Senate urges advocacy for campus construction funding

The resolution, focusing on funding for construction of the mathematics building on the North Campus and the rehabilitation of Farber Hall on the South Campus into a Comprehensive Health Science Education Center, was introduced by the senate's Budget Priorities Committee and approved by the full senate at its Feb. 18 meeting.

The senate deviated from its usual procedure of introducing resolutions at one meeting and voting on them at the next because of the urgency of the situation, said Claude Welch, Faculty Senate chair and SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science.

Gov. Pataki's Executive Budget does not include money for major new SUNY capital projects, including the mathematics building and the Comprehensive Health Science Education Center.

The mathematics building, estimated to cost $6 million, is in the design phase and has been approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees and the SUNY Construction Fund, and reviewed by the Division of the Budget (DOB). An architect has been hired and a schematic design finished for the education center, which would consolidate the educational functions of the health sciences into one building and add a primary-care clinic for use as a training ground for students.

During a briefing on the budget situation earlier in the meeting, Greiner told senators that UB will continue to push for funding for the education center and for construction of a cogeneration facility on the South Campus "with the realistic hope of getting them into the capital process next year."

However, the university will make a special appeal for funding this year for the mathematics building because it is "so strategically important for this campus and for undergraduate students and for the well-being of the math faculty," he said.

The university "will go outside normal channels," appealing for funding to the state legislative leadership, Greiner added. He said officials in the DOB have indicated they have no problems with UB seeking a special exemption on this project, adding, "They just don't want to be the ones to initiate it.

"It's just in the budget strategy this year they (DOB) are following statewide, for them to initiate any building would just open the floodgates. We're going to have to see if we can manage to get this done using the good offices of the Western New York delegation and some others," Greiner said.

"We think there's at least a reasonable prospect to get that project on-line."

In introducing the resolution supporting the restoration of the two capital-construction projects at UB, the Budget Priorities Committee felt it was important for faculty to have a role in advocacy for the university, said Peter Nickerson, professor of pathology and chair of the committee. The committee determined that for UB, the two priority items for restoration in the budget are the mathematics building and the rehabilitation of Farber Hall, he said.

"In the process of advocacy, it would be helpful, the committee feels, to be able to have the senate speak," Nickerson said. "And that process of advocacy starts now. The UB Council will meet soon, so if we are going to have some say, the committee proposes we deal with this resolution."

The resolution would come from the faculty and would be directed to the president and others involved in the advocacy process, Nickerson said.

Welch added that as senate chair, he would send copies of the resolution to Greiner and urge him to use it in his meetings with members of the Western New York legislative delegation, the UB Council and SUNY system administration.

He said he thought the resolution would strengthen Greiner's hand in advocacy efforts. "We are a representative elected body of the faculty. We're speaking about the academic importance of these buildings," he said. "I think we have a legitimate and appropriate voice here."