As Wall Street goes, so goes New York State. New York City’s financial district, known as Wall Street, plays home to five of the largest stock exchanges in the world; NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, NYMEX, and NYBOT. This represents a significant chunk of employment and income of New York City and, by virtue, tax revenue which supplies New York state’s budget. Wall Street’s volatility, which translates to market downturn, effects city and state income. In addition, people tend to hold on to their money when they fear economic downturn. When credit isn’t flowing, governments feel the pinch of less tax revenue. A major source of tax income is when money, goods and services are exchanged. This has resulted in a deficit in the state budget. Governor Paterson has to decide where to make cuts, because the state won’t be able to operate on the currently approved budget; the funds just aren’t there. A special legislative session was held in Albany on October 3rd where Paterson asked to cut $2 billion from the budget to account for a $4.6 billion dollar deficit. Inevitably, the state is looking at the state university system to absorb $200 million of that cut, with SUNY Stony Brook to take $25 million of that. This is in addition to the $7.5 million cut the school is already undergoing.
According to a recent Statesman article, Stony Brook has had to respond by freezing the hiring of all new faculty positions. President Kenny sent out an email saying that unless an offer has already been made, no new offers can be extended to faculty who would be paid out of the state budget.
This is an unfortunate reality we are presented with. Virtually all functions supported by state funds will face the same situation and work to protect their own funds-no one wants to be the first to be cut We all complain when the government, whether it’s local, state or federal, tries to operate on a deficit, because that hurts the economy more than it would to tighten our belts now. However, when it comes time to practice what we preach, we complain even more, rather than making the necessary sacrifice.
The university can look at this as a unique opportunity to improve efficiency. Instead of complaining to the state for more funds, we can try to find other ways to raise money and, if that doesn’t work, trim the fat we all know exists. From the professors who should have retired years ago to non-essential beautification projects, we can all find things we can do personally and departmentally to save money.
Students and faculty will complain, but the university should think of this as a blessing in disguise. We will all benefit from improving efficiency rather then just accepting funds that will just go to waste. The assumption that more money equals more success is false, particularly when government is concerned. If we can improve the quality of Stony Brook’s education, by pushing students and faculty harder, to do more with less, we don’t necessarily need more money. Faculty and professors should be worried about keeping their jobs. Theoretically, the good professors should be the ones left standing in a competitive environment.
This will be an abject lesson for students as well, who will benefit from learning the lessons of hard work to compete in professional life, after college. Current students, who will soon be Stony Brook alumni, will know what it means to make sacrifices in the face of shortage. Even if that means taking out loans or finding a job to pay for a tuition hike. This will make Stony Brook students stand out, because we will know what it means to do more with less.
Inevitably, Stony Brook staff and students will not like this. And, despite my confidence that we will all survive and even thrive in a post-budget cut environment, I don’t like the idea of sacrifice any better than anyone else. This violates my sense of entitlement, because I believe Stony Brook students deserve to be well funded.
However, like it or not, this is what’s in store for us, and it’s coming sooner than we’d like to think. We can complain all we want, but eventually we’ll have to grit our metaphorical teeth and bare it. I wish all of us luck, but I know we will do well, because its going to get cold out there, and the hiring freeze is just the start.
