New York should restore funding to its three teaching hospitals in Syracuse, Brooklyn, and Long Island, the union for State University of New York (SUNY) employees says. The state should also resume paying more of the cost of operating its public higher-education system instead of asking students to pay through tuition increases, contends Frederick Kowal, […]
New York should restore funding to its three teaching hospitals in Syracuse, Brooklyn, and Long Island, the union for State University of New York (SUNY) employees says.
The state should also resume paying more of the cost of operating its public higher-education system instead of asking students to pay through tuition increases, contends Frederick Kowal, president of United University Professions (UUP), the union that represents SUNY academic and professional faculty.
His remarks were part of testimony Thursday at a legislative hearing in Albany on the proposed state budget.
UUP provided details of his testimony in a news release.
The UUP president asked lawmakers to increase the state subsidy for SUNY teaching hospitals from the proposed $69 million to its former level of $128 million, and to provide an additional $35 million for Upstate Medical University and $99 million for Downstate Medical Center and to maintain them as full-service public institutions, the union said in the news release.
“I find it alarming, and frankly, amazing, that the state, within the last month alone, has managed to find more than $43 million in state funds to support private hospitals. Yet, the state has not mentioned, nor provided for, the needs of SUNY’s teaching hospitals or the communities they serve. It is a shame that state dollars are being sent to private hospitals, when SUNY’s public hospitals are in such dire need of that funding,” Kowal said in his testimony.
Kowal also urged legislators to create the New York State Public Higher Education Full-Time Faculty and Professional Staff Endowment, according to the UUP news release.
“This endowment would rebuild SUNY and CUNY academic departments depleted by chronic underfunding. Endowment funds would also be designated to increase full-time faculty, professional, and support staff lines, and to move contingent and adjunct faculty into permanent positions,” Kowal said. “Considering that state funding to SUNY is down by nearly 40 percent since 2008, while enrollments have increased, the times demand that we be proactive and not reactive. This endowment accomplishes that, and much more.”
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
