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Editorial: Spitzer's SUNY plan worth pursuing
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer remains something of a pariah in New York, and probably will for years to come. That may not be inappropriate given how he wronged us, but it would be inappropriate to dismiss every idea he ever had because of it. He was a highly intelligent man and a progressive thinker. One of his best ideas was a plan to raise the state university system’s endowment — currently one-twentieth the size of California’s — with an eye toward making SUNY one of the best public institutions in the country. The university system currently isn’t a bad one, but its resources have been targeted in austerity moves several times over the years and it clearly lacks an identity, as well as the kind of reputation that state universities in, say, California, Texas and Virginia have. Spitzer wasn’t just paying lip service to the idea of improving SUNY, he had a plan: to lease the state lottery operation to a private company for something like $4 billion up front, which would have provided a dedicated annual revenue stream for SUNY and the City University of New York in the neighborhood of $200 million, growing, through investments, to $500 million within 20 years. And Spitzer insisted it was possible to this without sacrificing any of the lottery’s annual revenue stream. Then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno dismissed the idea straightaway, which was hardly surprising given how much the two men hated each other. But it’s worth exploring in view of the state’s current fiscal predicament. Since Spitzer left office, the budgets of both SUNY and CUNY have been cut by about $50 million each. In other words, when it comes to better public institutions of higher learning, the state is once again moving in the wrong direction. It will probably be impossible to reverse that trend over the next few years without a progressive plan like Spitzer’s. Gov. Paterson ought to assign someone to look into it, and the Legislature should keep an open mind. Get ALL of our news...Click here to subscribe to our online edition, a complete replica of our print edition.
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July 4, 2009
10:27 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
The Daily Gazette is the best paper in the region. This article is spot on. SUNY needs to be brought up to the level of California, Virginia, Michigan, Georgia, Texas... need I continue?
I was all for Spitzer's plan until he decided there should only be two flagship campuses, excluding UAlbany. I immediately turned against the man at that point. UAlbany in one of only four SUNY Centers. It's the only SUNY Center in Eastern New York. It's nearly a $2B economic engine and it should be ignored, passed over, disregarded? SUNY Albany is a flagship and I'll fight any plan that ignores the only SUNY Center from Peekskill to Plattsburgh.
Why does Stony Brook and Buffalo have new academic buildings, football stadiums and the state capitol's SUNY Center gets nothing. Fix that Constantine!
2:43 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
they may be second string but you couldnt tell that from the salaries being paid there! Before we go for broke establishing a "name" university lets look at some responsible fiscal management andlets not base it on projected lottery sales. There is going to be an end to that cash cow sometime.
11:29 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
New York needs to be competitive with the rest of the country. We are living in the information age and we need strong flagship state universities to compete with UNC, UCLA, Cal, Texas, Michigan etc. That list doesn’t even start to mention the Chinese and European universities that New York will need to keep pace with in the future.
The universities these days are economic generators and that means jobs. The Nano College will provide 5,000 HIGH PAYING jobs when fully complete. New York, especially upstate, needs a strong SUNY to survive.
I saw it written elsewhere that UAlbany is Eastern New York’s only SUNY Center. If our region doesn’t capitalize on its SUNY Center, others will. The Buffalo and Long Island (SBU) legislative contingents have been pumping their flagships for years while the Capitol Region sat on its hands. I hope the Capitol Region isn’t penny wise, pound foolish.
We better start seeing UAlbany as a UCLA, UNC, Michigan and not your daddy’s teacher’s college. Our region depends on it!