BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

SUNY officials are pushing back against recent statements from the United University Professions and New York State United Teachers that were critical of SUNY Chancellor John King Jr.’s leadership.

At a recent press conference in Albany, UUP representatives discussed perceived problems with the SUNY budget distribution.

“It is disheartening to see that SUNY Trustees continue to support Chancellor John King Jr., despite his unwillingness to keep all of our SUNY campuses fairly funded,” said UUP President Frederick E. Kowal, who leads the nation’s largest higher education union. “Since arriving, the Chancellor’s reign has decimated the SUNY system by steering the majority of state funding to a select few campuses, while at the same time fiscally neglecting campuses that continue to suffer budget deficits, program closures and layoffs. Bottom line, SUNY is under siege, and we will not stand by while our campuses are starved of available resources.”

A press release from the UUP noted SUNY Buffalo State University, SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Potsdam have announced program and staff cuts to reduce deficits of $16 million, $17 million and $9 million, respectively.

But a spokesperson for the chancellor said the blame does not belong to SUNY officials and says that funding for all SUNY schools, including those facing economic hardships, has increased.

“The assertion that SUNY and Chancellor John King are “fiscally neglecting campuses that continue to suffer budget deficits, program closures and layoffs” is blatantly  inaccurate. In truth, at the three campuses indicated, the increases in state aid approved by the Board of Trustees at Chancellor King’s recommendation are unprecedented in their size. The past two budgets have included funding increases totaling $10.9 million at Buffalo State, a 39% increase; $4.7 million at Potsdam, a 33.4% increase; and $5.6 million at Fredonia, a 37% increase,” SUNY Spokesman Lane Filler said in a prepared statement.

“What’s more, the lion’s share of the $114 million increase for all state-operated campuses this year was allocated according to how much money the raises negotiated by the UUP last year will cost those campuses, meeting most but not all of that need at those campuses. To the extent that some campuses received more than others, it was driven by the well-deserved raises that UUP and the State had agreed to,” Filler’s statement said.

In a press release issued last week UUP officials said that speakers at a recent conference said  “decades of neglect and disinvestment by the state have threatened several SUNY campuses.”

But the SUNY Chancellor's office challenged those notions as well.

“While UUP’s statement pointed out that Buffalo State University recently announced cuts to 37 programs to shrink their deficits, it omitted the size of those programs: a total of 34 students currently enrolled in those programs (all of whom will be able to complete their degree as planned),” Filler’s statement said.

Filler went on to say that despite the criticism levied by the UUP, union officials have failed to explain what it would have cut at other SUNY campuses to continue funding programs that students are “choosing not to pursue, at campuses  that are realigning offerings to meet student desires and needs.”

“Would UUP eliminate faculty at fast-growing campuses or in fast-growing programs?  Would UUP cut recent investments in mental health supports, services for students with disabilities and paid internships?” Filler asked.

“SUNY is proud to have secured the largest systemwide increases in state aid in at least 50 years. It is proud to have distributed the public’s money equitably and prudently.”