The Fredonia Senate Executive Committee released the following open letter to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on January 9, 2019. We ask all supporters of public higher education to join us in calling on him to sustainably and equitably support and advance the core academic missions of SUNY and CUNY in his Executive Budget, which will be released on Tuesday, January 15, 2019, in conjunction with his State of the State Address.

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Dear Governor Cuomo,

As leaders within the State University of New York at Fredonia, we listened carefully to your speech last month at the Roosevelt House and reflected on your theme, “What Would FDR Do?”  As your constituents and fellow citizens, we write to urge you to incorporate into your 2019 Justice Agenda and Executive Budget a truly FDR-inspired “new deal” for the State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY).

The problems with and limits of the current maintenance of effort (MOE) agreement are well known; we have enumerated them in the attached resolution (see below); they need no further elaboration here.  Nor do we intend to belabor our dismay at your veto of S.7259-A (LaValle)/A.10620 (Glick), which would have enhanced the current MOE by including spending for mandatory costs—such as utilities, building rentals, equipment and supplies, collective bargaining costs (including salary increases and fringe benefits), and tuition increases that widen the TAP gap.  With the quality, affordability, and accessibility of public higher education across New York State jeopardized by your veto, we intend to build a broad coalition of fellow citizens (including Fredonia students, faculty, administrators, staff, retirees, and alumni, SUNY and CUNY System Administration, the SUNY and CUNY Boards of Trustees, the SUNY and CUNY University Faculty Senates, the Division of Budget, United University Professions, the Faculty Council of Community Colleges, the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, New York State United Teachers, and others) to rally public support for New York State to contribute its fair share of public funds to public higher education.

Please do not pass up this historic opportunity for New York State to become recognized across the nation and around the world as a leader in sustainably and equitably funding its public university systems.  We urge you to strike a new deal for SUNY and CUNY by incorporating enhanced MOE provisions into an Executive Budget that truly supports and advances our core academic missions.

Sincerely,

The Executive Committee of the Fredonia University Senate, on behalf of the Fredonia University Senate

Michael Scialdone, Chairperson

Jennifer Costa, Vice Chairperson

Cynthia Smith, Governance Officer

Kevin Hahn, Faculty Secretary

Bruce Simon, University Faculty Senator

Resolution link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1klJRa6if1n8PSVR5NhOkIgfwmpcjb3d-brmrU85Zgys/edit?usp=sharing