7/9/2010: Here‘s an interesting NY Times story related to a SUNY restructuring plan that the NY Governor has proposed, and a $150 million gift from a donor, contingent on the state accepting the plan:
“We’re not prepared at the moment to state any particular number, but it will be an attractive gift,” said Mr. Simons, who is also chairman emeritus of Stony Brook’s affiliated foundation. “Over time it could become an even more attractive gift.”
But Mr. Simons and school officials said that in order to raise more private money, SUNY units first needed to win independence from the ebb and flow of Albany’s annual budget process, which in recent years ended with significant cuts in state aid to higher education. Mr. Paterson’s plan would allow each campus to raise tuition each year and use that additional revenue as school officials see fit, providing some stability to the schools’ general operating budgets from year to year.
Donors, he said, want to give to an institution that they feel has a future. “Simply plugging gaps is not a good pitch for any institution,” Mr. Simons said. “Going forward, what we would give, and what others would give, would very much depend on this bill passing, or on some other miracle.”
… But there is broad opposition to the governor’s plan in the Assembly, which passed the final piece of the state budget last week — a revenue bill of over $1 billion. It left for the summer without voting on the SUNY proposal but could return to deal with it.
The circumstances, and the arguments, are very similar to Pres Lariviere’s restructuring plan.
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