New York Times: Stop raiding the Ivory Tower

An op-ed in The New York Times by Peter D. Salins, former SUNY provost and professor of political science at the State University at Stony Brook, supports the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, which would allow SUNY and CUNY to set their own tuition rates and give them the freedom to raise additional revenue to compensate for the $840 million in budget cuts the state has imposed over the past three years. "Such a move is long overdue ," the op-ed says, and notes that "SUNY Buffalo's growing life sciences center is a major engine of the local economy, which is why Buffalo's Democratic state senator, William Stachowski, won't sign on to a budget deal without the public higher education act," and calls the Assembly's opposition to PHEEIA "misplaced and insincere."