Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In keeping with a pledge to\nkeep our members informed and up to date on the work we undertake on your\nbehalf, I wanted to share some information with you. On Wednesday, Governor\nCuomo gave his annual State of the State which I attended along with our partners\nin other unions. The day was a sprint that began with our colleagues in labor\nat the AFL-CIO, included meetings and receptions by Comptroller DiNapoli,\nSpeaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is evident that the\noutreach and advocacy that you and I have undertaken in the last year is\nworking. Legislative leaders remembered your meetings, mentioned our efforts\nand spoke positively of the direction we want to take SUNY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Governor\u2019s speech was\nlong on goals and short on specifics, and unfortunately, even shorter on the\nrole of higher education. There were a few notable proposals we will be looking\nfor further information on when the Governor delivers the Executive Budget in a\ncouple weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, UUP supports\nexpanding accessibility to higher education and we acknowledge the need to\nboost enrollment at many of our campuses. But the Governor\u2019s expansion of the\nExcelsior Program without correcting the flaws we have all identified is not a\npositive step for SUNY without the critical funding necessary to support these\nstudents and our academic mission. Further, I have real concerns about\ncommitting more campus resources without proper support from the state for\nthose at higher income levels. We await the details on the Governor\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, he proposed the\ncreation of a Center of Cannabis and Hemp within SUNY. As many of you know we\nhave existing research programs at a number of our campuses, so we will monitor\nwhere this program will be housed and what funding will be made available to\nexisting programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, the Governor\nmade mention of \u201cinvesting in Opportunity Programs\u201d. Historically the\nGovernor\u2019s budget team has used EOP and opportunity programs as leverage in the\nbudget process, cutting them knowing full well the Legislature will reinstate\nthe funding. If the Governor doesn\u2019t propose cuts, there is hope we can make\nreal gains in the opporunity programs this budget year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of great concern was the\nlack of any mention of health care and the challenges that face the SUNY\nhospitals. We continue to advocate strongly for a full restoration of the SUNY\nhospital subsidy and the development of a plan for their long term financial\nsecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And finally, UUP supports\nthe proposed Equal Rights Amendment and the Environmental Bond Act that is\nincluded in the Governor\u2019s initiatives. UUP has been championing the need to\naddress the global climate crisis. We will push for SUNY to be a leader in the\nsolutions for our environment and we will seek out funding within the bond act\nthat can help foster that goal. There may also be opportunities for SUNY to\nutilize for funding of programs should the bond act pass. Again, we await the\ndetails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will be diligent and\nresolute in our advocacy for each and every campus in the system and UUP will\ncontinue to push the Chancellor, and this administration to re-imagine what\nSUNY can be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Solidarity, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fred Kowal, UUP President <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Colleagues, In keeping with a pledge to keep our members informed and up to date on the work we undertake on your behalf, I wanted to share some information … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1071,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions\/1071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}