The union took its fight to save SUNY’s quality academic programs and health care to the public in January, launching a television and newspaper ad campaign in a half dozen major media markets around the state. The ads began appearing on all network affiliate stations and several cable TV stations Jan. 27 in Albany and Feb. 5 in Brooklyn, Binghamton, Buffalo, Long Island and Syracuse. The ads continued to air in those markets through February.
The 30-second ads were videotaped at SUNY Oswego and Upstate Medical University and feature UUP members and SUNY students in various scenes, including a crowded classroom, waiting in line to see an admissions counselor, in a laboratory and a hospital setting.
The union’s Communications Department produced one ad for UUP’s message about cuts to SUNY campuses entitled “Bright Future,” and another detailing the dangers caused by budget cuts to SUNY’s teaching hospitals called “Save SUNY Hospitals.” Both ads end with a call to action, urging viewers to go to the UUP Web site—www.uupinfo.org—to send faxes to state leaders to restore the budget funds.
“The State University of New York offers outstanding college courses,” says the narrator over the opening classroom scene for the “Bright Future” ad. The music then changes from uplifting to foreboding as the narrator continues, “But state budget cuts would deny access to thousands of qualified students–cause courses to be canceled–graduations delayed–or leave other classes crammed due to a shortage of faculty.” The scene shifts again to a busy research lab as the narrator ends the spot with the message: “SUNY is the solution to getting our economy moving again. Fax state leaders. A bright future for New York depends on smart investments in SUNY, now.”
The “Save SUNY Hospitals” TV ad describes the devastating effects of the proposed $25 million cut to the subsidies for Downstate Medical, Stony Brook Hospital and Upstate Medical, and includes shots of a dark and empty operating room. “Times are hard, but health care is a necessity,” the narrator says. “A healthy future for New Yorkers depends on a healthy SUNY hospital system.”
The half-page newspaper ad covers both the academic and hospital issues, and uses photos taken during the videotaping of the TV spots. (See ad, back cover.) It appeared in the Albany Times Union and Legislative Gazette in January and February and in the New York Times, Newsday and the Syracuse Post- Standard during the weeks of Feb. 9 and Feb. 23. The print ad carries the headline “State budget cuts to SUNY threaten our future,” and features an empty classroom and an empty operating room. It also directs readers to the UUP?Web site and concludes with the following message: “Higher education. Health Care. Two essentials New York can’t afford to cut.”
— Denyce Duncan Lacy