News & Views item - May 2007

 

 

New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer Calls for Overhaul of the State's Higher Education System. (May 30, 2007)

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer

  In the November 2006 election the then New York State Attorney General, a Democrat, was elected Governor of the State of New York. As Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer undertook cases that a state attorney general would normally avoid. For example he took up civil actions and criminal prosecutions of white-collar crime, securities fraud, internet fraud, and environmental protection.

 

In any case his high profile propelled him into the Governorship of the third most populous state in the US (19,000,000).

 

This past Tuesday among his goals for his incumbency Mr Spitzer announced he wants to bring the quality and reputation of the State University of New York (SUNY) to be the equal of the University of California system, and he has begun by designating a commission of leaders in public and private higher education to create a new and integrated higher education system.

 

While New York State houses 14 of the US's top 100 universities, unlike California all are private and in his view, "Making the SUNY system a world class institution is an economic imperative. It is very much a question of how do we turn our SUNY system into an economic engine and make sure that it attracts the best students, the best faculty, and the most jobs for New York state," and he didn't rule out reducing the number of SUNY's 64 campuses -- a contentious option.

 

Currently SUNY has an operating budget of US$3.5 billion. The City University of New York, a separate institution, has a US$2.2 billion operating budget.

 

Mr Spitzer has named a group of senior academic administrators to his commission:

The [30 member] commission will be headed by Hunter Rawlings, president emeritus of Cornell University; and includes Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, City University of New York Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, Abraham Lackman of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities; state Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Kenneth LaValle, state Education Commissioner Richard Mills and SUNY interim Chancellor John Clark.

The term of office for governor of New York is four years; just how much will be accomplished during Mr Spitzer's first term could be of considerable interest outside the state, perhaps even in Australia. He has asked for a preliminary version of the commission's report by Dec. 1, for use in figuring next year’s budget.