For Immediate Release

June 4, 2024

Labor leaders, legislators hold press conference for fair funding for 19 SUNY Campuses with multimillion-dollar budget deficits

Click Here to Download Photos and Video From the Event

ALBANY, NY – Today, leaders from United University Professions (UUP), New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), and state legislators called on SUNY Chancellor John King Jr.to fairly and equitably distribute funds from the SUNY budget to 19 SUNY campuses facing multimillion-dollar structural deficits.

The press conference at the State Capitol addressed significant disparities in how the SUNY budget is being distributed across the nation’s largest public university system.

“It is disheartening to see that SUNY Trustees continue to support Chancellor John King Jr., despite his unwillingness to keep all of our SUNY campuses fairly funded,” said UUP President Frederick E. Kowal, who leads the nation’s largest higher education union. “Since arriving, the Chancellor’s reign has decimated the SUNY system by steering the majority of state funding to a select few campuses, while at the same time fiscally neglecting campuses that continue to suffer budget deficits, program closures and layoffs. Bottom line, SUNY is under siege, and we will not stand by while our campuses are starved of available resources.”

Speakers noted that decades of neglect and disinvestment by the state have threatened several SUNY campuses, most notably SUNY Buffalo State University, SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Potsdam, which have announced program and staff cuts to reduce deficits of $16 million, $17 million and $9 million, respectively. Last week, SUNY Buffalo State University announced cuts to 37 programs to shrink their deficit.

Following the press conference on the third floor of the Capitol, the group marched down State Street in Albany to the SUNY Administration Building to deliver thousands of postcards from SUNY faculty and professional staff, students, and higher education allies across the state demanding Chancellor King and the SUNY Board of Trustees to provide fair funding to all SUNY campuses. UUP will continue to fight for the future of SUNY, its faculty, staff, students, and the mostly upstate and rural communities these universities support.

“Part of what makes the SUNY and CUNY systems great are the unique campuses that serve students from every stage of life," said NYSUT President Melinda Person. "Depriving these campuses of resources is not a solution to fiscal challenges; it will only drive away students who need academic support and services. Instead we must strengthen the programs that draw students to each of our diverse locations so that quality and affordable higher education is accessible for ALL.”

Union leaders are also calling for the governor to intervene and bring a common sense approach to SUNY’s mismanaged, misallocated and misguided plan for funding its campuses.