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He also announced the submission of a new Master Plan that “will reflect a university fully prepared to join the ranks of the best institutions of public higher education. The vision we presented four years ago has largely become a reality, and we are ready to build on the substantial progress we have already made.”
The Chancellor began by emphasizing the appearance on CUNY campuses of more than 400 new faculty, an “astonishing array of talent” that included Hunter College’s Director of Creative Writing and two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey; College of Staten Island’s Professor of Engineering Science and Physics Charles Liu, a leader in the creation of the new Hayden Planetarium and Rose Center for Earth and Space; and Rachel Lyon, an Emmy and Telly Award-winning Professor of Media Studies at Queens College.
Goldstein also noted the growth and rising reputation of the CUNY Honors College, whose accepted applicants average 1350 on the SAT. “In just three years the number of applicants more than doubled,” he said. “The cumulative academic average for students who entered last fall was 93.5.”
Several promises made in the first Master Plan were fulfilled, according to the Chancellor in his February 5 appearance. Among these was the removal of remedial instruction from the University’s baccalaureate programs, the improvement of its Teacher Education programs (the pass rate on state tests is now a record 93 percent), and the extensive expansion of K-16 collaboration and innovative college outreach programs, notably through College Now. “This major collaboration with the New York City public schools,” Goldstein said, “has seen its enrollment grow to close to 40,000 high school students.” A $7 million grant from the Gates Foundation will also add to the Univer-sity’s growing ranks of campus high schools, among them three new specialized schools, the first of their kind to be built in decades.
The Chancellor then turned to specific budgetary requests necessary to sustain this progress. He asked for funds to continue full-time faculty recruitment, “so that we meet our twin goals of having 70 percent of instruction provided by full-time professors and of bringing to CUNY faculty whose scholarship and artistic activity are of the highest quality.” He also asked for support to “extend to all of our students, including our many students with disabilities, the full range of educational opportunities and academic support services.”
While observing that the 2004-05 Executive State Budget’s increase of $28.6 million in aid and added $8 million from enrollment growth “provides important stability for our senior colleges,” Goldstein said that CUNY “must still contend with a funding deficiency for continued operations of $18.6 million.” He also expressed concern for reduced funding for SEEK, College Discovery, Liberty Partnership, STEP, and CSTEP programs. He also noted the proposed $7.3 million reduction of FTE base aid to CUNY’s community colleges would “diminish the significant quality improvements we are achieving through our Community College Investment Program.”
Goldstein also asked for careful consideration of proposed changes to the Tuition Assistance Program, “a critical safety net that allows financially disadvantaged students to attend the University. . .
Without adequate financial aid for students. . .our ability to provide educational opportunity and fulfill our historic mission will be limited.”
The Chancellor then drew the legislators’ attention to CUNY as a “sizable force in the economy of the city and state,” noting that the University grants 9,000 associate degrees, 14,600 bachelor’s degrees, and 6,400 master’s degrees each year, and that in 2002 its direct expenditures totaled $2.2 billion, which created in turn another $1.7 billion in indirect earnings. “Each CUNY graduating class earns $618 million more in its first year after graduation than it would have earned with just a high school diploma,” he noted.
Turning to the capital portion of the Executive Budget, Goldstein said he was “heartened” by the new $1.212 billion Five Year Plan for the senior colleges but “deeply concerned” that “for the last six years virtually no capital budget appropriations have been provided to CUNY’s community colleges.” Funds will also be used for health and safety and facilities preservation and to complete several major projects at John Jay, Brooklyn, and City Colleges.
The Capital Budget will also fund a state-of-the-art facility at the New York City College of Technology, as well as upgrade science facilities at other CUNY senior colleges, including City, Lehman, Hunter, and Queens Colleges. Included also are funds for Academic Building I at Medgar Evers College, and renovations at CUNY’s community colleges.
Chancellor Goldstein closed his testimony by asking the Assembly and Senate committee members to work with the Executive to produce a budget that “allows us to continue our tradition of helping students of every background participate fully in the economy of the City and State—starting businesses, developing new technologies, finding cures for disease, enhancing education and culture, and, of course, paying taxes.” The Chancellor’s full budget message to the Legislature is available at www.cuny.edu/news
