October 19, 1995-Vol27n8: SUNY 'rethink' has Dec. 1 deadline

SUNY 'rethink' has Dec. 1 deadline

By CHRISTINE VIDAL

Reporter Editor

IME IS without a doubt the greatest enemy facing the SUNY Board of Trustees as it continues its work on Rethinking SUNY, a multi-year, comprehensive, statewide plan to reform the State University system.

With the Dec. 1 deadline fast approaching, the stakes are high as the trustees look at the future of public higher education in New York State.

In response to a mandate by the state legislature, the trustees have formed four committees, made up of trustees, members of the SUNY Faculty Senate and SUNY campus representatives, to examine a variety of issues related to higher education. The committees' charge: to find ways to deal with the dramatic and recurring reductions in state tax support for SUNY's operating budget, while at the same time avoiding huge tuition increases. Committee areas are Operations, Structure, Mission/Vision, and Operating Revenue/Tuition.

The issues to be examined cover a broad range, from system-wide administration to faculty productivity, learning productivity and time-to-degree averages, utilization of academic and administrative technology, conditions for encouraging entrepreneurship and strengthening academic specialization. Even the configuration of the SUNY system is not sacrosanct, as the trustees and others responsible for Rethinking SUNY look at details such as the geographical origins of students on each campus, space utilization by campuses, expenditures and comparative peer revenue data.

The Operations and Structure committees have been asked to examine areas that include business services, management flexibility, computing services and technology, student services and systems, SUNY system administration, campus collaboration, facilities and entrepreneurship.

More specifically, the focus is on a fundamental redesign of business functions; redefinition of the system office and campus relationships; a serious examination of regional or multi-campus partnerships; and a renewed emphasis on campus responsibility and accountability for measurable outcomes, rather than inputs and process controls.

Among the recommendations under consideration:

Re-engineering of SUNY's business services by improving and automating the revenue accounting system, and investigating competitive procurement of selected support services.

Increased management flexibility through the decentralization of Civil Service position classification, certification and recruitment requirements, and the introduction of an ongoing retirement incentive.

Improvements to computer services and technology by re-engineering current procedures to utilize computer technology to reduce cost and the administrative burden of paper documents.

Integration of student services and systems, including Financial Aid, Registrar, Student Accounts and other related offices, to improve efficiency and customer service.

Elimination of duplication of effort within SUNY System Administration among State University of New York (SUNY), Research Foundation (RF) and State University Construction Fund (SUCF) and re-engineering business systems and practices to benefit from economics of scale.

Encouraging campus collaboration in order to provide selected human resources functions on a regional basis and achieve economics of scale in equipment and operation.

Acceleration of energy conservation efforts.

Encouraging entrepreneurship by changing the utility allocation model and allowing campuses to retain the savings; amending the SUNY Board of Trustees policies to permit short-term rentals and leases; and providing relief from restrictive personnel policies, including term/permanent appointments.

Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner will be talking with various university groups between now and the Dec. 1 deadline, and members of the university community will have an opportunity to offer their comments on and reactions to Rethinking SUNY.