To the Editor:
To the Editor:
New York State's investment in Cornell University pays dividends many times over to State residents, who benefit from a wide range of Cornell services and programs. At the same time, Cornell has shouldered its full share of state budget appropriation reductions, in the same manner as all SUNY campuses.
The article, "Can SUNY Afford Cornell?" (Feb. 21) says Cornell "has largely been spared from eight years of state cuts to public higher education." That is not true. Cornell's statutory programs, like SUNY, have suffered major appropriation reductions since 1988. A total of $21.6 million in permanent operating support has been cut at Cornell in this seven-year period, with the loss of 300 state-funded positions. These cuts are proportional to those of other SUNY schools.
SUNY's overall operating appropriation is composed of a mix of tax funds, tuition income and other revenues. It is true, as the article states, that Cornell's share of the tax -fund portion of that mix has increased, even though its share of the overall operating ap propriation has remained constant since 1988. This has happened for two reasons. First, more than half of Cornell's SUNY appropriation is devoted to research and extension services provided to the state that do not generate tuition, in contrast to other SUNY units. Second, statutory college students at Cornell have long been required to pay com pletely for a wide range of student services that State funds have supported at other cam puses. As a result, some of the tuition dollars
that would otherwise be submitted to SUNY are retained by Cornell to pay for those services. (That also is the reason statutory college tuition is more than twice as high as tuition at other SUNY campuses.)
Among several factual errors, the article misstates the size of the budget reduction allocated to the statutory colleges for 1995-96. The appro priation reduction allocated to Cornell totaled $5.1 million, not the $3 million implied in the article. Initially, however, SUNY pro posed allocating percentage reductions to Cornell that were more than twice those proposed for other campuses. Cornell's resistance to those proposals resulted in a final appropriation percentage reduction equal to that for all SUNY campuses.
The article states that "...SUNY has typically had little leverage over Cornell's budget."
Under the state's education law, all annual operating budget requests are submit ted to the state through SUNY, and in general SUNY has endorsed those requests. SUNY, also, has determined the proportion of State budget reductions allocated to the statutory colleges during the period in question, with last year's exception.
Cornell's contemporary mission is much broader than "to teach industrial arts and farming," as stated in your article. Its land -grant mission requires its state-supported colleges and programs to be responsive to the state's needs and priorities. Cornell operates programs in every corner of the state, including the Cooperative Extension system, with programs in every county and the five bor oughs of New York City. These programs
cover a full range of activities critical to New Yorkers, including child abuse prevention training for state Social Services staff; equine drug testing for the state's racing industry; nutritional monitoring of at-risk populations; statewide animal disease diagnostic and prevention services; a pest management pro gram to increase agricultural profitability and improve environmental quality; and a program to ensure the safety of the New York City water supply.
In fall 1995, fully 70 percent of undergraduate students at Cornell's four state -supported colleges were from New York State. Those students are being educated in academic programs that are widely regarded as being among the best -- if not the best -- in their fields nationally. Although they enroll only "8,600 students," as the article states, Cornell's statutory colleges produce 17 percent of Ph.D.s granted by the entire SUNY system.
The resources the State provides to support the statutory colleges at Cornell are, I believe, a wise investment that ensures a substantial return to the State. State operating funds leverage other resources that exceed 60 percent of the colleges' overall operating support, and tuitions cover a relatively high proportion of student costs.
I suggest that the question is not, "Can SUNY Afford Cornell?" but rather, how diminished would the SUNY system and New York State be, with a lesser Cornell.
Cornell recognizes the reality of state budget constraints and we have worked diligently with SUNY officials over the past eight years to enact fiscally responsible budget reductions. Cornell remains committed to providing the best return possible on the State's investment.
Hunter R. Rawlings III
President