DAN QUAGLIANA
News Editor
On the morning of Monday, March 22, the SUNY Chancellor, John B. King, Jr., made a surprise visit to SUNY Fredonia.
His visit was not announced, and many students and faculty were not aware of the chance to speak with him about the issues plaguing the university.
When he arrived on campus early that morning, King met with two members of the university’s faculty: Dr. Bruce Simon, an English professor, and Dr. Rob Deemer, a music composition professor and the director of the Department of Theatre and Dance. Simon and Deemer are the current and next chairpersons of University Senate, respectively. University Senate is the governing body of faculty members on campus. According to political science professor and senator Dr. Jonathan Chausovsky, other faculty members were not given the chance to meet with the chancellor.
King also met with executives of Fredonia’s Student Association (SA), but this was done under great secrecy. According to SA President Rosemarie Rapisarda, “We told at our Student Association Budget Meeting where [President] Kolison had to endorse our SA budget for the fiscal year. It was the Friday before [April 19].”
“When we met with him, we were able to introduce ourselves. He then asked us questions about what we would change on campus,” she said. “We mainly used this time to speak directly to Kolison, as we knew our tips would have a better outcome when telling them to Kolison himself. We told him that he should not just rely on hearing concerns from only us (the Student Association). We recommended him to possibly host forums where students come in and tell him their concerns directly [and] not just from the ‘grapevine.’ We offered our help as the Student Association to assist [in] things like this in the future.”
Rapisarda thought the meeting with King went “well.” She described it as “mainly an outlet for him to hear concerns from the Student Association.”
“It was almost like a journalistic interview,” she said. “I thought he was very nice, professional and intelligent. However, I do wish he chose to allow the school to make it public that he was visiting. It could have given him the opportunity to hear concerns from struggling students in the programs that are being cut or even talked to UUP [United University Professions] about the budget issues our campus is facing.”
After these meetings, King delivered a roughly 15-minute-long speech from Fredonia President Stephen Kolison’s office in Fenton Hall. Local news organizations such as the Dunkirk Observer, a newspaper serving the Northern Chautauqua region, were given the opportunity to report on the event, but Fredonia’s student-run media, including The Leader, Fredonia Radio Systems (FRS) and WNYF-TV, were not invited to attend or made aware of the event.
The chancellor spent his time talking about the issues that Fredonia has been experiencing over the last few months, including the university’s declining enrollment and financial difficulties, the strategic plan to address enrollment decline and the potential for the new budget to bring new students into the SUNY program.
King was referencing the new budget for New York State. As unveiled on May 3, the SUNY Board of Trustees only allocated an additional $1.4 million to Fredonia, far short of the university’s annual deficit, which has been said by various campus administrators to range anywhere from $9 million to $21 million.
“It’s been a great opportunity to visit with the president and his leadership team to spend time with faculty and staff leaders to hear about their perspective on the future of Fredonia … and then to spend time with students, talking with the leadership of their student assembly, as well as some of the students who are involved as tour guides for the campus about their experience,” King’s speech began.
Someone in the room, presumably one of the reporters present, asked, “So the big news this week is the budget has been passed … [There’s] a lot of talk about SUNY getting more money. Is it enough?”
Due to the lack of students and faculty in the room, a lot of details are not exact, save for an audio recording of the speech obtained by The Leader.
“Well, look, you know, we… we did this long-term report for the governor and the legislature on SUNY’s long-term financial trajectory. And what we pointed out in that report is that if we didn’t get additional state support, we would end up with a billion-dollar system-wide deficit over a 10-year period. And so we made the case that we need regular increases in state support,” King answered.
“And the state stepped up to do that. The governor and our … legislative champions are delivering not only the $54 million that was promised in the governor’s executive budget, but $60 million of operating support on top of that 54 [million dollars] to help us to address some of the costs associated with our new UUP contract. The contract for our faculty members [were] well-deserved raises that we think were very fair, but we need the state’s help to pay for it.”
King went on to say that he was “very optimistic about the future” of Fredonia. “We, in looking at the plan, see both smart investments as well as thoughtful efforts to adjust staffing and programming to align with the change in student population,” he said.
King’s views on the recent campus events are in stark contrast to those of the majority of students, faculty and staff, who have all widely criticized the recent gutting of 13 different majors across the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
“And President Kolison and his team put forward, I think, a very thoughtful approach to say, ‘We’ve got to change in order to be sustainable for the long term.’ And at SUNY, we’re very committed to the future of SUNY Fredonia. We want SUNY Fredonia to be successful for the next 200 years, and so in order to make sure that happens, the campus has to make smart financial decisions,” King finished.
He went on to say that he is “deeply committed to all 64 of the communities where [SUNY has] campuses … Fredonia is working closely with Jamestown Community College and Erie Community College to make it easier for students to transfer from those two-year institutions … We think that’s very smart.”
Next, King answered a question from Lee Pye, a junior majoring in English and audio radio production and the News Director of FRS.
“I asked about why they are adding the new business stuff if this is a liberal arts school,” Pye said. He is referring to the new Master of Business Administration degree that Fredonia is adding at some point in the near future.
“Look, the 13 programs that are being discontinued are programs that served about 74 students. So these were programs that were under-enrolled,” King responded. “The plan now is to invest in areas that are growing like a new master’s program in mental health counseling. We know that’s a huge need for the region [and] for the state. So we’re gonna make those investments. And the president has recruited a strong vice president for enrollment management … I would also say that President Kolison and his team are working hard on retention … And so that’s why we really think this is a plan that will get us to a healthier future.”
King concluded his speech by saying that, “Institutions that are clear-eyed about their financial challenges, make hard choices [and] make investments in areas of growth are actually going to be the ones that are positioned to survive and thrive for the long term. And SUNY Fredonia is doing that.”
“This is the … strategy for the future and we’re going to be around [and] remain relevant for the next two or three years,” Kolison said after King had finished speaking. “We’re going to have to do some of those things. If we insist that we can’t change anything, then I think we’re going to have a harder time for the future. That’s what it’s about. Thank you.”
“Everything that was said in that meeting was already said by Kolison months ago,” Pye said after King’s speech. “I don’t think anything important was said during that meeting. [The only difference was in] the chancellor being there.”
Pye believes that he was the only student in attendance at the speech, although this fact could not be confirmed. He was only able to gain attendance on the insistence of Elmer Ploetz, a journalism professor in the Communication Department.
“I feel very used … He came to Fredonia, made this impression and had a quick meeting that none of the media were invited to,” Pye said. “They said that they did invite the medias and I think that’s important to note that they did not … They are not contacting student media, which is the main source of media that we have on campus.”
Regarding the content of King’s speech, Pye said, “Now [that] we know that a lot of the money didn’t go to Fredonia, I feel like [King’s visit] was just a show. He looked me in the eyes and saw my concern and had a smile on his face … And having someone look at you and know they’re hurting you, and then they smile at you, that hurts, especially [when it’s coming from] someone in power. It’s very clear to me now, at least in my opinion, that he showed up to make a show and to present himself as better and good. And then he does this not good thing.”
“I [do] not blame Kolison or the administration for this,” Rapisarda specified. “When the chancellor demands to visit Fredonia and talk to the higher-ups but wishe[s] it to be secretive, they have to agree with that. Or else he could have potentially [been] denied to come.
“I am furious at the fact that he came to Fredonia, saw firsthand … how our campus is struggling, yet decided to give funding to the big four again. If I am correct, the chancellor also visited another school [SUNY Cortland] the same day as Fredonia (which is why the visit was so short) … I just think it was ridiculous that he basically wasted the school’s time to hear concerns from different departments to then, once again, not do anything about it and give money to the big four who quite literally do not need anything more. They are not struggling. We are.”
Pye said, “If I had the chance to go back to that meeting, knowing what I know now, knowing that that was the chancellor, knowing what they didn’t tell me … I would ask him, ‘Why would you show your face to a place where you know they will hate you?’”