“Don’t be fooled by the Act.

“The so-called Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act is not good for SUNY and students. Don’t let the name deceive you.”

UUP’s latest print advertising campaign is driving home the point that the Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA) ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“The misleading terminology of this legislation is reminiscent of No Child Left Behind—which sounded like a great idea, but did little to improve education,” said UUP President Phillip Smith. “This ‘Empowerment and Innovation Act’ has a nice ring to it, but it won’t succeed in doing anything except privatizing the University.”

UUP’s awareness campaign dispels the myths about PHEEIA: If the legislation is enacted, SUNY students would pay a lot more; public/private partnerships have actually lost revenue; SUNY could place a surcharge on tuition; and there’s no guarantee that tuition and fees would be used to benefit the academic mission of the campus.

The print ad urges readers to go to SaveSUNY.org and tell lawmakers to keep SUNY public (see ad, back page).

The half-page ads began appearing in early March in 150 weekly newspapers around the state, including the Legislative Gazette, the publication targeted specifically for lawmakers, as well as in five daily papers: the Albany Times Union, The Buffalo News, The Post-Standard in Syracuse, the Daily News in metropolitan New York and Newsday on Long Island.

Versions of the ad also ran in African-American and Hispanic newspapers in New York City, and were made available to student publications on SUNY’s state-operated campuses.

People commuting on the Long Island Railroad could see UUP’s message printed clearly on nearly 400 platform and rail car signs, quickly calling their attention to SaveSUNY.org.

All the ads include a photo and comment from those who stand to lose the most: students and parents.

“If this Act is passed, my son and other students couldn’t afford SUNY. Don’t deny their opportunity,” one ad reads. Another ad features three students with the quote, “If this Act is passed, students like us would not be able to afford SUNY. Don’t deny our opportunity.”

The newspaper and LIRR rail ads come on the heels of a 30-second TV ad that featured UUP members and SUNY students decrying the governor’s drastic budget cuts to SUNY. That ad hit the airwaves in early February in major media markets, including Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Long Island, New York City and Syracuse. The ads continued through the third week of March.

The TV and print ads are just two of the ways people are prompted to visit SaveSUNY.org, UUP’s micro-Web site designed to educate students, citizens and lawmakers about the deep cuts to SUNY in the last two years, and to dispel the myths about PHEEIA. It encourages all New Yorkers to speak up for SUNY by signing an online petition and faxing letters to lawmakers, urging them to reject PHEEIA and any further cuts to the University.

And it’s paying off.

As The Voice went to press, nearly 15,000 letters were faxed by computer to legislators from the UUP, NYSUT?and SaveSUNY Web sites.

In addition, more than 3,000 people signed the online petition that’s available on SaveSUNY.org. Another 3,200 clicked on UUP banner ads that tease SaveSUNY.org, which are currently in place on Web sites such as CNN.com, Syracuse.com, BuffaloNews.com, Newsday.com, weather.com, Facebook and Google.

In all, the banner ads have resulted in nearly 6.9 million “impressions”—the number of times an ad is viewed on a Web page.

— Karen L. Mattison