LC Meridian

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Tom Stoelker Governor Eliot Spizter in East Harlem a week before his State of the State address. [Click to enlarge]

Last December, while most students were in the throes of final exams, Governor Eliot Spitzer received a report from the New York State Commission on Higher Education, which he had established to recommend changes to the state's public universities.

In its recommendation of "major policy changes," the report painted a sober picture of the future of public colleges and universities in New York. Spitzer has made a shakeup of the SUNY and CUNY system a high priority since making his now famously antagonistic inaugural address where he compared the state to a sleeping "Rip Van Winkle." The speech precipitated a spectacularly unproductive year in which the governor was at loggerheads with the State Legislature much of the time.

As the year ended and the governor's State of the State speech loomed, he and his staff set out to establish a more conciliatory persona for the coming year. This might explain why the governor quickly moved away from the commission's more controversial proposals, such as tuition increases. To accomplish the goal of placing SUNY and CUNY on equal footing with prestigious public university systems like California's or Michigan's, the governor was going to have to play ball with the Legislature.

The specter of a tuition increase appeared when the New York Times obtained a copy of the report three days before it was delivered to the governor on December 17. It became apparent that any response from the governor would be measured. Testing the waters of reform was a necessary step before any commitments were made in his State of the State address on January 9.

The most contentious aspect of the plan was a proposal of differential tuition pricing. As it stands now, SUNY students pay the same tuition whether they attend a research institution, such as the SUNY campuses of Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany or Stony Brook, as they would to attend any other comprehensive college. The democratic intention and effect is that students choose the school that is appropriate for them, not based on cost, but rather on their aspirations and abilities. Similarly, a student at CUNY can choose City College or Brooklyn over Lehman, and vice versa, without cost being a factor in the decision.

For Lehman, the prospect of differential tuition pricing would have only served to resuscitate the anxieties aroused by the tier system, which would make the school fall under the label of a tier II school. Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, who also sat on the governor's commission, proposed the tier system last year. The system differentiated CUNY's senior colleges by their admission standards. The result of differential tuition pricing is that tier I schools would now rival Lehman in cost as well, thereby reinforcing the stigma.

Even before the details of the proposal were released to the public, the positions of two key players were well established. Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, chairman of the Senate's higher education committee, and Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, chairwoman of the Assembly's higher education committee, were both known to adamantly oppose differential tuition costs. With the governor's new conciliatory approach on a trial run, the legislator's positions would not only have to be acknowledged, but placated as well.

Assemblywoman Glick said that on the part of the governor there was a "determination not to include tuition increases" and "not to engage in a discussion that would bear no fruit."

By the time the State of the State speech rolled around it was clear that higher education would be a cornerstone of the governor's speech. The proposal of a $4 billion Higher Education Fund was announced as key to securing the governor's vision. That vision includes the hiring of 2000 new full time professors, including 250 eminent scholars, the development of an Innovation Fund for new research, and establishing SUNY's Buffalo and Stony Brook as flagship institutions at opposite ends of the state.

With such an intense focus on research institutions, some worry there might be a danger that a liberal arts college like Lehman might get overlooked in the process. Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mary Papazian was hopeful that this was not the case.

"At this point, I do not think there is a great danger in this," Papazian said. "If Lehman were a stand alone college, perhaps. But, as we are part of CUNY and engage in significant research on campus and in partnership with colleagues throughout CUNY, I am hopeful that we will gain rather than lose from such a focus."

How the governor sidestepped the controversy of financing the changes through tuition increases is still a matter of debate. His proposal is to "unlock the value of the New York State Lottery," meaning that he would sell a stake of the lottery to private investors. According to the governor the $4 billion fund would generate $200 million in operating funds.

Glick, herself a CUNY graduate, referred to the content of the governor's State of the State as "rather lofty rhetoric."

"Our hope was that we would see the beginning of the hiring of full time faculty, but that is really not there," Glick said.

Glick found the idea of funding the program through selling a stake in the lottery, rather than increasing the tuition, to be dubious as well.

"It's the sort of thing that takes a bit of time," Glick said. "There has to be a buyer/investor. The alternative proposal is very murky, so it's hard to even discuss it or whether that turns out to produce anything."

Papazian agreed that there is not much to say at this point.

"It is very early yet in the process and we will have to await more details," Papazian said. "As they say, the devil is in the details. This is the first step, but we are a long way from the end of the race."

Vivian Cosentino contributed research for this article.

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