Youngsters Bridge-Build with Ideas, Fun
The first step has been taken in the 1997-98 budget process, with Governor George E. Pataki having released his proposed budget on Tuesday, January 14. He called for major cuts in State support for the State University of New York system, and for the Centers for Advanced Technology (CATs), including Albany's Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology.
Pataki's proposal, which now will be subject to public hearings, review, debate and negotiations with the State Assembly and Senate, recommends an operating budget of $1.446 billion for the State University system, down from $1.511 in the current budget.
According to SUNY System Administration, this amounts to a $124.1 million cut in State support, with approximately $60 million to be made up by a $400 tuition increase, and another $64 million to be achieved in savings throughout the system.
Other major items in the Executive Budget proposal are a $175 million cut in the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP); a $40 million cut in the State University Capital Budget, from $190 million this year to $150 million ($474 million was requested); level funding of $5 million for the Graduate Education and Research Initiative (GRI); and discontinuation of annual $1 million funding for each of 13 CATs across the state, including Albany's.
Pataki proposed to increase spending in the following areas of interest to this campus: by $30,000 (to $13,016,100) for the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP); by $2.6 million for Tuition Reimbursement (to $35,782,300); by $300,000 (to $6,068,800) for Graduate Minority Fellowships; and by $300,000 for Academic Equipment Replacement, to a total of $7,000,000); and kept State funding for the University at Albany's Center for Technology in Government unchanged, at $766,800.
In another issue of interest and concern to this campus, Pataki indicated his support for campus-based variable tuition, with the following statement in the Budget Message: "The Budget recognizes that the Board of Trustees must have the authority to implement a policy of variable campus-based tuition if campuses are to manage their resources efficiently. SUNY is one of only two large public university systems in the nation that do not have the flexibility to charge differential undergraduate tuition."
Several significant proposals to restructure the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) were introduced, a number of which were proposed in last year's budget, and successfully eliminated. They are:
The potential impact of these major changes on our students is under review by University at Albany administrators.
In the Economic Development portion of the budget, under the Empire State Development Corporation, Governor Pataki proposed to replace $13 million in annual funding for the Centers for Advanced Technology (CAT) with $4 million for a new University Based Economic Development Program.
While acknowledging that the CAT program has created 2,500 jobs and raised $550 million from private and public sources, a spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corporation said they now are able to get corporate funds on their own, and the program should be "more driven by the private sector."
It should be noted that since its creation in 1993, the University at Albany's Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology, directed by Professor of Physics Alain Kaloyeros, has used $4 million in State funds to attract interest from 50 different private corporations, which have contributed $32 million in private support ($11.7 million in 1995-96, including a $4.5 million pilot semi-conductor manufacturing facility from Varian Associates, Inc. of California). Dozens of inventions and new high technology products have been created as a direct result of research conducted at the Center.
President Karen R. Hitchcock and the Executive Cabinet are reviewing the entire budget proposal to determine its potential impact on the University at Albany and develop a response plan. The campus will be kept fully informed, through University Update, the University at Albany World Wide Web site (https://www.albany.edu), and other means of communication.
For 60 children from Albany area schools and synagogues, it was a chance to experience different cultures. For the 30 University students who chaperoned them, it was an opportunity to help young minds open to new ideas before prejudice takes root there. All were involved in the University's Bridge Builders Program on campus in November. This unique program is designed to increase understanding and build bridges between members of African, Latino and Jewish cultures.
The fifth and sixth graders from Albany area schools and synagogues came to the University for a day of dancing, storytelling, art, and learning. The children were divided into three groups and the groups spent an hour each in rooms devoted to African, Latino and Jewish dance and storytelling. When it was all over, they got a chance to express what they had learned during the day through art, using colored paper, magic markers and sparkles.
The Bridge Builders Program ties the University together with the schools and the community. Larry Rosenbaum (B.A.'73, M.A.'74), an insurance broker who co-founded the program with Rodney Littles, said it began as the Enrich a Child's Life Program. Yavilah Fulcher, a former University student who is both Jewish and African American, first developed the idea for the program. The driving force behind her inspiration was student reactions to several controversial speakers invited to the campus, including Jewish activist Binyamin Kahane and CUNY professor Leonard Jeffries. The first program was held in 1994, and focused only on Jews and African Americans. It has recently been expanded to include Latinos as well. "The ultimate goal of the program is creating an opportunity to bring people together by networking and working together," Rosenbaum said.
The fifth and sixth graders were chaperoned by 30 University student volunteers. The previous week, the volunteers were trained for the arrival of the children using guidelines developed by the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), of which the University has a chapter. The purpose of NCBI is to present workshops that welcome diversity, unfreeze prejudicial attitudes and intervene in the face of oppressive remarks and actions. The training was done by Carl Martin, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, and Nancy Belowich-Negron, director of the Office of Disabled Student Services. Martin is co- director and Belowich-Negron a member of the University's NCBI chapter.
James Williams, a senior Africana Studies/French major and one of the University student volunteers said, "This program gives these kids the opportunity to see things and partake of another culture that perhaps they would not otherwise know about." Rosenbaum said the fact that all the participants were volunteers was very promising. He added that he hopes the program and the positive messages it generates will spread to other communities as well.