By CHARLES ANZALONE
Contributing Editor

President John B. Simpson reassured the UB Council Tuesday that the bold goal of making UB one of the nation’s top public research universities by the year 2020 will not be compromised or shortchanged by the change in leadership in the governor’s office in Albany.

“The plan we have put together is long-term,” Simpson told council members. “It is decidedly so, and meant to be that way.

“What we are doing transcends who happens to be in the governor’s office in Albany and most particularly the vicissitudes of the state budget year,” he added.

As he did at the Campus Conversation earlier in the day attended by 2,300 faculty and staff members, Simpson acknowledged that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a strong and consistent ally in UB’s plan to reach the ambitious goals of UB 2020 and the plan to grow the university by 40 percent.

“We just lost a governor who was very invested in what we were doing,” Simpson told council members. “His leadership and ability to keep the conversation focused will be missed, to be sure. We also have a budget situation characterized by a substantial deficit, and I don’t think it’s going to be particularly good for us this year.”

But Simpson said the climate among state lawmakers, particularly among the Western New York delegation, remains supportive of UB’s 2020 vision. The commitment, Simpson said, goes beyond the well-publicized backing of the former governor.

Nevertheless, Simpson warned of the “difficult situation” facing UB in the present state budget. There is an estimated $5 billion budget gap in an overall state budget of about $124 billion, Simpson said.

“Our operations budget will be cut,” he said. “How much of it will be cut? At this time, I do not know.”

On the other hand, Simpson was more optimistic about UB receiving at least a portion of the funds it expected in the state’s capital budget—money that will go for new buildings, replacing and renovating buildings and upgrades in the university’s facilities. The exact funding, he noted, has yet to be worked out.

Simpson urged council members and the UB community attending the Campus Conversation to focus on the big picture. The budget woes and expected uncertainty while Gov. David Paterson becomes comfortable in the state’s top position are “transient” issues, according to Simpson.

“UB 2020 completely bypasses any particular year or any of these other issues,” Simpson said. He also praised UB Council members and others who accompanied him during the recent UB Day in Albany, where the UB delegation met with several state lawmakers.

“If I go to Albany and say, ‘Give me more money and give me more freedom,’ people yawn because that’s what every president does,” Simpson said. “But if I go with the support of the community, it’s a very different conversation.”

In other action at Tuesday’s meeting:

• The council approved awarding UB’s prestigious Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal to Robert M. Bennett, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents and former president and CEO of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County. Council member Edmond Gicewicz praised Bennett for exemplifying the values and spirit of the Norton Medal, an award honoring someone for “great and ennobling” accomplishments that dignified Buffalo in the eyes of the world. The Norton Medal is the highest honor awarded by UB.

• The council also approved a name change for Acheson Hall on the South Campus. The Acheson name now will be used to identify the Edward Goodrich Acheson Lecture Hall in the Natural Sciences Complex on the North Campus. The former Acheson Hall will be renamed John Kapoor Hall to honor the prominent alumnus of the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences whose philanthropic efforts have supported UB and its pharmacy school.