What a Funding Fracas Could Mean for the Future of CUNY

The City University of New York is wondering where it will get $485 million — roughly one-third of the budget for its four-year institutions. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, has called for New York City to begin footing that sum as part of his proposed budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year, relieving the state of a major financial burden. But the city has adamantly rejected the plan, creating deep concern about the future of the country’s third-largest public-university system.

“It’s been said that there will be no additional cost to the city and that CUNY will not be cut,” James B. Milliken, the system’s chancellor, told the CUNY Board of Trustees on Monday. “But it’s not clear today how this will be resolved.”

CUNY’s unusual hybrid-funding model has allowed the confusion to take root. New York State covers most of the costs at the system’s 11 senior colleges, or four-year institutions, and at its six graduate and professional colleges, while New York City is the primary funding source for the seven community colleges. That’s been the case since the city’s financial crisis four decades ago, though the state has covered a significant share of the senior colleges’ budgets since CUNY was founded, in 1961, said Stephen Brier, a professor of urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center who has researched the system’s history.

Mr. Cuomo initially argued that the city appoints a third of CUNY’s board but doesn’t provide a comparable amount of financial support for the system, though he quickly walked back that reasoning and said his plan was primarily about efficiency. The terse comments reflect a deep political rift between Mr. Cuomo and Bill de Blasio, the city’s mayor.

Framing the budget debate is a longstanding dispute over a new labor contract for CUNY’s faculty and staff. Governor Cuomo has said that shifting the $485-million cost away from the state would allow the state to offer $240 million in retroactive pay raises for CUNY employees, who have not received a salary increase in five years because of an expired contract.

Faculty members and students have held several protests in the state capital, in Albany, and at the governor’s New York City office, voicing concerns that CUNY has become Mr. Cuomo’s political pawn. At worst, they say, the city won’t pick up the tab and the system could endure a catastrophic funding drop; at best, CUNY’s leaders will face continued uncertainty about the system’s revenue sources.

The New York State Assembly, which is under Democratic control, rejected the proposed cost shift in its budget resolution. But Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, the speaker, said last week that he agreed with Governor Cuomo that the city should contribute more to CUNY, according to Politico New York. A spokesman for Mr. Heastie clarified that the speaker wanted the city to help settle the system’s employee-contract dispute.

Mr. Cuomo won support from the Republican-controlled State Senate, however. Senators indicated that they were upset about a series of anti-Semitic incidents at CUNY and wrote in their budget resolution that the chamber wouldn’t back additional state funding for CUNY’s senior colleges “until it is satisfied that the administration has developed a plan to guarantee the safety of students of all faiths.”

The Chronicle explored some of the questions surrounding the $485-million proposal and the future of CUNY’s funding.

Is the governor’s plan for CUNY a “cost shift,” or is it really a budget cut?

Governor Cuomo has said that “there will be no cut to CUNY” under his plan, suggesting that the city would have to pick up the tab. Later, though, he assured Mayor de Blasio’s office that the proposal could be offset by “efficiency changes” within CUNY and “would not cost the city a penny,” the mayor said in his budget address.

Dani Lever, a spokeswoman for the governor, told The Chronicle that “CUNY will be fully funded at $1.6 billion, as it has been every year.” If the State Legislature accepts the “proposed reforms and savings plan,” she said in an email, “no party should need to pay more.”

Such changes are necessary, she said, because Governor Cuomo wants to “direct additional resources to the classroom and faculty by finding ways to reduce bureaucratic costs and consolidate back-office functions.”

Last week Mr. Cuomo announced that he would appoint a management-organization expert to suggest ways of streamlining CUNY’s administration, with a proposal for savings due to the state before budget talks for the next fiscal year begin.

“There is no scenario in which this plan would adversely impact CUNY students,” Ms. Lever said, “and to suggest otherwise is simply untruthful.”

It’s not clear, however, whether full funding for CUNY is contingent on the city’s agreeing to put up the $485 million. Mr. de Blasio didn’t account for the money in his preliminary city budget for the coming year, and the mayor said in January that he wasn’t pleased with Governor Cuomo’s plan. Later that month, after receiving Mr. Cuomo’s assurance that there would not be a nearly $500-million cut in the system, Mr. de Blasio said he was “taking the governor at his word.”

A New York City Council committee passed a resolution on Monday calling on Governor Cuomo and lawmakers to protect CUNY’s state support. The resolution states that “a reduction in the state’s financial commitment to CUNY would burden New York City with new and unexpected costs, diminish the quality of education at CUNY, and destabilize the long-term funding of the university.”

What do CUNY’s leaders think?

Mr. Milliken, CUNY’s chancellor, said on Monday that the state-budget process had involved “unusual and extraordinary threats to CUNY.” He added that “CUNY’s budget is underfunded and requires new investment.” Without such support, he said, “the important work that CUNY does will be seriously threatened.”

As far as operating efficiently is concerned, Mr. Milliken said the system was already doing so, though he acknowledged that “more could be done.” A chart provided to The Chronicle indicates that CUNY’s administrative costs per student are less than those of the State University of New York, the University of Texas system, and several other large public universities.

What are faculty members at CUNY saying about the funding debate?

Proposing a reduction in state funding for CUNY without a set-in-stone agreement on an alternative revenue source is effectively a cut, said Barbara Bowen, a professor of English at CUNY’s Queens College and president of the union that represents CUNY employees.

Marc Edelman, a professor of anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, said he “wouldn’t quarrel with the idea that there are inefficiencies,” particularly within CUNY’s administration. But on the academic side, CUNY “is really a bare-bones operation” already, Mr. Edelman said, citing the system’s heavy reliance on adjunct instructors.

“Every time they try to create efficiencies in the university, they create other inefficiencies,” he added, citing a controversial plan that standardized the basic curriculum on each CUNY campus. That change dumbed down the general-education program at the senior colleges, Mr. Edelman said.

Mr. Brier, the urban-education professor, said he and his colleagues were “petrified” about continued pay freezes and possible campus closures within CUNY. He and a few dozen other faculty and staff members plan to stage a protest at the governor’s New York City office on Thursday.

How does the dispute over the expired contract for faculty and staff members factor into the funding debate?

The governor’s budget would fund a 4-percent retroactive pay raise for CUNY faculty and staff members. However, the proposal suggests that the raise would be paid out only if the cost-shift plan comes to pass.

That condition shouldn’t be the case, Ms. Bowen said, because the state has a budget surplus this year. “One should not be contingent on the other,” she said.

Faculty and staff pay has been frozen during the contract dispute, while the cost of living in New York City has gone up by 23 percent since 2009, Ms. Bowen said, citing a figure from The Economist.

That’s caused a significant drop in faculty morale, Mr. Edelman added. “Many people leave,” he said. “Some of us have tried to leave, but it ultimately hasn’t worked out.”

What would a $485-million cut mean for CUNY?

Matthew Sapienza, vice chancellor for budget and finance at CUNY, said this month that such a reduction could mean a large number of faculty and staff layoffs and the loss of thousands of students.

Officials from the state, the city, and CUNY have offered assurances that such a large drop in funding isn’t likely to happen. New York State’s new fiscal year begins on April 1.

Ms. Bowen said she’s encouraged by the number of state lawmakers who have publicly come out in support of CUNY and raises for employees, and against Governor Cuomo’s proposal. Still, she’s concerned that “most of the conversation has been focused on preventing a huge hole from being blown in the state budget or the city budget” instead of making critical investments.

Despite nearly $500 million hanging in the balance, Mr. de Blasio said in January that he didn’t think a worst-case-scenario plan for CUNY was necessary. “Do we always have in the back of our mind different options? Of course we do,” he said at a news conference. “But this one to me on its face is unacceptable, and I’m very confident we’ll deal with it.”

Sarah Brown writes about a range of higher-education topics, including sexual assault, race on campus, and Greek life. Follow her on Twitter @Brown_e_Points, or email her at sarah.brown@chronicle.com.

Correction (3/22/2016, 9:15 a.m.): This article originally included an incorrect first name for CUNY’s vice chancellor for budget and finance. He is Matthew Sapienza, not Michael Sapienza. The text has been corrected.