Program cuts at some SUNY campuses are leaving some union representatives concerned.
Financial deficits at SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Fredonia have led to some academic programs being cut. United University Professions, the union representing the faculty and professional staff of the SUNY system, is calling on SUNY to step in and fix the financial issue without cuts to programming. UUP President Frederick Kowal said he disagrees with the cuts.
“SUNY, at this point, in announcing these cuts and pursuing them, is dead wrong on what ought to be happening in the face of the financial problems that campuses are facing,” Kowal says.
He said cutting programs is not the answer to solving a financial deficit.
“You don’t get out of a financial problem by eliminating programs and shrinking institutions,” Kowal said. “You do so by investing in the campuses with public money, grow the campuses, grow the programs, attract students, retain students. That’s how you grow with this kind of issue.”
He said with unprecedented SUNY funding this year, SUNY Chancellor John King should be stepping in to help campuses.
“He needs to change the course that they have decided upon, take the resources that are in the SUNY budget and allocate them to the campuses that have deficits,” Kowal said.
In an interview with the Albany Times Union King said SUNY is working “intensely” with each college to help them plan their way out of deficit. He said that while some programs may have to go, SUNY colleges are not in severe danger of closing.
