State Assemblyman Martin A. Luster is holding a series of town meetings in the 125th District. Henrik N. Dullea, vice president for university relations at Cornell, prepared the following remarks for delivery today (Feb. 17, 1999) at a town meeting in the Council Chambers of City Hall in Cortland:

"Thank you very much, Assemblyman Luster, for this opportunity to comment briefly on several key issues in the state budget of concern to the faculty, students and staff at Cornell -- and their families.

"Cornell University has had a long and successful partnership with the state of New York since Gov. Reuben Fenton signed the original legislation in 1865 designating Cornell as New York's land-grant university. Many things have changed since that time, but Cornell's determination to make the fruits of its research and instruction available to the people of this state has remained constant.

"I'm pleased to be here in Cortland this evening, because it gives me a chance to share in the expressions of concern that you have heard from our colleagues at SUNY Cortland and at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. Since 1948, four of our statutorily-created colleges have been units of the State University of New York, and we understand and share the challenges faced by the entire system.

"The issues that I would like to mention deal with four broad areas: faculty and staff compensation; student financial aid; facility maintenance and rehabilitation; and investment in research and high technology. In each area we need to repair the deficiencies that are reflected in the Executive Budget.

"But repairing deficiencies is only the first step. If New York is to grow and prosper -- not just economically but also socially and culturally and intellectually -- the state must recognize and advance the importance of its investments in higher education as a driving force in our society.

Faculty and Staff Compensation

"The Executive Budget that has been presented to the Legislature for your consideration falls far short of meeting the on-going expenses of the State University system, including the statutory colleges at Cornell. This shortfall is most evident in the Executive Budget's failure to include full annualization of funding for the salaries of faculty and staff throughout the SUNY system.

"As you know, SUNY faculty and professional staff are in the third year of a three-year contract that ends in 1998-99. Cornell's faculty and professional staff are not state employees and are therefore not part of the statewide collective bargaining unit, but Cornell receives the same salary allocation from the state for its statutory college employees as is provided to the state-operated campuses. The failure to include the full, annualized salaries for Cornell's faculty and staff leaves our budget short by $2.4 million. These funds, and funding for mandatory price increases for normal goods and services such as heat, power, library acquisitions and contractual rents, must be provided by the state or all of our campuses will be forced to eliminate more positions and cut back still further on services in order to meet our existing obligations. In Cornell's case, the lack of funding for these price increases also includes monies necessary for the purchase of instruction for statutory college students from the other colleges of the university.

"I should point out that on the salary issue, I am not talking about the next round of negotiations that the state will have with the representatives of the faculty and professional staff in SUNY. No funds have been specifically earmarked in the 1999-2000 Executive Budget for that purpose, but if history is any guide, governors have usually squirreled funds away somewhere in the budget to allow those negotiations to go forward to successful conclusion.

"Let me simply state that we live in a very competitive environment. Public universities and colleges in other states are receiving substantial funding increases, and they look to New York and its state and city universities as ripe for recruiting. The devastating impact on the morale of our faculty and staff of the two successive years with absolutely no salary increase cannot be overstated, harming not only highly mobile faculty and staff but also those who, for a variety of reasons, retain strong institutional ties. I strongly recommend that you and your colleagues in the Legislature give serious attention to the critical compensation issues that exist in many unique ways throughout the state university and that you be prepared to encourage the timely resolution of the next round of negotiations.

Student Financial Aid

"The entire higher education community has been heartened by the reports from Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno that the Executive Budget's call for a cut of over $132 million in the Tuition Assistance Program is dead in the water. While it's clear that the overwhelming majority of the cut would affect students attending SUNY and CUNY, the independent sector institutions such as Cornell must object as well. The failure of the state's student financial aid program to keep pace with the rising cost of tuition not only places a strain on students and their families but is also a significant factor on tuition rates at private institutions and in the statutory colleges as institutional sources of financial aid become more and more significant. As you

know, at Cornell we place a very high priority on providing adequate institutional financial aid to assure access regardless of need. That commitment amounted to $62.9 million last year for undergraduates alone. We are very fortunate to receive strong alumni support for financial aid, and undergraduate financial aid is the sole focus of our current $200 million scholarship campaign -- but our resident students still depend on TAP to meet part of their need, so the state's partnership with New York's independent and public sector institutions must not be permitted to erode.

High Technology and Economic Development

"Cornell is one of the world's leading research universities. We are proud of our role in bringing the results of that research to the public domain, with over 80 spin-off companies employing more than 4,200 workers in Central New York.

"Just two weeks ago, Cornell was designated by the U. S. Department of Agriculture as the national center for genomics and bioinformatics. This is an extraordinary accomplishment, for it recognizes the unique opportunities to harness Cornell's long-standing leadership in plant genetics with the high-powered computational capacity of the supercomputers in the Cornell Theory Center.

"Cornell competed successfully for more than $300 million in sponsored research support this year, primarily from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and we are among the top 15 institutions in the United States in the receipt of federal support for science and engineering. We compete intensely for this support, but it is increasingly difficult as institutions in other states demand a bigger slice of federal research dollars. Over the last 15 years, New York's share of the NIH research budget has declined from approximately 15 percent to 10 percent, with a resulting loss of over $350 million in federal support. That loss translates directly and adversely to the state's economy -- and to employment.

"Cornell is working in close partnership with the state university leadership in support of a proposal entitled SMART-NY -- SUNY/Cornell Multiplier to Advance Research and Technology -- a multi-year program of investment in SUNY's university centers, health science centers, the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, our sister statutory College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and Cornell. This SUNY initiative offers the real opportunity to reverse this very serious relative decline in federal support for research at universities in New York. The initial areas of concentration for this support would be biotechnology, advanced materials, information technology and the environment. We need the support of the Legislature for this endeavor, and we are confident it will repay the state's investment many times over.

Capital Facilities

"Lastly, but certainly not least importantly, I would ask that you continue to give serious attention to the capital facilities needs of our campuses. At Cornell, we have been repeatedly seeking state support for the renovation of Bailey Hall and Stocking Hall, the first built in 1912 and the second in 1923. Bailey Hall is the largest auditorium on campus, presently seating approximately 1900 people. It serves as a regularly scheduled classroom as well as a cultural performance space and is in serious need of rehabilitation. Similarly, Stocking Hall serves as the home of the nationally award-

winning Department of Food Science; it must be totally renovated if it is to make possible the continuation of our leadership position in this field that is so important to all our state residents. The Legislature provided initial funding for these two facilities in last year's budget, but a number of corrections are required in the appropriation bill in order to have the project move forward.

Conclusion

"In conclusion let me thank you again, Mr. Luster, for this opportunity to comment on several of the most important issues facing higher education in general and SUNY and Cornell in particular during this most recent budget cycle. I hope that the restorations we have requested will come to pass, but I am even more hopeful that you and your colleagues in the Assembly and Senate will begin to examine the long-range health of this industry. Many other states in this Union have recognized the vital importance of their colleges and universities and are now making substantial additional investments in order to secure national leadership positions -- states like Georgia, Texas, Florida and Michigan. New York needs to be in that group, effectively utilizing and nurturing all of its resources, both public and independent."