February 23, 1995: Vol26n28: No ease in financial burdens for SUNY, Greiner tells FSEC

By CHRIS SHEA
Reporter contributor
Updating the Faculty Senate Executive Committee on the current status
of Gov. Pataki's proposed budget cuts, UB President William Greiner
said Feb. 15 that he does not foresee the state legislature easing the
financial burden placed on the SUNY system.
	"I'm not optimistic," he said. "We're going to have to face up
to some very difficult decisions."
	Greiner, who has traveled to Albany and met with both the
governor and state legislators, said the sentiment in Albany is that
the SUNY system can be pruned financially. That sentiment, he
continued, explains why such a highly disproportionate amount of cuts
in aid to state agencies were directed at the SUNY system.
	The average funding decrease for other state agencies under
Gov. Pataki's proposed budget is approximately 6.5 percent. For SUNY,
Greiner said, the decrease in aid amounts to a 31.5 percent reduction.
	"It's clear we were a target," he said.
	The UB president said Gov. Pataki looked at the levels of
state support and the amounts of tuition charged at other state
schools, particularly in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey,
before he decided to reduce the level of state aid to SUNY. Greiner
said that the picture the governor has of SUNY is that it's more of a
bargain compared to the other state systems. By cutting state aid, he
added, Gov. Pataki would save the state money by forcing SUNY's budget
to become tuition-driven, not taxpayer-driven.
	Less than a decade ago, in 1986-87, Greiner noted, more than
90 percent of SUNY's funding was derived from state taxpayer money;
yet under Gov. Pataki's proposed 1995-96 budget, only 43.5 percent of
SUNY's budget would stem from state taxpayer money. "We will have
gone," Greiner said, "from being a state-owned, state-funded
institution to a state-owned, state-assisted institution."
	Greiner said that although the SUNY system has not had a
tuition increase in three years the effects on students will still be
harsh. "It will not be a bright picture for those students throughout
the SUNY system who may have to re-think where they will be next
year." The impact on the part-time student, he added, will be
particularly harsh because of the expected rise in the cost of
individual credit hours.
Greiner also warned that this year's proposed budget would probably
not be the last time SUNY faces cuts -- although future cuts probably
could not be as severe as the ones this year
	Before hearing from President Greiner, the FSEC also discussed
and outlined the role that the Senate and some of its committees
should play in preparing UB for the looming budget cuts.
	One of those groups, the FSEC's Budget Priorities Committee,
currently chaired by Professor Jennifer Crocker, would play a central
role in allowing the FSEC to communicate its concerns regarding issues
such as academic and enrollment planning, the allocation of funding,
and other areas of university operations that are sure to be affected
by the upcoming budget, according to FSEC Chair Peter Nickerson.
	Professor Terry Gates, convenor of the Budget Priorities
Committee, said the committee also provides a useful forum for members
of the faculty to help identify alternative sources of funding to
replace state aid. He said the committee has already met with Senior
Vice President Robert Wagner for a "strategy meeting."