Reporter Volume 26, No.22 March 30, 1995

By CHRIS SHEA
Reporter Contributor
The battle over Gov. Pataki's proposed state budget is quickly
becoming, according to UB President William R. Greiner, "like a game
of chicken."
	With the governor publicly refusing to yield on his budget and
many state legislators behaving as if they simply do not believe the
SUNY Board of Trustees' ominous forecasts of what will happen should
Pataki's budget be implemented, it would appear, Greiner told the
Faculty Senate Executive Committee last Wednesday, that there will be
substantial support "to get the governor's budget passed as intact as
possible."
	Then, it will be up to the SUNY Board of Trustees, the SUNY
Chancellor and the individual SUNY schools to deal with the impact of
the cuts, Greiner said.
	Although many within the SUNY system, including Chancellor
Thomas Bartlett and the Board of Trustees, have voiced concerns about
the possibility of campus closings and drops in enrollment if tuition
is raised substantially and financial aid is cut -- two logical
outgrowths of the governor's budget cuts -- the legislature and the
governor are skeptical of these warnings, Greiner said.
	"They think it's scare tactics," he said.
	Although Greiner added that he thinks the cuts to the SUNY
system will be "moderated a little" through the political process, he
also said he believed this moderation will not be enough to prevent
both UB and the SUNY system from doing things that are "very
unpalatable." As an example, he mentioned the possibility of
retrenchment.
	"We will, as always, try to avoid things like retrenchment,"
Greiner said, "but this budget may be so bad we won't be able to avoid
it."
	Greiner also said that although he thinks the SUNY Board of
Trustees will not close campuses right away, he added that he thinks
some SUNY units will fail financially if the governor's proposed cuts
go through.
He noted that many schools in the SUNY system -- particularly the SUNY
agricultural and technical schools -- are almost fully reliant on
state aid. These schools may not be able to survive this round of
cuts, Greiner said. At UB, he warned that the medical school and the
Health Sciences departments will be affected particularly hard by this
budget because these departments are already in danger of losing
additional money from the state and federal cutbacks to the Medicare
and Medicaid programs.
	With cuts in state aid, UB will be forced to look for new
sources of financial support. "A big tuition increase -- although
maybe not as large as the $1,600 increase recommended by the SUNY
Board of Trustees -- will happen," Greiner said.
	According to Ronald Stein, vice president for University
Advancement and Development, increased fund-raising is another
alternative source of funding. Stein said one method to increase UB's
ability to raise money from private sources is to conduct a capital
campaign.
	Capital campaigns, Stein told the FSEC, are intensive
fund-raising efforts in which alumni, other individuals and private
corporations are all actively solicited to contribute gifts, grants or
endowments to the university. These kinds of campaigns have become
popular at state universities all across the country, he said.
	Stein said UB is planning on having a capital campaign up and
running "within five years." He said the campaign goal would be to
raise $150 million during this five-year period.
	Stein reported that UB expects to raise $15 million in gift
and grant revenues this fiscal year, up 15 percent from last year.
This year's $15 million includes the largest single spendable gift
given to a SUNY school -- a $1.6 million gift given anonymously to
further UB's recruitment of meritorious students.
	Stein also added that, within the past two months, UB has
formally solicited two Fortune 500 companies for $1 million gifts or
grants. If received, one of these million dollar gifts would be
utilized to further educational programs for underrepresented
minorities and women; the other would be used to develop an
International Management program.