“It is my privilege to report to you that our union is strong.

It is my displeasure to report to you that our union is faced with a crisis. That crisis, of course, involves our state, national and international economy.

“There are dangers, but there are also opportunities.”

That’s how UUP?President Phillip Smith began his address to the more than 350 delegates and observers attending the 2009 Winter Delegate Assembly Jan. 30-31.

Smith said the danger “deals with a new reality” of insufficient revenue sources. “This is nothing like what the union has faced in the past, when SUNY simply made bad budget requests. Now, there just isn’t enough money to meet the needs of everyone in New York state.”

While the picture is grim, it is not irreversible. But it will take the continued efforts of every UUP member.

“Our ‘opportunity’ is to have UUP members come to Albany, send faxes from our Web site, and visit legislators in their home districts,” Smith said. “Already our members from Long Island to the North Country, from Albany to the east, and Buffalo and Fredonia to the west, have shown their commitment to UUP.”

The union’s hard work is beginning to pay dividends.

Smith reported that the union reached out to the governor to protect students and SUNY?employees. The result: The governor’s Executive Budget includes specific language that SUNY must use $75 million of its uncommitted fund balances to preserve student access and protect full-time faculty and other campus positions.

“Again, I implore, entreat, beg you to be vigilant in getting this passed,” Smith said.

It just makes $ense

AFT Director of Legislation Kristor Cowan echoed the harsh fiscal realities when he gave the keynote address to delegates. He said public higher education is always the first—and hardest—hit when states experience an economic downturn.

Drastic cuts are being made in 43 states, and in more than half of those the deepest cuts are in higher education. Cowan said nearly 100 professors each week are being let go throughout Florida colleges and universities.

“In bad economic times, higher education is the most vulnerable,” he noted. “Ironically, higher education is a major component in a state’s recovery.”

That’s the point that must be made in legislatures and governors’ offices around the country—and AFT is on the case.

Under AFT President Randi Weingarten’s leadership, the federation is advancing its “Fight for America’s Future: It’s Dollars and Sense” campaign to strengthen and protect the nation’s vital public institutions and services during the current economic crisis.

“The AFT has made a strategic decision to push the message that this is the time to invest, not disinvest, in higher education and other vital services,” Cowan said.

The first step was to urge Senate and Congressional delegations to pass President Obama’s economic stimulus package. The second is to ensure the states’ share of the money is directed to the proper target—higher education institutions, students, and academic and professional faculty.

On Saturday, the 294 seated delegates wasted no time adopting a special order of business directing UUP to draft a proposal on how the stimulus money should be spent.

— Karen L. Mattison