Focusing In On 2020 |
by Buck Quigley |
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UB on hold for now
While making some phone calls to various representatives of the State University of New York at Buffalo, State Senators and Assemblymembers, I arrived at the bottom line this morning in a conversation with Deborah Glick, the Manhattan Democrat who serves as the chairwoman of the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee. Glick says the bill won’t be going anywhere before the fall, at the earliest.
Among the concerns, according to Glick: “Well, the various provisions, and there are numerous ones, some aspects of those have been under discussion. It’s been referred to as SUNY-Flex, they want more flexibility and all of the university centers have asked to be able to do certain things…UB2020 went well beyond what had been under discussion, and what had been under discussion had certain problems of oversight elimination that were of concern to the legislature. The UB 2020 provisions were dramatically more extreme, going so far as to eliminate any role for either the SUNY trustees or the Chancellor in oversight and decision-making. It also would’ve eliminated the review by the State Attorney General or the State Comptroller over contract reviews. And those are things that I think are pretty untenable if you are continuing to expect significant state support.”
Among other things, the bill, as it was passed in the Senate, would allow the president of UB to form private entities like not-for-profits and LLCs without state approval, which would then be able to operate beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Laws.
“In essence the bill created a private university that was still part of the state university,” Glick said. “Some of the issues that have come up repeatedly over time have been the desire of university centers to lease or sell their land without any legislative input, so they could move quickly. Well, some of those restrictions are there because of misdeeds in the past that pointed out the potential problems that that might create.”
—buck quigley
Reader Comments
Peter A Reese 11 Jun 2009, 22:04
Great idea. Use my tax dollars for private purposes without any public oversight or accountability. Why would anyone ever believe that this is a good thing? If these people are so desperate for entrepreneurship, why don't they just quit their day jobs and start private enterprises? Why should I underwrite their fiascos? BTW, what's the rate of return on money already sunk into SUNY Buffalo since 1962? If they had been as productive as they claim they will be, western New York would be a paradise today.
bosiydid 12 Jun 2009, 10:04
It's unbelievable that this bill even got through the Senate. Did anyone even read it before they voted on it or were they all to busy orchestrating the shenanigans that are going on right now? This bill would make UB a SUNY campus in name only and funnel financial support to them without/very limited oversight from the Board of Trust or the SUNY Chancellor. So in essence, give us the tax payer dollars but don't dare ask what we do with it. Unreal! UB should be ashamed of this ill conceived power grab.
K9
12 Jun 2009, 10:45
UB should be ashamed, but so should our WNY politicians who could hardly wait to jump on this pathetic bandwagon. Our currently dysfunctional state senate passed this bill that would allow the UB president to dispose of state assets as he wished, form and become a member of private corporations that could benefit from the sale of such assets and exempted him from laws state laws that try to get rid of this type of corruption. I'm happy to hear its on hold so that someone with a bit of integrity, like Assmblywoman Glick, can take a closer look. Leave a Comment:
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