With no advance warning, UAlbany announced Oct. 1 it would be downsizing, and blamed a $12 million cut in state support.

UAlbany President George Philip ordered a halt to new admissions in five programs: French, Italian, Russian, classics and theater. Additionally, he said the campus would lose the equivalent of 160 positions by 2012.

UUP President Phil Smith strongly questioned the need for such drastic action. In a number of media interviews, Smith also questioned the way the decision was announced.

“What the public needs to understand is that this is a public university and there had been no discussion with the public prior to this announcement,” Smith said. “If there had been a prior dialogue, we could have helped to reach a solution to alleviate such a crisis.”

“We are very concerned about President Philip’s announcement to suspend admission to five programs and plan to continue to work in every way we can to see that these suspensions do not result in permanent cuts to the faculty,” said Albany Chapter President Candy Merbler.

Smith echoed that concern about the future of the five targeted programs.

“A university can’t be a university unless it has a strong liberal arts program, and languages are part of that,” he said.

Smith said the ultimate solution is for SUNY to take money from its nearly $600 million reserve fund and apply it to relieve funding shortfalls like those at UAlbany.

“The money is there and should be used,” he said.

The SUNY chancellor promised during a state budget hearing in January that she would release $147 million of those reserves. But so far, that hasn’t happened.

Smith continues to urge the chancellor to keep that promise and plans to ask the state Legislature for assistance in getting SUNY to use its reserves.

“Campuses like UAlbany desperately need those funds, and they need them now,” Smith said. “Educating students must be the top priority, not spending millions to remodel SUNY’s executive offices.”

— Donald Feldstein