Speeches
Fourth Annual Community AddressBuffalo Niagara at a Crossroads
John B. Simpson
September 23, 2009, Asbury Hall
Good morning—and thank you for joining us.
This is my fourth annual community address. I’ve done these with pleasure since I came to Buffalo, because our university and our community are closely tied together, and it is very important to have a forum for understanding our common cause.
Our community and our university have forged an enduring partnership. We are working shoulder to shoulder—and we’re beginning to achieve some very significant results, as you’ve just seen.
At the university, we are improving our academic quality and competing nationally for research grants. We are breaking ground on new buildings. We are transforming our business operations. We are engaging our community in planning for our campuses, while finding ways to benefit the surrounding neighborhoods and to strengthen the region’s infrastructure. We are teaming up with our community to create an innovative health-care system that integrates patient care, teaching and research. We are building strong partnerships and enjoying remarkable levels of generosity from our alumni and donors.
And in all of these endeavors, you, our community leaders, have been a key partner with us. And I thank you for that.
I believe in what we are doing—together—here in Buffalo. I believe that one day our efforts could well be seen as a model for our nation. Buffalo right now may be the third-poorest city in America, but I believe we are number one in our optimism, in our resilience, and in our determination to triumph over adversity.
One year ago, I stood before you on this stage and talked about UB 2020, the university’s strategic plan, and how it could help our community regain prosperity. I also explained to you that we would be asking the legislature to enact reforms that will enable the university to achieve UB 2020 faster, without significant additional cost to the taxpayer. And you agreed with me then, as you do now, that this plan is our best hope for a path forward.
Over the past year, there is no doubt that the path ahead has become steeper and harder. Our nation has seen the most debilitating economic downturn anyone can remember since the Great Depression.
And although we can be thankful that our region’s economy has not been hit as hard as some other parts of the country, the challenges before us are substantial—and I believe that both our university and our region now are at a pivotal moment in our history.
Today, we have reached a crossroads. Two roads lie ahead of us. One will lead to a bright future. The other will not. One road is the path we call UB 2020. The other road is the path of business as usual.
We must choose the right path. We must choose the path that will lead to a better future for people like Britt—the student who introduced me—and for Britt’s children, and for all our children and our grandchildren.
The choice is ours. We can choose to simply continue with “business as usual” or we can choose to work hard to achieve UB 2020 and with it, a better future for our region.
Looking Back: Our Public Research University
As we stand here at this crossroads, I want to look back for a moment. A little more than 100 years ago, on a September day not unlike this one, President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office here in Buffalo, only a few blocks away. He famously noted, “If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk big; we must act big.”
And acting big is exactly what America proceeded to do. We set out to build the greatest education system in the world, because our nation recognized that it was essential to our competitiveness, our security, and our democracy. We succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, creating a comprehensive system of higher education that included, for the first time in history, superb public institutions that were the envy of the world.
Today there are about 4,000 institutions of higher learning in our nation, but only 60 of them are considered America’s premier research institutions. The University at Buffalo is one of those 60. We are a member of the Association of American Universities, which includes the likes of Michigan, Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Washington and other highly ranked institutions.
America’s higher education system laid the groundwork for an unprecedented century of prosperity. Our two- and four-year colleges prepared the workforce to succeed in the emerging knowledge economy. But it was the research universities, like UB, that created this knowledge economy in the first place.
This is our fundamental mission. This is what research universities do. The work we do enables the discoveries that fuel our economy and improve the quality of our lives.
Few of us may realize today just how many of the advantages we enjoy stem directly from the innovative work of faculty members in our research universities.
These discoveries have produced the indispensable elements of everyday modern life: from CT scanners, to seatbelts, and even fluoride toothpaste. University research led to vaccines for polio and hepatitis B. University research unlocked the structure of DNA and mapped the human genome, revolutionizing medical knowledge. University innovations have fundamentally transformed agriculture, manufacturing, and even daily household life. And university scholarship done in the social sciences, the arts and the humanities has vastly enriched our understanding of ourselves and our world.
Right here in Buffalo, our own scientists and scholars have played a role in many important discoveries. They’ve created a drug that helps premature babies to breathe in those crucial first moments. They’ve helped to fashion the handwriting recognition systems that speed millions of letters through the postal system each day. And they’ve improved the effectiveness of lifesaving devices, like implantable, battery-powered cardiac pacemakers.
One of those talented Buffalo scientists is here with us today. This individual is a renowned inventor who joined the university two years ago after a very impressive career at Greatbatch.
Late last week, the White House announced that this Buffalo scientist will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor our nation awards for technological achievement.
I am referring to Dr. Esther Takeuchi, of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Esther, would you please stand so that we can recognize you?
Thank you Esther, for all that you are doing.
Along with Esther, there are thousands of other UB people—faculty, staff and students—who are making Buffalo a better place. Our scientists are helping to propel the development of our regional economy. Our artists, writers and performers are energizing a vibrant cultural scene. And our thinkers and scholars are putting Buffalo on the map as a source for fresh ideas and bold thinking about many of today’s most challenging problems. Supporting and partnering with these talented faculty members is a very capable and dedicated staff.
Imagine what Buffalo would be like if UB—and these UB people—were not here. It would be a very different place.
This important, transformative work is not something that UB—or any other university—can do by ourselves. For many decades, we have had a strong and steady partner in our state and federal governments. Our country made a deliberate choice to invest in its research universities. Americans did this because they knew something very important—that our nation’s global competitiveness, our economic prosperity, and our security begin in our research laboratories.
As a young man, I benefited from this investment, receiving support for my graduate education from a program the federal government created to strengthen our nation’s scientific competitiveness in the wake of Russia’s launch of Sputnik.
And I chose to build my career in the public research university because I believe that what we do here matters deeply to our nation. There is something fundamentally American, and deeply democratic, about the public university.
We are a forum where differing points of view are expressed. We are a workshop where new ideas are forged, and we are a greenhouse where discoveries are fostered. We are the place America turns to, again and again, for solutions to its most urgent problems. And most important, the public university offers an opportunity to anybody who has a dream, the talent, and the willingness to work hard to make that dream come true.
The Present Moment: Danger
America’s research universities are indeed a remarkable legacy. Yet I—and others—are increasingly worried that what so many worked so hard to build will be lost.
I recognize that our nation is facing an enormous economic crisis. But the trend of dis-investment in universities has been building for some time now. It has come into focus much more sharply in the past year, as governments scramble to plug increasing deficits in their budgets.
Right now, our nation needs its universities more than ever. These institutions are the economic engines of the 21st century—much like the steel mills were to the manufacturing economy of the 20th century.
We must invest in our universities, not cut them. Yet precious resources are being diverted from them to help cover short-term budget gaps. This approach—quite literally—squanders our future.
We should not imagine that we can simply cut our way out of today’s problems.
Yet state after state is doing just that. And the results are devastating. My colleagues at other universities are being forced to eliminate entire degree programs. Some are cutting sports teams and closing or selling their radio stations. Many are curtailing enrollments, and laying off staff and faculty. These cuts are destroying our precious universities, and they will take decades to repair.
So far, UB has been able to avoid such drastic measures, largely because the operating improvements we’ve made under UB 2020 have saved us millions of dollars. We had aimed to reinvest those dollars in improving our quality and extending more aid to students. Instead they’ve been swallowed up by the $25 million in permanent, recurring budget take-backs forced on our university by Albany.
Now, I understand the pressures our leaders are facing. But cutting research universities, ultimately our best source of long-term prosperity, is simply bad public policy. And this is precisely what is occurring in this state.
The problem is made worse here in New York, where the public universities have little ability to replace these lost funds.
We cannot earn resources by adjusting tuition rates for those who can afford it, and we are saddled with outdated regulations that add unnecessary costs to our operations while doing nothing to improve quality.
For example, New York has long had a pattern of leaving tuition unchanged in times of economic stability, punctuated then by unexpected, large hikes in times of crisis.
This policy, which I call “tuition roulette,” has brutal effects on our students and their families. Last year, our students suffered an unexpected—and for many, devastating—blow, when the state suddenly implemented a huge mid-year tuition hike, and then kept 90 percent of this “tax” to cover the state’s budgetary follies.
In contrast, if New York were to have a policy of regular, minor, predictable tuition increases—a rational tuition policy—then such unexpected blows would not occur. Parents and students could plan better. The research universities could invest in improving quality and increasing aid to students. And the state as a whole would grow stronger.
This is an example of the kind of forward-looking policy reform that we need.
Unfortunately, I see no evidence yet that New York State has a coherent strategy for higher education. This tells me that it has no coherent strategy for sustained economic recovery.
Albany’s strategy, rather, seems to be “business as usual.” On the surface, this might seem like a perfectly reasonable, practical, and safe approach. In uncertain times, why take a risk? Why not stick with what we’ve always done?
But look a little closer and you will see that maintaining the status quo is neither reasonable, nor practical, nor safe. It’s what got us into this mess, and it surely will not get us out of it. And there is nothing “strategic” about it.
Standing still—maintaining the status quo—is not a strategy. Quite the opposite: It’s the utter absence of a plan.
In the face of our biggest challenge in a generation, our state needs to proactively shape its future with an innovation-based strategy led by our universities.
The time has come to move past the kind of short-term, reactive solutions that only leave us collectively poorer than ever.
If we are to make any kind of real progress, we need to take off the blinders that keep us focused only on what’s immediately in front of us. We must think – and act – for our long-term future. As Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust pointed out, “Higher education is not about results in the next quarter but about discoveries that may take—and last—decades or even centuries.”
Choice: A Tale of Two Cities
Today, I believe that UB stands at a crossroads—and so does Western New York. There are two paths we can take. And whichever of these paths we choose will truly shape how Buffalo looks in the year 2020 and beyond.
Either we choose to maintain the status quo, or we choose to change our path. Either we let Albany continue to argue that our universities are “good enough” or we recognize and nourish our universities as the catalysts for New York to regain its position as a fully competitive player in the 21st century economy. We can again put the “Empire” back with “State” when talking about New York.
We can choose the path that will lead to a city with a thriving urban core. A city with a diverse and growing population of educated, talented people. A city that is recognized around the world as a home for world-class medical care and medical research. A city with a lively arts scene that attracts talent from around the globe, and a community whose embrace of innovation makes it fertile ground for new businesses, vital partnerships, prosperous investments, and fresh opportunities for all of its residents.
Or we can choose a path that will lead to a very different kind of city. One where the population continues to decline, as young people leave to find work elsewhere. A place where a third of our urban residents are illiterate, and half of our African-American men are unemployed. A community that is losing hope for its future. A community that struggles to get by and watches helplessly as new jobs go to regions that choose to invest in their research universities.
This is a bleak picture of the future, but it should not come as a surprise to anyone in this room, because this is what will happen if we do not challenge the status quo. These are nothing more than the logical consequences of policy stagnation and the short-sighted budget cuts that are taking a heavy toll on UB and on Western New York.
And if we do nothing and continue business as usual, we in Western New York are headed for much more serious trouble. Because if we keep the status quo, we won’t just stand still—we will continue our decline and we will fall far, far behind.
But there is a very different—and much better—future within our collective reach if we think and act strategically. This is precisely, I believe, what UB 2020 offers.
UB 2020 can serve as the catalyst for regional growth and lay the groundwork for our future prosperity. It is not the status quo.
Make no mistake: it will require hard work by all of us to make this vision a reality. But the possibilities are really quite remarkable.
The university’s full growth could fuel the creation of more than 10,000 new jobs in our region for people at all levels, and thousands more construction jobs as we build the university of the future.
The development of our Downtown Campus could bring more than 13,000 people into the heart of the city each day. These people will work and study, shop and live in—and around—a world-class health campus, where patient care will be integrated with teaching and research, and companies that emerge from our discoveries will create good-paying jobs for people in this region.
And UB’s growth will expand commercial opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses, opening doors to talented people who have historically been shut out.
Overall, by fully achieving UB 2020, the university will be able to nearly double its annual economic impact on our region, rising from $1.7 billion now to $3.6 billion per year by the time Britt’s children are ready for their first jobs.
These are realistic, specific projections of how UB’s plans can transform this region. On campus, we are doing everything within our power to implement our plan. But without a substantial change to the status quo, an end to short-term thinking, and a lot of hard work, it will not be achieved.
The Solution: A Long-Term Strategic Investment in Public Higher Education
It is time to re-learn the lesson of our past. We need to recall that higher education is a public good, benefiting all citizens, not merely a private benefit, serving only those who earn a degree.
We need to recognize that an investment in our research university is an investment in our collective well-being.
Working together, our university and community can provide a model for how other communities in the nation can achieve a lasting economic turnaround. By achieving UB 2020, Buffalo can become an inspiring success story, like the Research Triangle, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Pittsburgh.
The university is ready. We have created a bold, long-range strategic vision to become one of the nation’s premier research universities.
And I believe this community is ready. We have a never-say-die spirit. We should, because we’ve faced our share of adversity. Whether it’s “wide right” or “no goal” or the “October surprise,” I think we know how to rise to a challenge, work together and bounce back.
Take our UB football team as an example. After ranking dead last of all Division I teams, the Bulls have worked steadily to improve, until last year they won the Mid-American Conference championship, and enjoyed UB’s first-ever post-season bowl trip. That’s what can happen when you challenge your own status quo.
In a larger sense, this community has embraced UB 2020 as its challenge to the status quo. We are increasingly united around this goal, and we are steadily earning support from key partners statewide. But there is more work that needs to be done.
Here is our game plan. There are five things that must be done. They all require commitment, strategic thinking, and steady effort.
Number 1: At the university, we must continue doing everything within our power to make good on the UB 2020 promise. We will remain steadfast in our pursuit of excellence and unwavering in our commitment to this community.
Number 2: Our friends in the Western New York legislative delegation must continue their good work in Albany, and sustain what we have started over the past year. We need the entire community to continue supporting their efforts to secure the state investment and regulatory flexibility we need to achieve UB 2020.
Number 3: We need Albany to create a coherent higher education policy—and to provide the resources necessary for it to succeed. These funds can come from direct New York State investments, or they can come from a rational tuition policy, and from the savings that will result from no-cost changes to outdated regulations.
Number 4: We need SUNY’s leaders to work together on a strategic plan for the entire system, one that can do for New York State what UB 2020 can do for Buffalo. We applaud our new Chancellor, Nancy Zimpher, for her leadership in this direction, and for the strong support she has already voiced for the kind of policy reforms we are seeking. We will work with her and our SUNY colleagues to achieve this goal.
And finally, most importantly, Number 5: We need you, the members of our Western New York community, to continue your financial, political and moral support for UB. We need you to continue spreading the word to your employees, your co-workers, your business partners, your neighbors, and your legislators that UB 2020 is this region’s big idea, and its best path forward toward economic recovery.
You, as the leaders of our community, are the people who will choose the path this region will take. You will determine what the future will look like in 2020 and beyond.
It has been said that no city can be great without having a great university in it. And I believe it is equally true that no university can be great without having a great city around it.
Your presence here today, and the strong support this community has provided over the years, tell me that you agree, and that you share the brighter vision of Buffalo’s future. I know that you are fed up with the status quo and I believe you are committed to working together to rewrite our community’s destiny.
Five years ago, I stood before you at my inauguration as UB’s 14th president. I spoke to you then of the opportunities that lie within our reach and the bold and visionary spirit we need to collectively embrace those opportunities. On that occasion, I quoted President Theodore Roosevelt, a man who embodied that bold and visionary spirit.
I would like to close by again sharing with you some of his inspiring words. Roosevelt said:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.”
Our university and our community have indeed entered the arena together, and we are striving valiantly to achieve the worthiest of goals—a new future for our region, led by a university that is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and committed to strengthening the communities we serve in meaningful and lasting ways.
Thank you for your support, as members of this community, for the UB 2020 vision, and for affirming your belief in this vision by being here with us today.
