ESF is facing an $8.3 million structural deficit and the college's SUNY-imposed “stability plan” is attempting to balance it by cutting faculty and staff, eroding campus culture, and undermining its ability to effectively function.

This is a funding crisis, not a personnel problem.

• STATE AID SLASHED:
  Our financial foundation was damaged by a reduction in operating aid in 2012, followed by a decade of flat funding, which equates to annual cuts.
• EFFECTS OF CUMMULATIVE STATE FUNDING LOSS:
  The cumulative loss of state funding has severely impeded ESF’s ability to carry out its role as a STEM and research-focused institution and has made it increasingly difficult to provide resources for labs, forest land conservation and other essentials required to meet the college’s unique mission.
• A NUMBERS GAME:
  SUNY claims ESF has received $6 million in additional state funding since 2023. But this is an incremental increase that doesn't replace the cumulative loss of state funding over the past decade.

The college's proposed “stability plan”, developed without meaningful input from faculty and staff, demands much more with less people and fewer resources!

The plan would:
• Cut 38 full-time jobs
  , dropping our staffing levels below 1977 levels.
• Increase faculty workload
  while reducing critical support.
• Gut graduate student support:
  The plan targets Graduate Assistants (GAs) and the college’s graduate program, which the plan claims is unsustainable. But GAs aren't getting a free ride; they are essential employees who teach the labs and lead the field courses that define an ESF education. Cutting their support jeopardizes the very experiential learning we pride ourselves on.
• Threaten our pillars:
  Despite promises of "generous support" for the Ranger School, the plan mandates significant cuts to the Forest Properties budget, the very labs and land that our institution’s reputation is built on.
• Diminish our ability to retain students
  through unspecified cuts to our athletics programs and steep cuts to faculty and staff positions, while simultaneously calling for increased enrollment and retention.

This plan guarantees instability, turning our financial struggles into a never ending process of cuts and micromanagement.

Despite boasting a substantial $26 million research portfolio, the majority of this work consists of below-cost contracts conducted for a number of New York state agencies, including the departments of Environmental Conservation, Agriculture and Markets, Transportation and Education, the New York State Canal Corporation, NYSERDA and the Office of Parks and Recreation. This crucial research, which directly serves the needs of New York's government and citizens, does not fully cover its own expenses, leaving ESF to effectively subsidize essential, public-serving work. This systemic underinvestment in ESF hurts the college and harms the mission of those agencies.