POTSDAM — A SUNY Potsdam philosophy professor spoke during Tuesday night’s Town Board meeting and warned further cuts to faculty and programming are coming in April and August.
Following their comments, the town councilors passed a resolution calling for a restructuring of SUNY trustees to allow more equitable distribution of state money among the campuses.
The comments and action come amid a series of controversial cuts SUNY Potsdam has made in an effort to balance a $9 million budget deficit. The professor’s comments were aimed at the state, not SUNY Potsdam administration.
FINANCIAL WOES
In September, SUNY Potsdam President Suzanne Smith announced a series of tough measures in response to financial woes, which include discontinuing 14 degree programs and considering the closure of two campus buildings. Enrollment at SUNY Potsdam has seen a dramatic decrease from 4,098 students in the fall of 2012 to 2,515 students in the fall of 2023. This decline has placed immense financial strain on the institution and has contributed to a $9 million deficit. Smith has said that last year the college took in revenue of $38 million, but spent $47 million. Cuts include the bachelor of arts programs in both theater and dance, both of which used the $60 million performing arts center that opened on campus in 2013.
During Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, SUNY Potsdam philosophy professor David C.K. Curry warned of further job cuts.
“There are more cuts to faculty, tenure faculty and tenure track faculty. They’ve been announced. They’re coming in April and they’re coming in August,” Curry told the board. “The cuts so far yield less than half the savings needed to address the college’s $9 million deficit.
“The real crisis, according to UUP, is the state of New York has failed its mission to provide access to quality higher education opportunities to its citizens, particularly in rural and poverty stricken areas of the state.”
‘A STATEWIDE ISSUE’
SUNY Potsdam biology professor Walter J. Conley also spoke during public comment, saying “our conversations are no longer campuswide. They’re statewide. This is a statewide issue.”
Later in the meeting, the Town Council passed a resolution calling for the state to restructure its board of SUNY trustees.
They said the state legislature should pass bill A.6430, which, according to the resolution, “would reduce the number of Trustees the governor appoints and allow the Temporary President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly to each appoint four Trustees to ensure disbursement of allocations to the SUNY system as advocated and intended by the State Legislature for their home districts to make possible affordable, accessible higher education at the campus and in the discipline of choice by the citizens of New York.”
Other programs at SUNY Potsdam previously announced for cuts are art history (bachelor of arts), chemistry (bachelor of science), French (bachelor of arts), music performance (master of music), philosophy (bachelor of arts), physics (bachelor of arts) and Spanish (bachelor of arts).
The arts management bachelor’s program will be deactivated. Interim Provost Alan L. Hersker said previously that “this program will enter into a three-year period in which it cannot accept new students, but will remain as a registered program. During this time, it is expected that a proposal could be developed to either revise the program or recommend its discontinuance.”