 Fall Delegate Assembly: Delegates support freedom, workers

Solidarity was the order of the day as delegates to the 1999 fall policy-making convention in Buffalo went on the record supporting the Brooklyn Museum of Art's constitutional right of free expression, as well as the locked-out workers of a Buffalo-are a TV station.

The Delegate Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution expressing its solidarity with museum colleagues in their fight against attempts to censor the free expression of ideas and art by "pandering to prejudice under the guise of values" by withholdi ng allocated city funds to the museum. The resolution, endorsing the museum's right to display its controversial "Sensation" exhibit, was proposed by Potsdam chapter President Edward Alfonsin.

UUP delegates noted that the chilling effect that would result from suspension of public financing from controversial artistic expression is similar to the professional "interference" UUPers face from a politically and ideologically motivated SUNY Boar d of Trustees.

"We join with our colleagues at the Brooklyn Museum and with others, anywhere, who are engaged in warding off attacks from those who would take away our freedoms to teach, to hold all shades of expression and to produce works of art, scholarship or opi nion," the resolution states."

Whether set in an artistic forum or in an academic institution, the freedom of expression is a fundamental, basic tenet of our Constitution that must be vociferously and unequivocally supported," UUP President William Scheuerman added.

Delegates also put their money where their hearts are and agreed to allocate $1,000 to the Family Relief Fund of NABET Local 25, WIBV-TV. In an attempt to bust the union, which has refused to accept salary and benefit givebacks, WIBV-TV managers have l ocked out dozens of technicians and replaced them with scabs.

In addition to the $1,000 donation, UUP has agreed to: pay an additional $400 a month for up to four months if the lockout continues; recommend a boycott of WIBV-TV/Channel 4 and its advertisers by Buffalo-area unionists; write the FCC to call attentio n to WIBV's failure to serve the community's interests; and seek legislation to prevent employers from using out-of-state replacement workers during strikes or lockouts.

In other DA action:

• Longtime UUPer Boris Albini of Buffalo HSC was honored with the Eugene P. Link Award for Service to Public Higher Education Unionism. He shared the spotlight with Mitchell award winners Jay Bloom of New Paltz, Peter Kane of Syracuse HSC and Paul Marti n of Buffalo State.
• Dozens of delegates took advantage of free prostate and cholesterol screenings conducted by members of the Buffalo HSC chapter. Thanks went out to Joan Sulewski, chapter president, and her colleagues for a job well done.
• The UUP chapters at Geneseo and Maritime, as well as the UUP Administrative Office, received "Link 500 Club" honors for collecting at least $500 in donations in 1998-99 to benefit the union's Link College Scholarship Fund.
• UUP delegates expressed their "heartfelt appreciation" to Chief Negotiator Thomas Matthews, assistant negotiator Michael Smiles of Farmingdale and the other Negotiations Team members for securing a fair and equitable contract. The agreement was ratifi ed by more than 96 percent of eligible voters.
• Delegates soundly adopted a resolution calling on UUP to fight alongside Citizen Action of New York in its effort to expand health care coverage to more than 3.1 million people through the adoption of the Family Health Plus proposal.
• The resolution, submitted by the union's statewide Solidarity Committee, points out that most uninsured adults are in working families with jobs that fail to provide adequate, affordable health care coverage.
• The proposal is modeled after the successful Child Health Plus program.- A new housing policy at Stony Brook - mandating that students must move off campus after eight semesters - was opposed by delegates.
• The resolution, drafted by the Affirmative Action Committee, claims the policy places a financial hardship on most students and, due to the racial climate on Long Island, makes it especially difficult for students of color to secure off-campus housing .
• Delegates directed UUP President William Scheuerman to inform the Stony Brook administration of the union's opposition.- UUP's Research Department was charged with updating salary-inequity data last compiled for a report published in the spring of 199 8. It is hoped the information will be available by the end of the year. The resolution noted the increasing number of women who win litigation against SUNY concerning proven inequities in pay, promotion and job security. "These cases serve as isolated bu t strong reminders to SUNY that it must remedy problems of inequity across the board or litigation by women will continue," the resolution states.
• Delegates adopted a resolution from the Labor and Higher Education and Solidarity committees requesting that SUNY "honor the struggles and achievements of the past and express respect for the working people of today by acknowledging the national Labor Day holiday in the University calendar." The resolution points out that labor-movement activists have protested the state university's failure to honor the Labor Day holiday, and it calls upon SUNY administrators to stop scheduling classes on Labor Day.< /LI>
• Scheuerman was charged with developing a plan for the implementation of the part-time provisions in the 1999-2003 contract. The resolution asks UUP to: ensure appointment of the labor/management committees outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding; provide training to these committees; establish a link on the UUP web site for part-time concerns; and hold a statewide conference to address part-time issues. The conference should focus on membership development, as well as document problems and prepare for the next round of bargaining.
• Several people won door prizes, compliments of the union's benefit carriers: John Frederick, Buffalo State, breakdown kit, Met Auto; Mohan Devgun, Buffalo State, one year in NYSUT's financial counseling program; Joe Ciravolo, Syracuse HSC, and Candel- ario Franco, Old Westbury, golf umbrellas, and Bill Godfrey, Stony Brook, gift certificate, Davis Vision; Charles Wrigley, Stony Brook, blanket, and John Hunt, Farmingdale, road hazard kit, Delta Dental; Peter Nickerson, Buffalo HSC, garment bag, VALIC; D uke Piroha, Delhi, watch, First UNUM; Ed Drummond, Stony Brook HSC, S.U. football tickets, TIAA-CREF; Richard Castner, Brockport, CD player, Aetna; Katie Geerken, Cobleskill, watch, Met-Life Resources; John Schmidt, Stony Brook, phone, Financial Building Blocks; and Tom DeMeo, Oneonta, book, Child Care Advisory Committee.

Klayman named 1999 Outstanding Retiree

When UUP President William Scheuerman said Norma Klayman had an "in-your-face" approach to retiree issues, he meant it as a compliment. Klayman, a professor emeritus of foreign languages at Buffalo State, was named the 1999 re cipient of UUP's Outstanding Active Retiree Award. An engraved crystal vase was presented to Klayman during a dinner ceremony at the union's fall policy-making convention last month in Buffalo.

"Norma is a pacesetter, a pioneer," Scheuerman told the more than 300 delegates and guests gathered at the Fall DA. "She is articulate in her advocacy of retiree concerns. She has done more than any other retiree as chair of the Committee on Active Ret ired Member-ship (COARM)."In addition to serving eight years as COARM chair and retiree delegate, Klayman is credited with helping to form the statewide retiree committee. She was also instrumental in the hiring of a retiree member services coordinator re sponsible for handling UUP memberships' pre- and post-retirement concerns.

"Norma has worked tirelessly and diplomatically ... with the state and local leadership of UUP to strengthen the voice of UUP retirees," said William Hemmer, a fellow retired member of UUP and chair of COARM's Western New York Region. "Her efforts to s ecure dental and vision benefits for UUP retirees have been most beneficial.

"The union's first-ever Outstanding Retiree Award winner, Helen Lees of Buffalo HSC, had this to add: "Norma is truly an exceptional leader - one who provides organization and management, and also important, innovative ideas. ... She always has a posit ive attitude and a great sense of humor to counteract any obstacles."

Klayman has a long list of professional and personal honors. In addition to being a guest of the French government for a special study program to that country, she was a Fulbright exchange teacher to France and earned the Outstanding Leadership Award f rom the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers. She also was a John Hay Fellow at the University of Chicago and participated in foreign-language study institutes at the University of California and in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.Klayman earn ed her bachelor's degree in French and social sciences and her master's in French from the State College for Teachers at Albany, as well as her doctorate in education from SUNY Buffalo.

SEFA campaign is under way

Campaigns are in full swing for the State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA), a voluntary program where state employees contribute money to myriad charities and not-for-profit organizations that rely on donations to operate.

Ninety percent of SEFA donations come from members of organized labor. Last year, SEFA raised more than $7.4 million. UUP President William Scheuerman is second vice chair for SEFA.

With SEFA contributions, employees can designate to which groups their donations go. A catalogue lists each agency and a designee number. As part of this year's campaign, each agency will be provided with a new SEFA video, which features interviews wit h volunteers, donors and recipients of SEFA funds.

Regional leaders of the statewide SEFA campaign recently shared ideas on how to involve more workers in the program, and how to initiate and keep up interest in the program. SUNY, for example, has developed an Internet home page for its SEFA campaign. Highlights include championing the fact that in 1997, SUNY workers raised $1.5 million in pledges; in 1998, that figure rose to $1.6 million.

NYSTI earns national theater award

The American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) has awarded its Sara Spencer Artistic Achievement Award to the New York State Theatre Institute (NYSTI).

The national organization of artists and educators presents the award to an established theater for "sustained and exceptional achievement in the field of theater for young audiences" and honors "artistic theater practice of long duration and wide reco gnition."

Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder, NYSTI founder and producing artistic director, accepted the Sara Spencer award during a recent ceremony at the national AATE convention in Chicago. AATE was formed 11 years ago with the merger of two organizations that had operated separately for more than 30 years. Its mission is to promote standards of excellence in theater and theater education.

Since 1976, NYSTI - a professional regional theater company and statewide education program - has pursued missions of producing theater of the highest quality and using its productions as a focal point for extensive arts-in-education programs for young people and adults. Created by the state Legislature, NYSTI is now based in Troy, performing at the Schacht Fine Arts Center of Russell Sage College. Each year, it produces a season of new and traditional dramas, comedies and musicals.

NYSTI has maintained strong commitments to developing audiences, arts accessibility, new works and an international cultural exchange. In 1986, it became the first theater company from the U.S. to perform in the former Soviet Union; the company returne d to Russia in 1989, and has twice hosted visits to the U.S. by the Moscow Musical Theatre. NYSTI has been a part of cultural exchanges with Canada, England, France, Israel, Italy and Jordan.

Dozens on AFL-CIO national boycott list

Nearly two dozen companies, with products ranging from furniture and tobacco to hotels and walnuts, are on the AFL-CIO boycott list. The following boycotts have been sanctioned by the international labor federation:

Clothing - Master Apparel, maker of men's and boys' pants for Kmart, Montgomery Ward and the Blair mail-order company. Building materials and tools - Browne & Sharpe Mfg. Co., measuring, cutting and machine tools and pumps; Jet Equipment & Tool s Inc., distributor of "JET" brand metal and wood-working power and hand tools for home and commercial use; and Southwire Co., commercial and industrial wire and cable, and Do-It-Yourself brand homewire. Furniture - Straits Furniture Co., manufacturer of entertainment centers, dining room and bedroom furniture. Brands include Canbrough Oak Collection, Downing Street Collection and Cherry Creek Collection. Food and beverages - Farmland Dairy milk; California table grapes that do not bear the UFW label on c arton or crate; Diamond Walnut Co.; and Mt. Olive Pickle Co., pickles and relishes sold under the Mt. Olive and other labels, including the Food Lion and Harris Teeter "house" labels. Transportation and travel - Alitalia Airlines; Best Western-Grosvenor R esort, hotel in Buena Vista, Fla.; Crown Central Petroleum, gasoline sold at Crown, Fast and Zippy Mart stations and convenience stores; Four Points by Sheraton, hotel in Waterbury, Conn.; Holiday Inn Sunspree, hotel in Kapaa, Hawaii; and New Otani Hotel and Garden, hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Entertainment and Recreation - Black Entertainment Television, BET TV, Action pay-per-view and BET on Jazz; Regal Cinemas, chain of 250 movie theaters in 22 states; and Cobb Theaters.Miscellaneous - CF&I Stee l and Oregon Steel Mills Inc., steel, including rod and bar, rail, seamless, welded pipe and steel plate; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., cigarettes and tobacco, including Best Value, Camel, Century, Doral, Eclipse, Magna, Monarch, More, Now, Salem, Sterling, Vantage and Winston, plus all Moonlight Tobacco products; and Wells Fargo Bank, branches in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

The Last Word - Out of Touch: The gap between faculty and administrators is growing

By Bill Godfrey, SUNY Stony Brook

Several months ago, I attended a farewell celebration for a senior administrator at the university. He was a decent man; I had known him for years and wanted to wish him well. There were nearly 100 administrators there, most of them senior officers of the university.

After the reception, I was struck by a very uncomfortable truth. No one else at the reception had taught for five years or knew firsthand what most students were like. That realization also highlighted the fact that faculty and administrators are movin g in concentric circles that probably will never intersect.

Natural antipathies have developed over the years, since most administrators earn much more than most faculty. It is a plausible argument that, since administrators work the full year and must be in the office every day, they should be paid more.

Not that long ago, before compartmentalization and overspecialization hit higher education, provosts, deans, assistant deans and even presidents were drawn from the faculty for terms of a year or two - or sometimes as long as five years if they were re ally good and wanted to remain on the job that long. When their managerial terms ended, these administrators went back to the classroom gratefully, satisfied that they had performed a useful service for the institution. Their stipends were usually a full summer salary or a 20 percent increase in what they were earning - which, for professors with young children, was often useful. During their administrative terms, they usually kept their hand in the classroom by teaching one course (generally what they ha d taught before), so they would not lose touch with their field or their students.

It can be argued that college and university management is no longer the same - it's much more complicated - and that specialists are needed to provide the continuity to remain up-to-date with new regulations and trends that will affect the future of t he institution. This is partly true, but what has happened is afar from the real focus of education - the students. They have changed. Teaching has changed, as has course content and grading. But the administrator who has not been in the classroom sees on ly statistics and reports that tend to put the best face on what is going on in the classroom and assumes "all's right with the world." Administrators go back to their charts and course descriptions, which may only be loosely connected to the actual mater ial, and moves to the next problem.

The key, however, is money and power; factors that are not openly admitted. Administrators earn much more than nearly all professors, and control what happens on campuses. They feel important and above the fray of everyday preparation, teaching and gra ding. The longer they remain administrators, the greater the lure of money and power - and the greater the distance between them and the real work of the university - the students.

At the same time, there is a constantly growing gulf between them and the teaching faculty. The average faculty member can no longer name or identify most of the administrators, or even tell what it is they do. Nor do the administrators know the facult y unless they are department chairs, exceptionally distinguished or chronic troublemakers.

Colleges and universities increasingly think of themselves as businesses with administrators as the executives, the faculty as staff, and the students as consumers. The institutions use marketing techniques extensively - pandering to the desires rather than the needs of the consumers. A course in popular culture with a glitzy blurb is likely to generate more students than one in Renaissance literature, and film courses attract greater numbers than those that require reading or writing. Because they gen erate high enrollment and good grades, such courses are what the uniformed consumer wants. And they are favored by the administration, because they have low overhead and bring in tuition dollars. An upper-division course in math or science with low enroll ment and high overhead is in danger of being dropped, unless the professor has a grant that serves as a bookkeeping offset.

The other part of the equation is the use of adjuncts and part-time faculty. That practice is often pure exploitation, since adjunct faculty earn a fraction of the salary of full-time instructors and do not burden the school financially with the paymen t of benefits. The required courses are covered, but that's all. Adjuncts do not have office hours or office space. They have no time to interact with or advise students, to write letters of recommendation, to attend departmental meetings or other faculty functions - which, incidentally, increases the workload of full-time faculty, a factor that is rarely calculated by the administration.

What does it all mean? The students are being shortchanged. On the one hand, there is heavy selling and advertising to encourage students to come to a particular school, with enticements, inducements and unrealistic expectations. Once the students are "hooked," there is usually no escape and they inexorably become generators of revenue for the institution -- often with dubious outcome or return in terms of training or knowledge.

It is important for institutions to be solvent, but at what cost? If it does not produce a literate product who can think critically with a set of decent ethics and values, an institution's benefit to society is, at best, marginal and its right to exis t is questionable.(Bill Godfrey is a lecturer of comparative studies at SUNY Stony Brook. He serves on the union's statewide Legislation Committee.)