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UB 2020 bill ‘priority’ for SUNY
Chancellor Nancy Zimpher speaks at a press conference in Harriman Hall. Pictured with Zimpher are, from left, President John B. Simpson; Muriel Howard, president of Buffalo State College; and Dennis Ponton, Buffalo State provost who will become interim president on Aug. 1 when Howard leaves to become president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI
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Slideshow: SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher visits UB. | View slideshow
SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, visiting UB yesterday as part of her summer-long tour of SUNY campuses, strongly supported the UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act, calling it a “very high priority for SUNY.”
Speaking to the media at a press conference in Harriman Hall, South Campus, Zimpher said tuition flexibility—a key element of the legislation that would help UB achieve the objectives of UB 2020—is a “great idea because it gives us a bit more of an opportunity to manifest our destiny, if you will, to play to the market.”
The bill, which has been approved by the Senate and is under consideration in the Assembly, would allow UB to set modest increases in tuition by program and class year for its undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs, based on the average tuition of peer public institutions. The tuition revenues would be used exclusively for UB educational needs and for financial aid for students.
The legislation also would allow for more flexibility for capital projects and construction, purchasing and the lease, sale and purchase of property.
While UB was the institution that raised the issue of tuition flexibility in the Legislature—and “it needed to be brought to the Legislature,” Zimpher stressed—she noted that as chancellor of the entire SUNY system, she supports expanding that flexibility beyond UB to other SUNY institutions.
“As you might imagine, no good idea goes unpunished. There are others who think that the tuition flexibility and land lease flexibility that is inherent in the bill is good for them as well,” she said, adding that she will be brokering the concept with colleagues in the other research centers and medical schools.
“I totally support the concept,” she said. “I have told the leadership of both the Assembly and the Senate that this is an issue that is going to be a very high priority for the State University of New York.”
Zimpher noted that she did her best to lobby for the bill when the Assembly was in session. “I will now try my even better best to keep this issue alive,” she said, adding that she is ready to work with the body when it comes back in session.
Although she has only been on the job for 23 days, she pointed out, she already has been “building relationships,” meeting with the governor and the Senate and Assembly leadership. “People are saying, ‘welcome, we want to work with you.’ And I’m going to take them at their word and I’m going to be a good partner from the SUNY perspective.”
Zimpher began her tour of local SUNY institutions on Friday at Erie Community College, and spent Monday at Buffalo State College.
Tuesday she met with the board of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, as well as the editorial board of the Buffalo News. On-campus activities included meetings with UB Council members, senior university leadership, senior faculty and students, and a luncheon with Western New York health care leaders. She took a tour of the North Campus that included stops at the TRIAD research program in the Graduate School of Education and MCEER.
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