Focus now on academic planning, not budget numbers, Greiner urges

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor

Rather than wringing its hands over another budget cut, the campus community needs to focus on the business at hand. "The most important thing this spring is academic planning, which the provost will lead," he said.

"Don't let (the budget) distract us from the more important business we have. This is an opportunity for the institution to focus on teaching, learning and scholarly research," Greiner said.

The 1997-98 executive budget, released on Jan. 14, includes a $124 million overall reduction in the SUNY budget. It also proposes an undergraduate tuition increase of up to $400 per year and a $175-million reduction in funding for the Tuition Assistance Program. The executive budget includes $5 million for graduate and technology equipment. It does not, however, include proposals for any flexibility regulations for the campuses.

A decade of budget cuts, Greiner said, are leaving him-and probably most other campus leaders throughout SUNY-so "jaded" that it's difficult to keep track of how many reductions have been absorbed. "Fifteen reductions in 11 years? Who knows, we've lost count," he said.

According to Greiner, the constant squeeze on funding for higher education in New York State "is a drag" on the operations of the entire SUNY system. Campuses keep working harder and harder at efficiencies. Tuition keeps going up and the amount of operating funds keeps going down.

"Bleed a little here, bleed a little there. It just gets tiresome," he said.

Perhaps most disconcerting to Greiner is the lack of public dialog on the future of higher education in New York State. "What are we really trying to accomplish? The governor has no discernible agenda. Taking funding out every year is not an agenda, it's an activity," he said.

"What is the real value assigned to higher education? How good is higher education in the state? Let's have somebody ask those questions."

Greiner noted that he finds the current attitude toward higher education in New York State both puzzling and troubling. "We're a lower priority than we once were," he said. "People are not thinking about higher education."

The state's higher-education expenditures are not outrageous, he added. "In New York State, the amount of money spent on higher education looks to be about right, compared with other states we're similar to," Greiner said.

"The real problem is there's no sense of an agenda. What does the state hope to accomplish? There's been no public discussion."