SPECIALLEGISLATIVE EDITION “O pen the doors to all— let the children of the rich and the poor take their seats together and know of no distinction save that of cuny.edu/news THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK • FOUNDED 1847 AS THE FREE ACADEMY industry, good conduct, and intellect.” —Townsend Harris, founder A Compact for Public Higher Education SPRING 2008 “New York State’s public higher ners and creating opportunities to leverage such measures have saved more than $40 education institutions face a chronic public and private aid, while assuring both million. Inside problem—they have too little revenue government leaders and donors that their • Provides for Small, Predictable Tuition and too little investment. A comprehen- support yields additional revenues for Increases. Instead of the large tuition spikes PAGE CUNY Alums sive financing platform is essential.” investment in academic quality,” said the of the past, the Compact envisions modest, 9 In Albany Commission, convened by Gov. Eliot predictable increases. Financial aid would Nearly a fifth of State Assembly Spitzer. continue to protect students against unaf- ITH THOSE WORDS, the and Senate members—most in fordable increases. New York State Commission The Compact: How it Works leadership positions—attended on Higher Education, in its W • Ensures State and City Funding. Leveraging CUNY colleges. preliminary report in December 2007, Government pays 100 percent of the Philanthropic Support urged adoption of the New York State University’s mandatory costs, such as energy Compact for Public Higher Education to and labor, and at least 20 percent of new aca- UNY pioneered the Compact in 2006, ensure consistent, predictable funding for demic programs and student service priorities Cobtaining funds which it leveraged to public higher education in New York in the consistent with the maximize philan- thropic contribu- 21st century. Based on CUNY’s successful University’s tions. Examples model, the Compact would finance both master plan. of the Compact's • Encourages The State University and The City many benefits to Philanthropy. Private University of New York through a partner- CUNY: ship among philanthropists, students, alum- contributions are BMCC’s ni, the State/City and the Universities. “It encouraged by the clear roles and molecular biology would offer a balanced financing approach accountability of lab does cutting- by delineating responsibility among part- Compact partners. At CUNY, Compact edge research into links between diet and funding has ranged from thousands to hire disease. But its professors and student tutors, to donations that have changed the researchers can’t compete with bigger course of the University such as business schools for research funds. Compact leader and City College alumnus support, including a $20,000 grant for William E. Macaulay’s $30 million gift student stipends from the James T. Lee to CUNY’s Honors College. Foundation, is invaluable. • Creates Efficiencies. At peak regis- PAGE From energy savings tration times, Need Faster to retooled budg- Brooklyn 2 Global Data? ets, the University College’s College of Staten commits to cut- Enrollment Island’s Athena, ting internal costs, Services Center Zeus and freeing up funds for processes up to Neptune make education. At CUNY, 400 students and supercomputing tries to field at even speedier for least as many various research projects phone calls about throughout the University. financial aid and admissions. HUNTER PAGE It Isn’t Difficult Thanks to Compact funds, ESC will launch a new call 4 Being Green center to handle the deluge, and improve the The University takes the lead in flow of the registration process. efforts to save the environment via energy conservation, efficient new Man Gone Down, praised by The New building designs and research into York Times as one of the most notable fic- innovative answers to the global tion books of 2007, was written by Hunter crisis. College alumnus and longtime adjunct faculty member Michael Thomas. Compact funds made it possi- ble to hire him BMCC fulltime. PAGE Out of Africa, ENROLLMENT 6 GROWTH Into Queens Proposed CUNY COMPACT $8.2 million – 4.3% Imposing masks, feathered headdresses Revenue Sources: and other ceremonial EFFICIENCIES ENROLLMENT GROWTH – $8.2 million objects plus everyday $7.5 million – 4.0% items from pipes or 4.3% from anticipated new enrollment to to bowls illuminate support new initiatives in the Compact. PHILANTHROPY “A Cameroon EFFICIENCIES/RESTRUCTURING – $15.0 million – 7.9% World,” an art $7.5 million or 4.0% redirected to new exhibit at QCC initiatives in FY 2009 as a result of budget reshap- TUITION Gallery. ing and redeployment of resources. $42.4 million – 22.4% PHILANTHROPY – $15.0 million or 7.9% PAGE Sí! Se Puede! raised through an unprecedented focus on PUBLIC/ MANDATORY 12 philanthropy. $115.9 million – 61.4% New Immigrants Told New York City’s fast-growing TUITION REVENUE POLICY – $42.4 million or Mexican community is discovering 22.4% from a 5% tuition increase—$100 per semester the University can help them for New York State resident undergraduates at senior col- CUNY’s Budget Request move into the American leges, $70 per semester community colleges—to help fund mainstream via education, job the CUNY Investment Plan which calls for 500 new, fulltime for 2008-2009 counseling and faculty and improved student counseling and financial aid services. more. PUBLIC/MANDATORY – $115.9 million or 61.4% in State/City tax-levy funding to cover 100% of CUNY’s mandatory costs, including labor contracts, fringe benefits and energy, and at least 30% of the Investment program’s costs. THECHANCELLOR’SDESK Statewide Plan Based on CUNY’s N DEC. 17, 2007, the New York Professional Virtually State Commission on Higher Studies. Millions OEducation released its preliminary of dollars were recommendations to Governor Eliot Spitzer. invested to In The My colleagues on the commission and I expand technolo- worked diligently to propose bold ideas to gy in teaching, reinvigorate serious investment in the including science Fast Lane state’s public universities. New York’s citi- instrumentation zens, students, and faculty deserve public and electronic College of Staten Island’s universities whose stature is nationally rec- library acquisi- ognized, whose programs are highly val- tions, and to augment student services, Athena, Zeus and Neptune ued, and whose graduates are deeply including additional counseling staff, child make supercomputing even respected. This is increasingly essential in care, veterans’ support, and student fel- today’s competitive global environment. lowships. We upgraded information man- faster for research Quite simply, new and real investment agement systems and purchased new com- in CUNY and SUNY is a necessity for puter hardware and software. A statewide HE NEXT TIME you’re waiting at a New York State. compact based on the CUNY model is an toll plaza—frustrated by a line of A cornerstone of the commission’s important step in realizing public higher Tcars blocking the E-ZPass lanes— report is the call for a New York State education’s plans to build universities of take heart: Researchers Michael Kress and Compact for Public Higher Education. national renown. Jonathan Peters are trying to ease the con- Modeled after the CUNY Compact, the The commission also recognizes the key gestion with the help of a sophisticated statewide compact delineates shared role that faculty play in creating academic computer array that will be available to responsibility for public higher education distinction. Its recommendation to rebuild faculty across the University for high-end resources in order to reverse chronic the CUNY and SUNY faculty ranks research projects. underinvestment in CUNY and SUNY. As through the hiring of a minimum of 2,000 The research team based at the College the University has affirmed since introduc- additional full-time faculty over the next of Staten Island began developing computer ing its compact two years ago, a partner- five years is crucial to achieving genuine simulations three years ago to better under- ship among stakeholders is critical to gen- progress. In 1975, CUNY employed more stand so-called “queue blocking” of the E- erating the resources necessary for true than 11,000 full-time faculty. Today, 6,500 ZPass lanes at the Outerbridge Crossing investment. full-time faculty work at the University. tolls on Staten Island — tracking drivers’ Prior to the CUNY Compact, funding This is a decrease of more than 40%—even behavior when they find themselves for public higher education in New York though CUNY’s student enrollment has blocked. But to better understand the phe- was determined on a year-to-year basis. grown to its highest level in over three nomenon, Kress and Peters needed a high- This discouraged long-term investment decades. The commission’s recommenda- er level of computational power that can and made public universities vulnerable to tion would help to reverse this pronounced crunch massive amounts of data. approach employs some of the complex economic downturns. Students were hurt decline. Enter Athena, a high-speed computer equations used in traditional research when large, unexpected tuition increases Indeed, the top priority of the with 96 nodes (each node has four proces- methods, according to Kress, who also were used to cover operating expenses University’s FY 2008-09 budget request, sors) accompanied by Zeus and Neptune. chairs the advisory board for CUNY’s unmet by insufficient public funding. recently approved by the Board of Trustees, This cluster of computers based at the col- Scientific Computation and Visualization The New York State Compact for Public is the hiring of additional full-time faculty lege not only has given Kress and Peters a Center. “But now we have so much com- Higher Education would require government and providing support for research, formidable new tool, but also has helped putational power, we can mimic life.” to cover CUNY’s and SUNY’s mandatory academic enhancements and student servic- ratchet up the research of other faculty The advent of Athena is key to CUNY’s costs, such as energy and labor contracts, and es.