United University Professions counts many friends in the Legislature, and they turned out in force one day last month in a strong show of support for the union and the beleaguered State University of New York, at an event UUP dubbed a "college fair."

A strong lineup of state senators and Assembly members mingled with UUP members at booths representing the different campuses during the Feb. 24 event in the Legislative Office Building.

Then, they took to the podium to reinforce a message of solidarity with the academic and professional faculty at SUNY.

SUNY at breaking point

The united front was part of a continuing effort by UUP - which represents 35,000 academic and professional faculty in the SUNY system - to stave off severe budget cuts in Gov. David Paterson's budget proposal.

"We can't absorb any more budget cuts - the knife has gone into the bone, and we just can't absorb any more," UUP President Phil Smith told a standing-room-only audience.

"What we're talking about here is courses being canceled, or even graduations being delayed, because students cannot afford to continue. That's costly, it's unfair and it's just intolerable. Our teaching hospitals are at the breaking point."

Smith called on the governor and the Legislature to:

• restore a proposed $148 million cut in the current fiscal year;
• raise revenue through income tax reform;
• restore $75 million of revenue the state forced SUNY to set aside last spring;
• reject SUNY flexibility proposals; and,
• roll back a proposed $25 million funding cut to the three SUNY teaching hospitals and replace it with a $40 million increase.

Legislative advocates speaking out for SUNY included State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith; Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos; Assembly Majority and Minority leaders Ron Canestrari and James Tedisco; and Higher Education Committe chairs Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky and Assembly member Deborah Glick.

NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue and Secretary-Treasurer Lee Cutler also attended.

Lawmakers struck a consistent theme of support for SUNY: That the country's largest public university system cannot continue to function at the rate it is going now, because the state is literally starving it.

"The Democratic Conference is in agreement on three key issues: affordable, accessible and high quality," said Stavisky, who described a degree from SUNY as a "Tiffany product at Target prices."

Skelos and Canestrari each have received UUP's "Friend of SUNY" award, which recognizes strong advocates for public higher education.

Skelos told the assembled UUP members "You are the economic engine for our communities in the state of New York." He pledged to help recoup tuition increase money "that was stolen from SUNY" - a reference to the state's decision to appropriate for the state's General Fund most of the revenue from recent tuition increases.

"What should our top priority be? Education," Tedisco said. "Talk about all the stimulus packages you want, if we don't have you, we're going to have no economic turnaround."

UUP continues fight

Backed by NYSUT, its statewide affiliate, UUP plans to continue an aggressive campaign to heighten public awareness of the benefits of SUNY campuses to local communities, and the inequity of the governor's proposed budget cuts to an already depleted university system.

UUP has strong reason to believe that outspoken public advocacy on behalf of SUNY, coupled with an aggressive campaign aimed at state lawmakers, really does get results.

Three weeks ago, lawmakers decided to reject the governor's proposal for midyear funding cuts to the SUNY community colleges, which NYSUT attributes in good part to its vehement public rejection of such a plan.

At last month's NYSUT Community College Lunch, which brings together NYSUT local leaders and campus administrators, NYSUT leaders said members sent so many messages protesting the cuts to state lawmakers that a few legislators asked them to please slow down the flood, because, as one of them put it, "I get the message!"

The gathering had a particular resonance, coming as it did only hours before President Obama's address to Congress in which he laid out the three priorities of his economic recovery plan: energy, health care and education. Without a solid base in all three areas, the president said, the country may stay mired in the recession for a decade.

The reality of the president's call to action was seen in the faces of students and legislators standing on the sidelines at the UUP event after the last seat was taken.