The fall semester is in full swing and you’re settled in comfortably at your campus or health science center, working hard and looking forward to another good year. You’re doing your thing, working week in and week out to make SUNY work.

And why not? You’ve got a great job with one of the nation’s foremost public higher education systems. You’re not worried about your job, right?

Not so fast.

Here’s the reality. SUNY has been hit with $562 million in state aid budget cuts over the past two years, and those cuts are starting to manifest as more than just cost-saving measures like hiring freezes, and restricting travel and equipment purchases—measures that have been instituted by most campuses.

The situation has ramped up recently. Now we’re talking about the R word—retrenchments. In May, we learned that System Administration’s entire Nylink operation will be phased out in 2011. In September, we got word that non-renewal advisories were sent to 39 unionized Downstate Medical Center employees. In October, UAlbany announced that it expects to eliminate the equivalent of 160 full-time positions over the next two years. Why? UAlbany president George Philip blamed it on SUNY state aid cuts; the college has lost 30 percent of its allocation since 2007.

Still comfortable? You shouldn’t be.

It’s time for every UUPer to stand tall and demand a stop to this financial erosion of SUNY. We need you to get involved.

It’s time for you, for all of us, to step up and help make a difference. If we don’t, it’s certain we’ll be hearing more news about how SUNY state aid cuts have forced the closure of programs or departments at campuses and HSCs that have become too costly to run.

One of them may be yours.

We need you to talk to your local legislators about the importance of SUNY and how continued state aid cuts have weakened this proud higher education system. We need you to tell your friends, students and their parents, local business owners and other unionized workers in your community about what saving SUNY can mean to them and to all New Yorkers.

We need you to work to elect local candidates endorsed by New York State United Teachers in the November election. Already more than a dozen chapters have signed on to participate in phone banks and other election activities.

At the very least, we need you to vote for NYSUT-backed candidates, and get your neighbors and friends to cast their ballots our way Nov. 2.

And rest assured that we haven’t forgotten a promise made earlier this year by SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher to spend $147 million in SUNY reserves to help shore up SUNY state aid shortfalls. We will absolutely hold the chancellor to her promise, especially after my testimony before the state Senate Higher Education Committee in September in opposition to extraordinary salary increases that were handed to top SUNY administrators.

The $147 million won’t solve all of SUNY’s financial problems, but it will certainly help. That’s rainy day money and believe me, it’s pouring out. And SUNY’s got it; the University has nearly $600 million in reserves in its coffers.

We must remember what’s important here: fighting to keep SUNY affordable and able to provide quality programs to all students, and ensuring that the University remains as a viable engine of economic growth for New York.

It’s time to get fired up again.

Your comfort level—and your job—may depend on it.