For Immediate Release

January 31, 2019

“UUP applauds the creation and start of SUNY’s new PRODI-G (Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth) program, which would facilitate the recruitment and hiring of 1,000 new full-time, tenure-track faculty to increase diversity among SUNY’s faculty ranks.

“Our union has long supported such an initiative, which the governor included in his 2019-20 Executive Budget proposal earlier this month. However, more full-time, tenure-track faculty are needed at SUNY state-operated colleges and universities statewide. That is why UUP is calling for an additional $30 million in the 2019-20 state budget to recruit, hire and retain diverse faculty and staff.

“UUP looks forward to meeting and talking with the chancellor about her plans for expanding SUNY’s online programs. Our members have been administering online programs for a long time and their expertise should be tapped.

“We are dismayed that the chancellor had little to say about SUNY’s cash-strapped public hospitals, which treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay for care. However, UUP hopes that SUNY will work with us as our advocates push to include $87 million in state funding for a subsidy for the hospitals.

“UUP hopes that SUNY will work with us as our advocates push to include $87 million in state funding for a subsidy for SUNY’s state-operated public hospitals. SUNY’s hospitals in Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse, which treat 1.3 million patients annually, rely on the subsidy to fund medical schools and offset yearly employee fringe benefits and debt service costs of nearly $500 million.”