University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

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  “If we continue without a change in the way in which Albany governs, regulates and funds this university, my prediction is we will not be able to continue as the kind of research university that we have been.”

  President John B. Simpson

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: March 24, 2010

The UB Council on Monday unanimously endorsed the proposed Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, the legislation currently being debated in the state Legislature that would put in place “no-cost, high-impact” reforms designed to empower SUNY—and particularly UB—“to become a pre-eminent public research university, foster job creation and assist in driving the economic revitalization of New York State.”

The legislation “is essential for UB and SUNY to move forward and it’s essential for the economic future of the State of New York,” said council Chair Jeremy M. Jacobs in moving a resolution in support of the legislation.

“We know what’s happening in Albany; we see it, we live it. It’s a very difficult environment in which to grow,” Jacobs said. “We need to come out on the right side of this.

“The deterioration in the budget has been handled (by the UB administration) in a way that’s been perceived as superficial. But it’s substantive; we’re trying to grow this community. It’s so essential for us to get behind it (the legislation),” he said.

The legislation would move tuition outside the state budget process, allowing SUNY trustees to implement differential tuition rates and raise tuition up to an annual cap of 2 ½ times the five-year rolling average of the Higher Education Price Index. It also would allow SUNY to receive and disburse revenues from tuition and self-supporting program activities without an appropriation from the Legislature. In addition, it would encourage public-private partnerships and provide regulatory relief from burdensome and duplicative state policies.

Prior to the vote on the resolution, President John B. Simpson told council members that UB expects a further budget cut of $16.5 million next month, bringing the total reduction in state operating funds to $56.5 million since spring 2008.

UB so far has survived these massive budget cuts because of careful central planning—money had been reallocated and reinvested internally in anticipation of funding UB 2020, Simpson said.

“Alas, the funds we have accrued through reorganization, through changes in business processes have almost wholly gone back to Albany to deal with the budget cuts we’ve been given,” he added.

“But, if you ask most people in the university, the changes, despite the magnitude of the cuts, have been subtle and have been nowhere near the kind of catastrophic outcome that one might have predicted from cutting what is more than one-quarter of the state’s budget funds in essentially two years,” he said. He cited the work of Provost Satish K. Tripathi and his staff, and the deans and vice presidents, who, he said, have done “a remarkable job” in “focusing on maintaining our commitment to our fundamental academic mission, above all.”

But, Simpson warned, UB is now at the point where it no longer will be able to handle these kinds of cuts in the way that it has so far—“in a way that is relatively transparent for faculty, staff and students.”

“We’re at the end of the devices we’re able to use without eliminating personnel —without eliminating workforce,” he noted.

Moreover, the senior administration is going to have to make tough decisions regarding programs and units: whether to subsidize weaker units at the expense of stronger units, or whether to eliminate units and/or programs entirely.

“This is going to be, for the university, a very difficult decision, and it is a decision that will have major consequences for this university’s future, for its standing in the community and for the development of UB 2020,” he said.

UB remains committed to UB 2020, Simpson said, calling the plan “achievable, but it is further away today by a number of years than it was two years ago.”

But, he stressed, if the state maintains the status quo in governing and funding SUNY, “it’s a recipe for disaster.”

“I think (UB’s) survival as an AAU institution, as a major public research university, is called into question now in a way it never has been in the university’s history. If we continue without a change in the way in which Albany governs, regulates and funds this university, my prediction is we will not be able to continue as the kind of research university that we have been.”

There is relief offered by the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, he said, and UB and SUNY have been working tirelessly for the legislation.

“I remain optimistic about the future of this university. We do have a clear strategy, unlike the state of New York, we have a clear plan as defined by UB 2020,” Simpson said. “It is achievable. What we need is the kind of support and help that only the State of New York can give us. We’ve done what we can; now we need the state to reciprocate and invest in its future in a way that benefits not just the university, but the community itself.”

In other business at the meeting, the council heard a presentation about UB’s emergency response plan, and was briefed by University Police Chief Gerald Schoenle about the university’s response to an unconfirmed report on Feb. 16 of a man with a weapon in Lockwood Library.

Also on Monday, council members formally approved naming the student housing complex under construction adjacent to the Ellicott Complex William R. Greiner Hall. Council members previously had approved the naming in an e-mail vote.

They also approved naming the newly renovated Triple Gym in Alumni Arena the Edward L. Wright Practice Facility. The request to name the facility in honor of Wright, assistant director for recreation instruction who served as UB’s hockey coach during the 1980s, came from donor and alumnus Tunney S. Murchie and his family.