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Former chancellor voices optimism for UB's future
Tracing the development of American higher education, Johnstone noted that New York was late in establishing its own public university system. SUNY now faces a variety of concerns, including what he called the "inevitable conflict" between research and undergraduate teaching, and the tension between high standards and the need to make education accessible to the public. Despite its high taxes, Johnstone said, New York spends less per capita on its public universities and colleges than almost any other state. He considered this a reason for hope that the state could be persuaded to spend more on SUNY. "I'm tremendously proud of SUNY for overcoming all these restrictions," Johnstone concluded in his "UB at Sunrise" breakfast talk. "I am proud to have played a small role in (UB's) maturation, and even prouder now to be one of its professors."
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The UB professor of education and former SUNY chancellor said the public university system has been hampered by the "extraordinary intrusiveness" of a state government that is unwilling to grant much independence. Also, New York politicians are suspicious of academics, and see SUNY more as a burden than as an asset, he said.
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