For Immediate Release

September 4, 2025

United University Professions expresses concern over SUNY austerity plan that could cut funding, courses, staff at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

United University Professions, the nation’s largest higher education union, today expressed major concerns over a SUNY austerity plan for the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, a plan that if fully implemented would result in course reductions, funding cuts and a potential 20% reduction in faculty and staff.

Despite strong enrollment and a dedicated staff and student body that has made SUNY ESF one of America’s top environmental schools, SUNY’s so-called “Stability Plan” for the college would also cut spending over the next four years—even though enrollment is projected to steadily grow during that time.

A voluntary early retirement program is already in place and the college has farmed out its police and dispatch services, payroll and purchasing to Upstate Medical University, SUNY Brockport and SUNY Oswego, respectively. SUNY ESF’s graduate program is also in jeopardy.

SUNY’s plan was put in place to address a $6 million structural deficit, which UUP President Fred Kowal attributed to a $10 million state aid cut to SUNY ESF in 2012 that was never restored. Restoring the funding that was cut more than a decade ago would wipe out SUNY ESF’s deficit and provide dollars to increase course offerings to meet increased student demand.

Now, at a time when President Trump is attacking science, cutting and freezing federal research funding, dislodging longstanding environmental protections and literally extorting colleges and universities, it is inconceivable that the SUNY chancellor would choose this moment to undermine one of the country’s most prestigious environmental schools,” said Kowal. “The chancellor’s misguided attempt to dismantle SUNY ESF is helping to complete Trump’s agenda. We will not stand for this. We will fight; the same way we fought to save SUNY Downstate University Hospital in Brooklyn.”

"This structural disinvestment must end,” said UUP ESF Chapter President Matthew Smith. “For over a century, SUNY ESF has played a leading role in sustaining the woods, waters, and wildlife of New York State and beyond. The science and expertise produced by ESF is needed more than ever before to repair the damage to science and education from short-sighted federal funding cuts. Now is the time to invest in ESF, we cannot afford to play catch-up with our future.”

Smith said SUNY’s plan “tasks SUNY ESF with reducing staffing by 18.9%, while increasing enrollment by 14%, and ending the graduate program as it currently exists, all while reducing our overall budget beyond these cuts.”

SUNY ESF has never fiscally rebounded from the state’s decision to slice $10 million from its budget. A decade of flat state funding exacerbated the college’s deficit, despite steps taken Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature to significantly increase state aid to SUNY state-operated campuses over the last three years.

The SUNY Board of Trustees—which decides how much of that funding each campus gets—could have wiped out SUNY ESF’s deficit and shortfalls at cash-strapped SUNY campuses across the state but has continually refused to do so—despite calls from UUP for the Trustees to distribute those funds based on campus need.

SUNY’s austerity plan comes as enrollment is up at SUNY ESF. For the fall 2025 semester, the college welcomed its second-largest class of the decade and its fourth-largest class since 2002. In fall 2024, first-year enrollment was up by 7.5%; transfer student enrollment grew by nearly 10%. SUNY ESF grads are in high demand. SUNY ESF has a 97% placement rate, with 94% of graduates able to find a job within six months. And 90% of graduates find work in their major, said Smith.

“SUNY ESF is number one in per-capita research expenditures in SUNY, in no small part due to our exceptional graduate program,” he said. “Our 25,000 acres of forest properties, our Ranger School, Cranberry Lake and Thousand Islands Biological Stations, and tight-knit community provide an unparalleled experience to our students. All this make SUNY's `stability plan’ seem cruel and shortsighted.”

“UUP will fight to protect SUNY ESF and the groundbreaking, life-changing work that this college has produced for 114 years,” said Kowal. “This is an opportunity for the state to step up and buck the federal government’s short-sighted attack on science and the environment by making a long-term investment in the future of this esteemed institution.”