The state’s proposed budget cuts to public higher ed are still just proposals, but the belt-tightening has already begun on SUNY campuses statewide. And UUPers are preparing to feel the pinch.
Many campuses, including UAlbany, SUNY Cortland and SUNY Plattsburgh, have hiring freezes in place to save dollars by doing away with positions, mainly through attrition. Academics and professionals are being asked to do more with less, as colleges cut travel, sabbatical and equipment expenditures. Classes would likely be more crowded come fall as courses and sections are dropped or closed.
UUPers at Canton, Morrisville and Environmental Science and Forestry are bundling up because thermostats have been turned down to save money.
Other cost-cutting measures: UAlbany saved $280,000 by closing its swimming pool, turning off lights and turning down thermostats during winter recess. SUNY Geneseo will pocket $140,000 by scuttling plans to erect a temporary stadium for May commencement.
While UUPers are keeping a stiff upper lip, a feeling of uncertainty lingers as they wait for the final state budget.
“Morale hasn’t taken a huge hit because the only tangible impact has been that people are wearing heavy sweaters or sweatshirts in their offices because the temperature is turned down,” said Canton Chapter President David Butler. “No one has lost a job, but if and when that starts, who knows what it will do to morale.”
“Our campus is facing more than $18.2 million in cuts and every effort is being made to preserve positions,” said Candace Merbler, UAlbany chapter president. “It’s kind of like just waiting for the other shoe to fall. Or axe, as it may be.”
The campus cuts began last year, after Gov. David Paterson imposed $148 million in SUNY budget reductions. Many campuses responded by instituting hiring freezes. In November, Upstate Medical University President David Smith told the Syracuse Post-Standard that Upstate could freeze as many as 200 job openings over the next 15 months.
Hiring freeze hurts
SUNY Alfred may drop the equivalent of 35 full-time positions—but only as a last resort, according to President John Anderson. SUNY Fredonia’s hiring freeze is part of a three-year plan to cut 60 positions, 30 of them through attrition; most are non-instructional jobs, according to newspaper reports.
“We are in a holding pattern, waiting to see how much of the stimulus package goes to New York, to SUNY, and ultimately our college,” said Alfred Chapter President Robert Rees.
SUNY Binghamton adjunct professors are bracing for potential layoffs; administrators may let their appointments expire to save money. The school has left 274 jobs vacant, the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported.
Binghamton President Lois B. DeFleur, in a Feb. 27 e-mail to university academic and professional faculty, said there will be “larger class sizes, fewer class sections and fewer full-time faculty and staff,” if proposed 2009 academic year cuts to SUNY are approved.
“This is not speculation,” Binghamton Chapter President Darryl Wood told the paper. “This is going to happen.”
SUNY Stony Brook’s School of Nursing has suspended admission to the graduate level Family Health Nurse Practitioner Program for 2009-10 “in light of the New York state budget crisis,” according to its Web site. SUNY Morrisville reported eliminating 20 course sections in December 2008.
Butler said Canton expects to save about $250,000 through instituting a four-day work week, turning down thermostats and other energy savings. Still, the potential exists for as many as 40 staff cuts over the next two years. With Canton’s enrollment at an all-time high, class sizes will increase.
“Initially, the president was talking about attaining staff reductions through attrition, but the focus seems to have shifted,” Butler said. “I expect, but I’m not sure at this point, that fewer part-timers will be hired, and any increase will be borne by full-timers.”
Rising to the challenge
Despite the uncertainty, UUP members remain determined as they spread the message that SUNY is the solution to the state’s economic woes. More than 100 union members from 25 campuses came to Albany Feb. 24 for UUP’s Legislative Information Day. UUP held a series of Albany advocacy days in March, and UUPers are scheduling visits with legislators in their home districts.
Members have used UUP’s Web site to fax thousands of letters to lawmakers opposing SUNY budget cuts and calling for federal stimulus dollars and revenue from a progressive income tax law to be used for SUNY schools and hospitals.
“Cutting SUNY’s budget is a shortsighted plan that will cost New York much more in the long run than it saves in the short term,” said UUP President Phillip Smith. “We will continue to send that message to Gov. Paterson and state legislators.”
— Michael Lisi