Just days after Gov. Paterson imposed a devastating $90 million midyear budget cut for SUNY, UUP President Phillip Smith took the union’s concerns to state lawmakers. Testifying Oct. 21 before the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, Smith said the $90 million reduction to SUNY was the largest affecting all state agencies. It meant SUNY was being asked to absorb 18 percent of the total $500 million reduction.

“Even in the face of a state fiscal crisis, there is no reasonable justification to place such an undue burden on one state agency,” Smith testified.

He stressed that students are bearing the brunt of this series of budget cuts.

“In 1990, the state funded 75 percent of the University’s operating budget. After the governor’s latest reduction, students are now financing more than half of SUNY’s operating budget,” Smith said.

Cuts run deep

Smith told lawmakers that, in the last 18 months, state support for SUNY dropped by a shocking $410 million. That translates to 17 percent of SUNY’s operating budget. Smith warned that budget slicing has already exacted a toll on the University in the form of swelling class sizes, frequent course cancellations, delayed graduations, denied admissions and fewer full-time faculty. Smith said the cuts could not have come at a worse time.

“It is particularly unfortunate that these cuts have occurred during a time of economic recession, when educating or retraining New York’s workforce is particularly imperative, and at a time when college affordability has become an issue of statewide importance,” Smith testified.

UUP’s statewide affiliate NYSUT also linked SUNY’s well-being to the state’s economic future.

“Our public universities are being cut when the demand for their services is at an all-time high,” NYSUT Director of Legislation Stephen Allinger testified. “This is counterproductive when you consider that intellectual capital is what is driving economies around the world and is what our state needs to foster economic growth.”

SUNY’s hospitals and health science centers are not immune to the state budget malaise. Smith said state subsidy reductions combined with Medicaid cuts have pushed them to the breaking point.

“The quality of health care provided by these institutions is already at great risk, and further reductions in Medicaid support will undermine their ability to serve the needy,” Smith testified.

He urged lawmakers to reverse the $90 million budget cut and to protect SUNY hospitals from additional Medicaid cuts.

Earlier, Smith testified in New York City on another matter of concern to SUNY and UUP—balancing traditional teaching with research and technology. Addressing the Governor’s Task Force on Diversifying the New York Economy through Industry/Higher Education Cooperation, Smith said the focus on research and technology has been overemphasized for the last 20 years.

“We certainly agree that university/industry affiliations are important to both the University’s reputation and the state’s economic growth,” Smith testified. “But there needs to be more of a balanced approach. The University needs to reaffirm its original emphasis on teaching and learning.”

— Donald Feldstein