The ranks of full-time faculty within New York state’s two public university systems would increase by 2,000 during the next five years. That is among the major recommendations contained in the preliminary report of the New York State Commission on Higher Education released Dec. 17.

UUP Acting President Frederick Floss said he found the commission’s report encouraging in regard to its call to hire more full-time faculty.

“The commission is on the right track in recognizing that hiring additional full-time faculty is vital to building an outstanding university system,” Floss said.

During a news conference at the Capitol where the preliminary report was officially presented, Gov. Eliot Spitzer termed the need to hire more full-time faculty at SUNY and CUNY as “a core proposal.”

“That is a critical piece of what the commission has recommended in order to establish and sustain the various campuses as pre-eminent in their field and as magnets for the sort of research and to draw the students whom we want,” the governor said. “I think this is a proposal that speaks to the core of what this commission has determined is necessary for our SUNY system to move forward.”

The timing of the report’s issuance deliberately preceded the release of the governor’s Executive Budget scheduled for Jan. 23. But the governor declined to say if his budget would include funds for the additional full-time faculty the commission recommends.

“I am loathe today to embrace any one piece of the report. I wish to take all of it back and we will study it,” he said.

While Floss praised the governor for establishing the commission, he says the union will urge the state to foot the bill for the additional faculty, rather than relying on other revenue streams.

“The state needs to fully fund — through state support — the costs of

hiring the additional full-time faculty, rather than expecting SUNY and CUNY to provide the income from anticipated enrollment growth or tuition hikes,” Floss said. “We agree with the commission’s recommendation that ‘mandatory costs’ be financed by the state, but we urge the state to include ‘enrollment growth’ in its definition of mandatory costs.”

More recommendations

Among other recommendations contained in the commission’s 85-page report:
• The establishment of a $3 billion fund to support research to help promote economic development;
• Allowing SUNY and CUNY to charge differential tuition rates by program and by campus;
• The so-called “Million Dollar Promise” program that would guarantee a tuition-free public college education to students in low-income areas;
• Providing more support and independence for SUNY’s research universities at Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook to boost them toward national prominence; and
• The creation of a low-interest, state-subsidized student loan program so students from lower-income families can attend college.

Floss also said the union is closely reviewing the preliminary report and will have more detailed comments on it when the commission schedules public hearings.

The commission is due to release its final report in June.

— Donald Feldstein