Faculty Unions Protest Planned Budget Cuts

The Chief-Leader/Andrew Hinderaker ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH: Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen rallies members at CUNY’s Hunter College Sept. 27, protesting the third round of cuts to higher education proposed by the Governor in a year. ‘It’s an attack on every single person who works in CUNY or SUNY,’ she told members at the rain-drenched rally. Unions representing workers at the City University of New York and the State University of New York rallied jointly at Hunter College in Manhattan Oct. 27 against mid-year cuts to their institutions proposed by Governor Paterson.

Educators and students marched through the campus to raise awareness about the cuts, which total $90 million to SUNY senior colleges, $53 million to CUNY institutions and $33 million to community colleges.

‘Have to Invest More’

“There is tremendous power when SUNY and CUNY faculty staff and students come together,” Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen said. “These cuts are not inevitable. I’m tired of working in a system that’s chronically poor. . . It’s time for change; we have to invest more in the public colleges.”

SUNY has weathered a $320-million reduction in state aid in the last year, and CUNY had its budget sliced by $112 million. The Governor’s latest proposals, which he says are necessary in the face of a deficit of at least $3 billion, have public universities taking the heaviest hit of all.

“We have taken enough cuts already,” Ms. Bowen said. “We have taken more cuts proportionally than any other agency. . . that’s not an accident. That’s New York State policy.”

“These cuts are bleeding SUNY dry, and the students will be the ones who will need a transfusion,” said United University Professions President Phillip Smith. “They are beyond the pale. . . if [state politicians] don’t support education, they have got to go out the door.”

Mr. Paterson has ruled out raising taxes again as part of his mid-year budget, but the unions argue that savings can be realized in other ways, pointing to $1.5 billion in reserve and “rainy day” funds the state still has, and the system’s $730-million contracting out budget.

A Lesson From Depression

“Three new CUNY colleges were built during the Great Depression,” Ms. Bowen told protesters. “That’s the time to invest if you really want people to thrive.” CUNY and SUNY’s enrollments have increased as the nation’s economy has declined; Mr. Smith warned that thousands of applicants could be turned away next year because universities would not have the money to instruct all of them.

Representatives of the United Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers, whose members face the threat of mid-year cuts as well, also appeared at the rally. UFT Secretary Michael Mendel noted that he was a product of the CUNY system, a graduate of Brooklyn College.

“How can we tell young people that education is so important, you gotta do well in schools, and it’s really important to go to college,” he said, “and then make a decision to cut education? That’s a disgrace, and it’s a crime against children and young people in this city.”

NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira said, “We are 600,000 strong and that is the message we deliver today. . . we are united, and we know how to say ‘no.’ ’’

The City Council’s Higher Education Committee Chairman, Charles Barron, slammed the Governor’s approach. “You should never go to the table to balance a budget and say you’re not going to raise taxes, only cut; it’s not fiscally prudent,” he said. “CUNY should be a sacred cow.”