University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

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  “The time has come to treat SUNY and CUNY like universities, instead of state agencies, so that they can reach their potential as universities and we can reach our potential as a state.”

  Gov. David Paterson

By JOHN DELLACONTRADA

Published: May 12, 2010

President John B. Simpson stood with Gov. David Paterson at a rally in Albany on Tuesday to support the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA). 

The act represents the greatest reform to New York State's system of public higher education in the past 30 years, Paterson said. “It will help SUNY and CUNY build upon the tradition of access to excellence that our institutions of public higher education have come to embody.

“The time has come to treat SUNY and CUNY like universities, instead of state agencies, so that they can reach their potential as universities and we can reach our potential as a state,” he added.

Also joining Paterson and Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch were SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and SUNY Board of Trustees Chair Carl Hayden, as well as leaders from SUNY and CUNY institutions, students, and business and labor leaders. 

Proposed in Paterson’s 2010 Executive Budget and approved in a state Senate budget resolution in March, PHEEIA would give SUNY institutions the financial flexibility to play a major role in the state’s economic resurgence.

Simpson told the assembled crowd that a strong public higher education system for New York State, anchored by excellent research universities, is the best hope for creating the knowledge-based economy New York State needs to prosper in the 21st century.

“That’s why the University at Buffalo and our SUNY partners have put forth a responsible and responsive policy proposal that will empower us to help our state weather the current economic storm, and help us all move forward toward a brighter future,” he said. “The passage of Gov. Paterson’s PHEEIA proposal is essential to realizing this vision—and to ensuring equitable access to the opportunities created by this new economy.”

PHEEIA reforms are based on groundwork laid by UB and SUNY's Board of Trustees. They include changes to key areas of public higher education governance: tuition, public-private partnerships and procurement, similar to those proposed last year in the UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act introduced by Western New York's legislative delegation and passed by the Senate.

The proposal allows for the SUNY and CUNY systems to predictably raise tuition up to a cap without legislative approval and to reinvest those revenues back into the systems; allows for campuses to more efficiently enter into public-private partnerships to pursue collaborative research with industry among other opportunities; and avoids unnecessary pre-audits by the attorney general and state comptroller for the procurement of goods and services while maintaining accountability through internal system audits and a post-audit regime overseen by the attorney general and state comptroller. Click here for additional information on the proposal.

Over the past two years, UB has generated widespread support in Western New York for the reforms because they are critical to the economic goals of the UB 2020 strategic plan. Achieving UB 2020 would increase UB’s local and regional economic impact from $1.7 billion to $3.6 billion and create thousands of jobs, according to UB officials.

More than 30 business, labor, community and university groups have expressed their public support of PHEEIA and UB 2020. They include the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Amherst Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, the City of Buffalo, Erie County, Niagara County, Town of Amherst; Building Trades and United Autoworkers, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Greatbatch Inc., The Buffalo News editorial board, Business First editorial board, the Board of Block Clubs, the Jeremiah Partnership, Oishei Foundation, UB undergraduate Student Association, UB Faculty Senate, UB Alumni Association, UB Council, UB Parent Council and others.

UB 2020 calls for expanding the university’s Downtown Campus by relocating to Buffalo’s urban core the five health-science schools of UB’s Academic Health Center. Such expansion would create an estimated 6,700 jobs at UB, as well as 20,000 construction jobs. It would bring an additional 13,000 faculty, staff and students to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus on a daily basis—sparking further economic development of Buffalo's East Side, which has been beset for decades by poverty, joblessness and inadequate housing.

UB 2020 was launched by Simpson and the UB faculty in 2004. It is the university's strategic plan for becoming a model 21st century research university through focused research, growth and transformation of UB’s three campuses.  For more information about UB 2020, click here.