Acting Vice President for Public Service and Urban Affairs John Sheffer presented the council with an overview of and update on the Feb. 2 conference, which drew political leaders from throughout Western New York.

"The premise in pursuing this is the area is facing tremendous challenges," Sheffer told the council. Regional, collaborative efforts are needed if Western New York is to overcome those challenges.

Of the 250 attending the conference, he said, more than 100 already have responded that they are eager to be part of the collaboration efforts.

"When I was mayor (of Williamsville), we didn't fully appreciate the network of formal and informal agreements in the area," he said. Those agreements now need to be expanded. Sheffer told the council that a number of action steps have been proposed as a result of the Governance conference, including the establishment of a regional computer information network, possibly modeled on one in Philadelphia.

It also was proposed that the current network of agreements that already exist among municipalities and levels of government be expanded.

Calling the Governance Project "a con- crete contribution of the university to the region," Sheffer told the council that "if it stops with the report and forum, it will not have been worth doing....This can be a big step forward as we face the huge challenges of the 21st century."

In his report to the Council, President William R. Greiner gave an analysis of SUNY tuition and budgets in an effort to put in context how money for state operations is allocated among institutions in SUNY. "A lot of people have romanticized SUNY as a system. I think of SUNY as a federation," Greiner said.

New York's state-supported campuses offer vastly different programs and receive vastly different operating budgets, Greiner told the council."To argue about SUNY as a system is to not be sensitive to the facts. The basic operating principles have been radically altered in the last five years," he said.

The only hope for survival of this campus is to secure the reforms that are part of the legislative package," Greiner said.

Asked by student representative Michael Pierce about tuition rates next year, and the possibility of differential tuition, Greiner responded that campus-based tuition is part of the reform package being considered by the legislature, but it's too early to know whether tuition will increase or by how much.

When Pierce added that students' biggest fear is that decisions about tuition will not be made until summer, Greiner responded, "They're probably right."

It also is uncertain how or whether academic programs will be affected by this year's budget. Noting that UB could see state funding decrease by as much as $10 million or more, Greiner said, "If we go to a $10 million or $12 million shortfall, there will be retrenchment. And it probably will be over the summer. I wish it weren't, but that's the way it is."

A suggestion that the Council invite mem- bers of the SUNY Board of Trustees to attend the next meeting to bring the group up to date on tuition and the restructuring of the SUNY system brought strong words of caution from Roger Blackwell.

"If you don't think it through," there can be great peril in extending such an invitation. "Take a real strong look at it and understand all the ramifications of it," Blackwell said. A better strategy might be to take a UB delegation to Albany and attend a Board of Trustees meeting, he added.

"If we were to do anything that would embarrass the trustees or exacerbate the situation it would not be in the best interests of the university," Greiner said.

Chair Philip Wels asked the council to consider inviting members of the SUNY Board of Trustees and SUNY Central "to attend any and all (UB Council) meetings as guests," a suggestion the council agreed to consider.

"We want to make sure we are putting our best foot forward" to a new group of trustees, said councilmember John Walsh. "I think there is a timing issue here."