Much is uncertain about the fate of the SUNY budget for 2021-2022, but one thing is very sure: The University must fill a $46 million deficit to avoid massive cutbacks, nearly a year into its most difficult year ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With this fact in mind, UUP made a strong showing in the first day of its first-ever virtual UUP Higher Ed Lobby Days Feb. 11. Dozens of members teamed up to urge lawmakers to support UUP\u2019s progressive state agenda\u2014one that would not only address this year\u2019s desperate finances but would lay the foundation for a long-term and realistic operating budget to help SUNY contribute to the state\u2019s economic recovery for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is laudable that our members have been such strong advocates for their students, their colleagues and for SUNY, during a year of non-stop crises,\u201d UUP President Fred Kowal said. \u201cOur members have taken the lead through much of this pandemic in speaking up for what SUNY needs, and this union is grateful that they are doing it again during this extremely fraught budget year. We have a plan, and it\u2019s good to know that lawmakers heard and listened to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And listen they did, as members detailed dire circumstances to a receptive audience of lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few examples: Upstate Medical University is losing $600,000 to $700,000 a day because it has had to cancel so many elective procedures during the fall surge of the coronavirus pandemic. SUNY Brockport recently announced that it faces a $10 million budget gap, also the result of lost revenue and added expenses during the pandemic. Reports have come in from campuses around the state of non-tenure-track faculty being nonrenewed for the spring semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is so important that you are part of the discussion,\u201d Marianne Buttenschon, a Democrat from the Assembly\u2019s 119th District in the Utica-Rome region, told a delegation of members. \u201cThere\u2019s no way we\u2019re going to rebuild without you; you are one of the pillars. We can\u2019t do the old status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UUP has put forth an ambitious but attainable state legislative agenda, called New York HEALS<\/a>, which offers solutions to the budget crisis and details a plan to make SUNY more economically and environmentally self-sufficient. But it also fulfills one of the University\u2019s main missions: To serve a diverse population by making programs and services more accessible to students, faculty and staff from underrepresented populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the budget deficit, UUP is tackling issues of equity with its agenda. \u201cWe think New York\u2019s future depends on access to affordable, quality, higher education,\u201d UUP Downstate Chapter President Rowena Blackman-Stroud told Sen. Jabari Brisport, a newly elected Democrat from Brooklyn. \u201cWe\u2019re thinking about a program like the Medical Educational Opportunity Program, which could draw underrepresented students. There\u2019s a real need for primary health doctors in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brisport told the delegation that he supports new sources of revenue that would tax the state\u2019s richest residents, one of several receptive responses that members heard during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UUP plans a second Lobby Day Feb. 12. Next week, UUP members will join with students for four days of virtual advocacy during Higher Ed Action Week, an event being organized by the New York Public Interest Research Group. Watch UUP\u2019s website at uupinfo.org<\/a> for updates on that effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Much is uncertain about the fate of the SUNY budget for 2021-2022, but one thing is very sure: The University must fill a $46 million deficit to avoid massive cutbacks, … <\/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-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402","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=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uuphost.org\/purchase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}