To the Editor:

It’s ridiculous that SUNY-Potsdam will be receiving $1,000,000 of tax-payer money to fix its clocktower, even though the campus is shutting down numerous academic programs because of its $9,000,000 deficit.

SUNY and its campuses have a well-known history of questionable fiscal practices, including bloated administrative costs, outrageous golden handshakes, and litigation settlements hidden under the guise of salaries. SUNY Chancellor John King gets a salary of $750,000 (plus $210,000 in additional benefits and reimbursements), which is three times the salary that Gov. Hochul earns.

Less than 10 years ago, $55,000,000 was spent building the Performing Arts Center, yet the campus is now shutting down its Theater and Dance programs, the very programs that the building was built for.

Yet every year, SUNY parades its campus presidents to Albany to beg the Legislature for more money.

It’s angering that SUNY administrators can manage to find $1,000,000 of our tax dollars to fix a clocktower, but somehow can’t find enough money to keep the college’s Chemistry, Spanish, and Philosophy programs up and running.

Paul Siskind
Norwood