The $90 million budget cut unilaterally imposed on SUNY by the governor will irreparably harm a public university system that has already endured massive reductions.

That’s the warning UUP President Phillip Smith delivered in a news release just hours after the governor announced midyear cuts that strike straight to the heart of SUNY.

“The latest reduction goes beyond draconian,” Smith added. “It means SUNY will likely be forced to deny access to thousands of students by scaling back on its student admissions and enrollments. That would leave thousands of New Yorkers with no place to go for an affordable, accessible public education.”

UUP has a strong ally in Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, who recognizes that rising unemployment has led to record increases in college enrollments.

“This is not the time to make disproportionate cuts in higher education,” she said in a statement co-signed by the majority members on the committee. “We believe this is an unfair burden on New York’s students and the state’s economic future.”

SUNY had already endured its share of budget reductions, beginning with midyear cuts in 2008 of $148 million, representing 25 percent of the cuts taken against state agencies. The University lost another $172 million in state support in the 2009-10 state budget, bringing the overall cut to SUNY to an astounding $410 million. That figure amounts to a nearly 30 percent reduction in state support that would have been available to SUNY.

The leader of UUP’s statewide affiliate, NYSUT, was also quick to express his dismay at the governor’s action.

“The midyear elimination of $90 million from an already underfunded SUNY budget would impact essential services at a time of great need,” said NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi.

“We strongly urge the governor to reconsider this latest round of cuts to SUNY and reverse course to eliminate the spending reduction,” Smith added. “The future of thousands of New Yorkers and the future of the state’s economy may well rest with his decision.”

— Donald Feldstein

Anxiety gripped the state’s workforce the afternoon of March 24 when Gov. David Paterson announced that 8,900 state workers would be laid off. But UUP members breathed a collective sigh of relief when additional details revealed that SUNY would not be among the agencies affected because it is not under the governor’s direct control.

The announcement by the governor followed the refusal of UUP and other state employee unions to give up their negotiated 3 percent pay increases for this year. Unions also said “no” to a plan for a five-day payroll deferral. The state’s requests to UUP for those givebacks came during a meeting prior to March 24 with representatives from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations and the Division of the Budget.

“No promises were offered that indicated that if we accepted, there would not be any nonrenewals,” said UUP President Phillip Smith. “Nor was there any indication that any savings would go toward the benefit of SUNY.”

Even though UUP members are not directly impacted by the governor’s order, the membership is not completely out of the woods. SUNY campuses are reviewing their budgets in light of budget cuts and are taking action to pare spending. For example, New Paltz responded with a $6 million deficit reduction plan that calls for the loss of about 70 positions through retirements, attrition and nonrenewals.

Smith suggests that campuses—especially comprehensive campuses that rely less on state support and more on tuition revenue—tap into the $75 million supplemental operating fund included in the state budget at UUP’s behest to help prevent or minimize losses in academic and professional faculty.

“The purpose of that $75 million fund is to protect faculty and campus positions and preserve student access,” Smith said. “We hope campuses use it to help them meet the needs of students who might see their graduations delayed because there aren’t enough faculty to teach the courses they need to graduate. Students deserve better.”

— Donald Feldstein

The majority of the 29-member New York Congressional delegation is appealing to Gov. David Paterson to allocate more of the state’s federal stimulus money to SUNY.

In a letter cosigned by 20 of the state’s congressmen, the 19 Democrats and one Republican urge the governor to provide SUNY with additional stimulus funds to help the University deal with its budget shortfall.

“It is without question that these (budget) reductions will have a serious impact on the access and quality of education provided to our constituents,” the congressmen wrote in their letter to the governor.

“Many SUNY schools are critical components of our economy,” said U.S. Rep. John McHugh (R-Pierrepont Manor), “and I am hopeful that the governor will use his discretion to provide the additional resources necessary to sustain SUNY during these difficult (economic) times.”

— Donald Feldstein

UUP’s slogan, “SUNY is the $olution,” drew strength from a March public higher education symposium in Albany.

Titled “From Recession to Resurgence: Public Higher Education, The Key to Revitalizing New York,” the symposium attracted more than two dozen UUP members among a group of nearly 200. Jointly sponsored by UUP, NYSUT, SUNY, CUNY and Professional Staff Congress, the symposium supported the assertion that growing higher education can help propel the state out of its economic crisis.   

“This is an historic event,” NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin said. “We all know education is the key to our future.”

Keynote speaker Jeff Madrick, an economic analyst and the editor of Challenge magazine, warned that the current economic crisis must not sidetrack government’s investment in higher education.

“We must not panic in this state of emergency. It’s time to build the foundation for funding education,” he said.

Madrick maintained that making college more affordable, especially for lower-income people, will improve the economy by raising incomes which, in turn, grows tax revenues.

Senate Higher Education Committee Chair Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Queens) said the amount the state has invested in public higher education has diminished despite the proven economic return.

“It seems to me that we have to be investing additional funds in education. Not only because it is morally correct, but it’s economically correct,” she said.               

UUP President Phillip Smith thanked the panel—that also included Joyce Moy of CUNY, Michael Garvey of License Monitor Inc., Mathew Cusack of X-Ray Optical Systems and Frank Mauro of the Fiscal Policy Institute, and moderator Brian Taffe of Capital News 9—for the discourse.

“I thank you all for exemplifying what we’d lose without public higher ed,” he said.

— Donald Feldstein