The_Rambler_1997-04-15

              STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FARMINGDALE Volume 69 ^ssuel2 AprU 15,1997
What the Student Government Doesn't Tell You
Tkt views expressed in the following editor iai do
not neccesarily represent those of the Rambler
staff.
by Gary Jambor
As I sat in class Tuesday afternoon
I wondered why my application to run for the
position of Treasurer for the student govern-ment
had been denied, especially since there
is no one else running for this position.
There are three people running for positions
on the SGA board. I am one, the other two
are running for president,, Greg Hannington
and Rich Davis. Rich is currently the Vice
President of SGA.
When I arrived home from work on
Tuesday there was a message from John
Baptise stating thatmy application for Treas-urer
was denied, but I could not be put on the
ballot to become a senator. When I came to
school I went to the SGA office to see if John
was there. He was not there, but Mr. Gordon
was and he explained to me why my applica-tion
was denied. He told me that I was
denied because I was not part of a fully
funded unit last semester. A fully funded
unit means something like being a part of
SGA, the Rambler or the radio station. I
understand that the rules for running for a
position on the SGA board-^ire there for a
reason, but when only three people are run-ning
for positions they shouldn^t be worried
about my not being a part of a fully funded
unit last semester. Mr. Gordon walked me
over to Dean Fergeson's office where I
pleaded my case to him. He said he would
look into it As all this was happening I
couldn't help but think about what was
going on. Why are the rules for running for
a position on the SGA board so tight? Why
aren't more people running for SGA?
Later that day I heard some more
disturbing news. I was told that Rich Davis,
the VP of SGA, is also the chairperson of the
ELB (election leadership board), had ap-pointed
another person to be the chairperson
for ELB. He had to resign because he is
running for president Rich is unable to
appoint anyone to become the chairperson.
Only the president can do this. After some-one
is appointed, the appointment must be
considered and appointed by the senate.
This appointment was never approved or
even put in front of the senate. If the SGA has
to follow rules, and ean' t put me on the ballot,
why are they not following the rules with the
correct procedure for appointing a chairper-son
for the ELB?
Later that day I happened to talk
with Greg Hannington who is running for
president, and had a little talk with him. He
was also not going to be put on the ballot
because the ELB said he did not hand in his
signatures. One of the things that had to be
handed in was a packet of signatures. We
needed 150 signatures just to be put on the
balk)t sheet Greg told me that he handed
everthing in the Thursday before spring break.
He also told me what happened last year
when he tried to run for president. Appar-ently,
he was taken off of the ballot for no
reason, and no one did anything about it; they
just overlooked it
Another topic which I would like to
bring up to everyone's attention is the posters
that have been put up this past week. All
through the school. Student Activity Calen-dars
have been placed on almost every wall.
The calendar starts with February and it is
now April. Why was the calendar put out so
late, esp^ially now when more than half of
the semsester is over?
The current SGA has been und^
constant scrutiny from students. There is a
push to do away with the student activity
fee. The SGA has been accused of not
making student activites made known to
students. But now with those posters up
how can anyone miss the message they arc
sending out Also the money form the S AF
(student activity fee) is supposedly not going
where it is supposed to. The Rambler has
put out one paper and that was printed by an
outside printing company. Students also
complain that there is not enough tutoring
and the activities in Nold Hall have been cut
down.
So who do the rules apply to. Surely there
can't be an election with only one person
running. That is not an election. People are
going to have to realize what is going on in
this school. You may think you are not
affected, but every full time student who
pays $80.00and every part time student who
pays $45.00, it is time to voice your opinion.
HIGHER EDUCATION CUTS Pounding Pataki
THREATEN STATE'S ECONOMY
by Charles J. Hynes
The recent appeal by the presidents of New
York's 19 major public colleges and uni-versities
for a restoration of the cuts pro-posed
in next year's Executive Budget
should be a warning that our system of
higher education is in danger.
Our public institutions of higher
learning are a valuable asset They help
prepare tomorrow's leaders and enable us
to compete successfully in th global econ-omy.
They need to be nourished, not ne-glectoL
Reductions totaling $136 million
arebeing recommended in three major areas:
general operating funds ($77 million);
capital construction ($23 million ) and
community colleges ($36 million). These
cms are significant when compared to other
areas in the budget which propose substan-tial
spending increases.
For example, an increase of $626
million in capital expenditures for the State
Department of Correctional Services is
proposed. While some of this money may
be necessary to improve the existing physi-cal
plant, the bulk of it is intended for the
design and construction of nearly 7,000
new prison beds by the year 2000. New
Yorkers may question the wisdom of spend-ing
$90,000 per inmate to build new prison
cells at the expense of state universities and
community colleges.
The impact of the cuts would fall
heavily on the middle class and working
class families who are the backbone of our
Stye's economy. The difference will be
made up in p«t by a t m M increase, the
second in two years. In 1995 tuition was
increased by $750per year, and the current
proposal calls for an increase of $400 per
year.
These increases should be care-fully
weighed against the proposed reduc-tion
of school property taxes for home-owners
throughout the State, which will
increase State spending by $3.68 billion in
the next five years.
Under the proposed School Tax
Relief program (STAR), a typical property
owner would receive a $30,000 tax exemp-tion
from the full value of his or her prop-erty,
phased in over a three year period at
$10,000 per year. This would create a
school tax exemption of 27 percent for a
taxpayer living in a median-priced home.
The estimated annual savings to a home-owner
would be $160 in Queens County,
$230 in Chattaqua County, $450 in Albany
County,$680inSuffolk County and$l,130
in Westchester County.
It is apparent that for many fami-lies
with one or two chiWren in the state
university system this cut in local school
taxes will be offset by an increase in col-lege
tuition costs. For families who do not
own their own homes, and especially for
poor students, the proposed tuition increase
is tantamount to tax increase.
The reduction in spending for our
state universites and community colleges
is the wrong way to promote economic de-velopment
in our State.
The Citizens Budget Commis-sion,
an independent organization that stud-ies
City and State Government, recently
reported that New York State has fallen far
behind other states in private job creation.
Between 1950 and 1995 New York State's
private sector jobs grew by 32 percent,
compared to 150 percent for the nation as a
whole.
One need only look at the remark-able
economic success story of Guilford
County, North Carolina to understand the
importance of ecucation in promoting eco-nomic
development. This county made
in»pr^ive gains in creating jobs, raising per
capita income and lowering unemployment
by improving the quality of its two-year
community colleges and preparing people
for jobs in business and technology. The
presence of this skilled work force enabled
the county to attract new businessess in tele-communications,
auto-parts, electonics, plas-tics,
metal working, customer services and
fmancial services, which more than offset a
loss of jobs in textiles, furniture and agricul-ture.
North Carolina, with a population
slightly more than one-third of New York's,
appropriates $549 million per year to its
community colleges. By contrast. New York
State will apprpriate less than $300 miUion
under the proposed budget, with the remain-ing
support coming from local govemments,
tuition and other sources.
New Yorkers should send a clear
message to Albany: spending on higher
education must not be cut. Our public univer-sities
and community colleges are vital to the
economic health of our State.
by Stephen Berger
Farmingdale, New York- Three years ago
when George Pataki took over the reigns
of Governor from Mario Cuomo he inher-ited
a big problem; the teachers of the
state universities. Governor George Pataki
said that once he started his first term that
he would focus on improving higher edu-cation.
Since that statement Governor
Pataki has taken what some teachers. Con-gressmen
and Assemblymen say "as steps
backwards."
State universites have beei* the
vocal point of Governor PataKi's rapid
changes. Unfortunately, political activ-ists
see it as Pataki's downfall. A reading
of the 1 ^ 7 Governor's Executive Budget
calls for at least a $180 million cut to
SUNY. Pataki has proposed tuition in-creases
of roughly while also cut-ting
tuition assistance programs by $175
million. He has included in his proposal
that the required minimum credit for eli-gibility
for tuition assistance be doubled.
Barbara Silverstone, the UUP legislative
Chair stated in an interview that Pataki is
punishing the students for succeeding and
not rewarding them. This increase in
credit eligibility has brought to the fore-front
a sad but true fact about SUNY
Farmingdale. With the increases and
decreases in all but the wrong places, the
enrollment has dwindled to about half of
what it used to be.
According to the Carnegie Foun-dation,
students should be responsible for
no more than 33% of the cost of their
education. SUNY students are currently
paying more thatn 51% of the cost With
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