The Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA) proposed by Gov. David Paterson in his Executive Budget has become a Trojan horse for those who wish to move SUNY closer to a private university system.
As I’ve said before, we must remember that SUNY was established 60 years ago to be a public system of higher education that would ensure access to an affordable and high-quality education for every New York resident.
The governor’s proposals will have serious, perhaps unintended, consequences.
PHEEIA would provide SUNY with autonomy to set tuition, lease state-owned campus properties, enter into contracts for services, and establish public/private joint ventures and partnerships.
Unfortunately, the governor’s proposals shift the discussion of priorities away from access and quality to concepts such as economic development and public/private relationships. We know, from hard experience, that the corporatization of our public university has already produced negative consequences.
While SUNY has moved public discourse toward concepts such as flexibility, thousands of qualified high school graduates were denied admission this year and there is every reason to believe that many times that number will be denied admission next fall.
The contention that flexibility will produce 10,000 new campus jobs and more than 64,000 construction jobs at SUNY’s university centers and at Upstate and Downstate medical centers seems unrealistic, at the very least. I can’t say where SUNY will come up with $8.5 billion to fund capital construction costs at the university centers—building that’s to spur all those construction jobs.
Despite our repeated requests, SUNY has never offered any analysis to show why it needs this authority, nor has it provided any back-up to the highly unrealistic financial assertions made in its various supported documents.
The governor’s proposals also repeal provisions of law requiring pre-approval of SUNY contracts by the attorney general and the state comptroller, and substitutes post-audits for the pre-contractual approvals required under current statute. But post- audits are infrequent, often performed years after contracts have been executed and funds expended. In the case of highly decentralized institutions, such as the University, it would be unrealistic to expect post audits to provide adequate oversight. Let me be clear: We do not oppose SUNY entering into contracts for goods without pre-approvals from the state comptroller and attorney general. However, we do oppose allowing SUNY to enter into contracts for services without state approval. The potential of outsourcing would significantly increase by relaxing those rules, leaving UUP powerless to stop those contracts before they were executed.
By removing oversight by the Legislature, comptroller and attorney general, the governor extends to SUNY’s public institutions the unrestricted freedom of a private university, or for that matter, its own research foundation. There will be no accountability for SUNY spending decisions and the transparency of SUNY operations will be virtually eliminated.
This proposal is clearly anti-labor.
Regardless of how comprehensive and well-drafted employee language might be, our attorneys have advised us that the enforceability of any language governing the actions of private employers cannot be sufficiently protective of the rights of public employees.
PHEEIA is no panacea. As our statewide awareness campaign states, Don’t be fooled by the Act.
For months, UUP leaders have emphasized the importance of coalition building to fight $152 million in additional budget cuts to SUNY and the proposed so-called Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA).
That directive was carried to the ultimate March 9, when nearly 100 UUPers—armed with placards stating “Stand Up for SUNY” and “SOS: Save Our SUNY”—joined with students and faculty from SUNY and CUNY and the New York Public Interest Research Group for Student/Faculty Higher Education Action Day in Albany.
UUP President Phillip Smith addressed the crowd of about 400 who assembled for an indoor rally prior to a series of visits to nearly every state lawmaker.
“There are three things you’ve got to remember. Tell legislators to stop the budget cuts, restore the funding, and stop looking at students as cash machines,” he said to loud applause during the indoor rally. His call to restore funding referred to the $410 million already cut from SUNY in the last two years.
Smith also zeroed in on PHEEIA, saying it “would make public higher education unaffordable for thousands of students by allowing campuses to boost tuition without legislative approval. It would allow SUNY tuition costs to skyrocket,” he said.
Senate Higher Education Committee Chair Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Whitestone) expressed her strong support.
“We’ve had over half a billion dollars in cuts to public higher education, and that’s got to stop. We need to stand together and say ‘Enough is enough,’” she said as the audience cheered.
Faculty and students traveled in groups to jointly take their concerns directly to state lawmakers, including three dozen UUPers who made their debut as Albany advocates. Among them: Brian Posthauer, an Educational?Opportunity Program (EOP) counselor at Plattsburgh, who told Assemblyman James Conte (R-Huntington Station) that budget cuts have seriously affected EOP by reducing the numbers of students they can serve.
As students described the problems budget cuts are causing them, UUPer Mary Kay Skrabalak of UAlbany shared a personal note.
“When my daughter at Oneonta says she can’t get into two of her courses, that’s frustrating,” she said.
Two first-time advocates from Cortland—Mary Toti and Vicki Hess—were encouraged by comments from Assemblyman Thomas Alfano (R-North Valley Stream).
“We’re going to do the best we can for public higher education. We agree that we can’t use SUNY as a cash cow,” he said.
UUP’s advocacy wasn’t confined to March 9. On March 2, dozens of UUP advocates came to Albany for NYSUT Higher Education Advocacy Day.
NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi lent his unqualified support during a pre-advocacy briefing.
“NYSUT is one that will stand behind all its members” he said. “We stand for restoring cuts to higher education. All of us are there with you.”
UUP members responded by standing up for SUNY in nearly two dozen meetings with state legislators, including a 40-minute session with Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket). Charlie McAteer of Stony Brook emphasized that SUNY has already suffered enough budget cuts.
“This is the time for New York to invest in its future, not divest,” added Fred Miller of Oneonta.
Englebright clearly heard UUP’s message against the Empowerment Act.
“This is not a terrific thing to do, cutting the Legislature out of the process,” Englebright said.
Outreach Committee Co-chair Glenn McNitt of New Paltz pressed the charge against the Empowerment Act. He told Sen. Catharine Young (R- Olean) that individual campuses could impose differential tuition rates on top of the 10 percent overall tuition increase SUNY’s Board of Trustees could authorize.
A smaller but determined group of UUPers ventured to Albany Feb. 23 to build the union’s case against budget cuts and the Empowerment Act.
Morrisville Chapter President James Engle lent a personal touch to his appeal.
“Both of my kids went to Morrisville, and I’d like to think that it would be a viable option for my grandchildren,” he said. “But differential tuition might not make it possible. Small campuses like ours are going to go under.”
The advocates found an empathetic ear in Assemblyman Joseph Errigo (R-Conesus).
“Someone should tell the governor to talk with an economist,” Errigo told the union advocates. “If you cut higher education, your economy doesn’t grow.”
“The so-called Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act is not good for SUNY and students. Don’t let the name deceive you.”
UUP’s latest print advertising campaign is driving home the point that the Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA) ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“The misleading terminology of this legislation is reminiscent of No Child Left Behind—which sounded like a great idea, but did little to improve education,” said UUP President Phillip Smith. “This ‘Empowerment and Innovation Act’ has a nice ring to it, but it won’t succeed in doing anything except privatizing the University.”
UUP’s awareness campaign dispels the myths about PHEEIA: If the legislation is enacted, SUNY students would pay a lot more; public/private partnerships have actually lost revenue; SUNY could place a surcharge on tuition; and there’s no guarantee that tuition and fees would be used to benefit the academic mission of the campus.
The print ad urges readers to go to SaveSUNY.org and tell lawmakers to keep SUNY public (see ad, back page).
The half-page ads began appearing in early March in 150 weekly newspapers around the state, including the Legislative Gazette, the publication targeted specifically for lawmakers, as well as in five daily papers: the Albany Times Union, The Buffalo News, The Post-Standard in Syracuse, the Daily News in metropolitan New York and Newsday on Long Island.
Versions of the ad also ran in African-American and Hispanic newspapers in New York City, and were made available to student publications on SUNY’s state-operated campuses.
People commuting on the Long Island Railroad could see UUP’s message printed clearly on nearly 400 platform and rail car signs, quickly calling their attention to SaveSUNY.org.
All the ads include a photo and comment from those who stand to lose the most: students and parents.
“If this Act is passed, my son and other students couldn’t afford SUNY. Don’t deny their opportunity,” one ad reads. Another ad features three students with the quote, “If this Act is passed, students like us would not be able to afford SUNY. Don’t deny our opportunity.”
The newspaper and LIRR rail ads come on the heels of a 30-second TV ad that featured UUP members and SUNY students decrying the governor’s drastic budget cuts to SUNY. That ad hit the airwaves in early February in major media markets, including Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Long Island, New York City and Syracuse. The ads continued through the third week of March.
The TV and print ads are just two of the ways people are prompted to visit SaveSUNY.org, UUP’s micro-Web site designed to educate students, citizens and lawmakers about the deep cuts to SUNY in the last two years, and to dispel the myths about PHEEIA. It encourages all New Yorkers to speak up for SUNY by signing an online petition and faxing letters to lawmakers, urging them to reject PHEEIA and any further cuts to the University.
And it’s paying off.
As The Voice went to press, nearly 15,000 letters were faxed by computer to legislators from the UUP, NYSUT?and SaveSUNY Web sites.
In addition, more than 3,000 people signed the online petition that’s available on SaveSUNY.org. Another 3,200 clicked on UUP banner ads that tease SaveSUNY.org, which are currently in place on Web sites such as CNN.com, Syracuse.com, BuffaloNews.com, Newsday.com, weather.com, Facebook and Google.
In all, the banner ads have resulted in nearly 6.9 million “impressions”—the number of times an ad is viewed on a Web page.
UUP, NYSUT and a number of other labor and community groups have worked together with the Fiscal Policy Institute and New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness to present proposals to help the state resolve its fiscal crisis.
Now they’ve formed a coalition called A Better Choice for New York. The group is suggesting a number of revenue-raising ideas it believes would generate additional income and cut costs for the state.
When meeting with state lawmakers, UUP members can point to these suggestions as an alternative to the budget cuts targeted at SUNY in the proposed state budget. Among the proposals: a temporary higher income-tax bracket for individuals earning more than $1 million, and a partial repeal of a tax rebate on stock transactions.
“An important part of our group’s work has been to identify ways in which New York can find the money it needs to mitigate the economic downturn,” said UUP President Phillip Smith. “So when someone asks, ‘What are the unions proposing as an alternative to the cuts?’ our members can tell them that we’ve made several proposals and suggestions.”
A list of the coalition’s proposals can be found at www.abetterchoiceforny.org/. Go to the bottom of the page and click on “Chart: Revenue-Raising and Cost-Saving Options.”
Kathryn Fantauzzi, a graduate student at UAlbany’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, was hired to replace Sally Frank as the union’s John M. Reilly legislative intern. Frank took a job in February in the Senate budget office.
Fantauzzi is working 20 hours a week tracking proposed legislation, researching and analyzing issues for potential legislation, arranging advocacy visits to lawmakers’ offices and handling other duties associated with the union’s Legislation Department.
Fantauzzi is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in environmental policy. She earned her bachelor’s degree in government and Italian studies from Smith College and spent one year studying at the Universita di Firenza in Florence, Italy.
Prior to joining UUP, Fantauzzi was an environmental analyst with the New York Public Interest Research Group in Albany, where she researched the administration of the Pesticide Neighbor Notification Law and compiled scientific information on the expected effects of climate change on regions of New York state. She also interned with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.
The union’s legislative internship is named in honor of the late John M. Reilly, who served as UUP statewide president from 1987-1993.
There they were, more than 700 people, many waving signs and all of them out to protest a state proposal to shut parks on Long Island and upstate to help reduce New York’s billion-dollar deficit.
Tom Donovan liked what he saw.
Donovan and more than 40 members of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps took part in the Feb. 27 rally, staged at Heckscher State Park in East Islip. Lifeguards marched with signs that said “Overcrowded beaches = recipe for disaster” and “Beach safety is a priority” as they joined in chants such as “Save our parks!”
Members of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps are part of the New York State Lifeguard Corps, which is affiliated with UUP.
Organized by Suffolk County Legislator Wayne Horsley, the rally also included area fishermen, horse riding groups, runners, kayakers, bird watchers, surfers and other park users who want the state parks kept open to use and enjoy.
“We’re trying to do our part and I’m very glad that others are stepping up,” said Donovan, first vice president of the New York State Lifeguard Corps. “Our state parks are not a privilege, they’re a right. They’ve been bought and paid for. What we’re talking about here is staffing and maintenance (costs).”
State parks officials have recommended closing 41 parks and 14 historic sites statewide this summer, and reducing service at 23 other parks to help close the state’s $8.2 billion budget gap. Six Long Island parks, including Orient Beach State Park, are slated to be shuttered, as are swimming pools on Jones Beach and other nearby state parks.
Those closures will impact Jones Beach union members; Donovan said as many as 10 percent of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps’ 440 members could be cut if the state moves ahead with its plans. Last year, 10 percent of union jobs were lost due to state reductions.
Donovan said that safety at the parks could become an issue if lifeguarding positions are further reduced, he said. “We understand the state has financial issues, but you can’t put a price on safety. Closing facilities will cause overcrowding at the facilities that remain open. That’s where safety can be compromised.”
Closing parks to save money makes no sense simply because so few dollars will be saved. User fees returned nearly $30 million of the $45 million the state spent on parks last year. Closing parks means that user fees from the closed parks will also be lost, he said.
“I think our parks are ours, they shouldn’t be used to make money,” said Donovan. “They’re a respite from a crazy world.”
Each year, SUNY and numerous academic and professional groups honor hundreds of UUPers for accomplishments in their disciplines, on campus and in communities. The Voice is pleased to recognize three of these members.
• Axel Fair-Schulz, an assistant professor of history at Potsdam, recently published Loyal Subversions: East Germany and its Bildungsbürgerlich Marxist Intellectuals (Berlin: Trafo Verlag, 2009), which analyzes why and how certain intellectuals have shaped the society and culture of the former German Democratic Republic.
Among his publications are book reviews on East Germany, and he has contributed several book chapters and scholarly articles on German refugee intellectuals and historians.
• Jennifer Rogalsky, an associate professor of geography at Geneseo, is spending this semester as a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana, where she is teaching and conducting research on how women cope in the informal economy in urban markets.
Her trip is part of a new collaborative partnership between Geneseo and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, where she will teach “gender and development” in the geography and rural development department. The head of that department and vice dean of the faculty of social science at KNUST, Eva Tagoe-Darko, received a Fulbright grant for the entire academic year and is teaching and conducting research in Geneseo’s geography department.
• Potsdam librarian Jane Subramanian has been honored as one of two winners of the Music Library Association’s national competition titled “Best of Chapters,” with winners presenting their papers at a national final session. Subramanian is presenting her work, “The Norwood Brass Firemen Band’s Strong Beat Since the 1870s,” this month in San Diego.
The competition was created to honor presenters at chapter conferences for their excellent research and to allow a broader sharing of that valuable work.
The AFL-CIO Executive Council voted March 2 to condemn the mass firing of all Central Falls (R.I.) High School staff.
The school board sent termination letters to 74 teachers, claiming the action was necessary to improve student achievement.
The AFL-CIO resolution denounced the terminations as counterproductive.
“Firing employees to improve education is a sledgehammer reaction,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “What’s needed is a collaborative plan to give teachers and students the tools they need to succeed.”
The Central Falls Teachers Union developed its own plan to improve standards that includes some elements of the district’s proposal. The gesture was enough to get Superintendent Frances Gallo back to the table to work with the union on school reform.
Union leaders are asking colleagues to go to a new Web site to learn more about the struggle and to sign a petition in support of the educators. Go to www.centralfallskidsdeservebetter.com to take action.
While it’s encouraging the Central Falls union is back at the negotiating table, NYSUT and its national affiliates remain deeply concerned about the mass firing and are closely monitoring the situation.
SUNY has more than 2.5 million alumni and more than 80 percent of them live in New York state. How we activate them to protect SUNY is the newest project Phil has asked me to oversee.
The UUP/Alumni Project is simple. We’re starting with UUP members who are SUNY alumni and asking them to talk to other alumni about the needs of the SUNY campuses where they went. Who better than our member/alumni to reach out and explain how the cuts to SUNY have changed life on campus, and not for the better?
As an alumnus of two SUNY campuses, Oswego and the University at Buffalo, I have been struck by how no one from either campus has asked me to fight for more SUNY funding. Calls come from the alumni association for contributions, but they never ask me to fight the cuts. This needs to change. If we could get 1 percent of alumni to write one letter, that would be 25,000 letters for our cause.
So how do we start? Each chapter vice presidents for academics is going to ask if you or a family member is a SUNY alum and, if so, which one. Please let them know who you are because we do not have this information. Once we have the names and e-mail addresses, we will send out more information on how you can help as an alumnus. We might ask you to send a letter to your alumni magazine, the student newspaper where you went to school, or the local newspaper. You may also be asked to send a letter to state legislators and the governor, not as an employee but as someone who is a successful SUNY graduate who does not want to see the system dismantled.
Sometimes we forget how much we know about SUNY and how little contact our former student colleagues have with our campuses. We all have busy lives and if no one mentions what is happening, it flies by at breakneck speed. So when we say that SUNY over the last 18 months has been cut by almost 25 percent of its operating budget, most people are surprised. Asking them to remember the quality education they received at SUNY—and then urging them to fight the cuts so others can get the same quality education—should be easy. But I know it will not be. That is why we are starting the UUP/Alumni Project.
If you would like to help, please talk with your chapter vice presidents for academics or e-mail me at ffloss@uupmail.org and I can get you started. Working together with the 2.5 million alumni of SUNY, we can protect our University and ensure that future students will have the quality education that many of us enjoyed when we attended SUNY.
It is difficult enough to be diagnosed with an illness, but not knowing where to turn can be devastating. For members who participate in the Empire Plan, access is available to some of the best medical facilities in the world.
The Empire Plan currently offers Centers of Excellence for cancer, transplants and infertility services.
Cancer Program—Members must call The Empire Plan toll free at 1-877-7-NYSHIP (1-877-769-7447) and choose United Healthcare or call the Cancer Resources Center toll free at 1-866-936-6002 and register to participate.
Paid-in-full benefits are available for cancer services at a designated Center of Excellence when arranged through United Healthcare. You will also receive nurse consultations and assistance in locating cancer centers.
If a member doesn’t want to use a Center of Excellence, benefits will be provided in accordance with The Empire Plan hospital and/or medical/surgical program coverage.
This Center of Excellence program is available to all Empire Plan enrollees, even if Medicare or another health insurance plan is primary.
Transplant Program—Members who are enrolled in The Empire Plan as their primary insurance coverage can take advantage of this transplant program.
Members must call The Empire Plan and choose Empire BlueCross BlueShield for preauthorization of the following transplants provided through the Center of Excellence for Transplants Program: bone marrow, peripheral stem cell, cord blood stem cell, heart, liver, lung, heart/lung, kidney and pancreas/kidney.
Paid-in-full benefits are available for the following transplant services when authorized by Empire BlueCross BlueShield and received at a designated Centers of Excellence: pre-transplant evaluation, inpatient and outpatient hospital and physician services, and up to 12 months of follow-up care.
If a transplant is authorized but you do not use a designated Center of Excellence, benefits will be provided in accordance with The Empire Plan hospital and/or medical/surgical coverage. If you choose to have your transplant in a facility other than a designated Center of Excellence, or if you require a pancreas, small bowel or multivisceral transplant, you may still take advantage of the Empire BlueCross BlueShield case management services for transplant patients as long as you enroll in the Centers of Excellence for Transplants Program. A case management nurse will help you through the transplant process.
To enroll in the program and receive these benefits, The Empire Plan must be your primary insurance coverage.
Infertility Treatment—Members must call The Empire Plan and choose United Healthcare for preauthorization and a list of qualified procedures before receiving services.
Paid-in-full benefits are available subject to the lifetime maximum of $50,000 per covered person for qualified procedures, including any travel allowance, when you choose a Center of Excellence for Infertility Treatment and receive prior authorization.
If a qualified procedure is authorized, but you decide not to use a Center of Excellence, benefits will be provided in accordance with The Empire Plan hospital and/or medical/surgical coverage.
All authorized procedures are subject to the lifetime maximum for qualified procedures. If you do not receive prior authorization, no benefits are available for qualified procedures under The Empire Plan’s hospital and/or medical/surgical coverage. You will have to pay the full cost, regardless of the provider.
Program requirements apply even if Medicare or another health insurance plan is primary.
All Centers of Excellence programs have a travel benefit. Travel, lodging and meal allowance is available for you and one travel companion if the center is more than 100 miles (200 miles for airfare) from the patient’s residence.
Reimbursement for travel, lodging and meals will be limited to the U.S. General Services Administration per diem rate. Reimbursement for automobile mileage will be based on the Internal Revenue Service medical rate.
Only the following travel expenses are reimbursable: meals, auto mileage (personal or rental car), economy class airfare, train fare, taxi fare, parking, tolls, and shuttle or bus fare from lodging to the Center of Excellence. Save your original receipts for reimbursement.
As always, don’t hesitate to contact the UUP Benefit Trust Fund at (800) 887-3863 with any questions.
— Doreen Bango, Manager, Member Benefits and Services
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