FREDONIA, NY (WKBW) — College professionals are waging a fight for funding at SUNY Fredonia. They held a silent protest Tuesday in anticipation of potential program cuts at the school.
They’re demanding SUNY fairly fund the school. United University Professions (UUP) carried banners and signs saying, "We Demand Funding for Fredonia".
The UUP says they're concerned SUNY is going to pull the plug on some of the school's programs.
“We have a lot of information that SUNY’s going to announce substantial cuts to programs at Fredonia,” commented Alissa Karl, vice president for academics statewide, UUP.
SUNY recently tried to eliminate roughly 14 programs at SUNY Potsdam, but now the union is shifting its attention to Fredonia, fearing this campus might be next.
“SUNY administration has been very opaque. They haven't shared a lot of information about what their plans are specifically, and that makes our members nervous. These are their jobs and any kinds of programmatic cuts we see is nothing less than an assault on the union labor that runs this campus,” Karl explained.
“It is definitely a concern, especially around the holidays. All members are very nervous and it's a scary thing,” declared Christopher Taverna, Information Technology at Fredonia and UUP member.
Taverna has worked on the Fredonia campus for 22 years.
SUNY Fredonia faces a $17 million deficit, but SUNY only gave the campus $2.8 million.
“What is your message right now to both SUNY and the governor?” Buckley asked. “Well, I would hope that they would see that you know, that these changes, whatever change may need to happen that it's a lot easier on people to make decisions when they're not under financial distress,” replied Taverna.
“We are out here to demand the fair funding that this campus deserves. SUNY received record additional funding for operating campuses in this year's state budget, and the SUNY administration chose to not allocate it to the campuses that needed it,” described Karl.
I reached out to SUNY about potential cuts but have not received a response.
The union is hoping their message makes it to Albany, meanwhile, the administration here at Fredonia is waiting to hear about potential cuts.
