UUP’s Fred Floss presents testimony on the recommendations of the Commission Higher Education.

The critical problems facing SUNY would be perpetuated rather than resolved by the recommendations put forward by the governor’s Commission on Higher Education. That’s how UUP responded to the commission’s preliminary report during a public hearing conducted by the Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education.

In testimony at the Jan. 24 hearing, then UUP Acting President Frederick Floss said he welcomes the commission’s findings that the state’s higher education system needs more full-time faculty. But the panel’s recommendation to add a

combined 2,000 new full-time positions at SUNY and CUNY doesn’t go far enough.

“If the faculty-student ratios that existed in the 1990s had been maintained, 1,600 more full-time faculty would now be working in our state-operated (SUNY) campuses to help educate New York’s students,” Floss said.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer created the commission last July as the first step in an effort to make New York’s public higher education system the best in the nation. But Floss stressed the commission’s preliminary report fails to address a 15-year cycle of underfunding at SUNY.

“Class sizes have increased significantly, faculty-student ratios have risen to dangerously high levels, the number of available courses has been reduced, and far too many of our students are forced to compete for the classes they need for graduation,” Floss said.

Floss challenged the commission’s recommendation to create a “compact” between the state and SUNY to have the state pick up SUNY’s mandatory costs, but not the expense of enrollment growth. Tuition revenues would be tapped instead, but Floss warned the revenues from tuition wouldn’t be enough to cover the increased costs stemming from increased enrollment.

“By this recommendation, the commission is reaffirming the egregious state funding policy that is directly responsible for the loss of full-time faculty,” he said.

Other witnesses echoed UUP’s concerns. Speaking for SUNY’s university colleges, Fredonia President Dennis Hefner said funding for enrollment growth is a very important issue. He also said having more full-time faculty is critical.

“They work on curriculum development, advise students, perform scholarly research, and impact the image of the institution,” he said.

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

— Donald Feldstein