FYI, below is the memo intended as the point of departure for the formulation of this year’s budget request. The Board has set out an elaborate timetable for consultation with Board members and Presidents, which ends with a final vote by the Board on October 26. Presidents will presumably be consulting with faculty governance bodies in the near future.
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The City University of New York
535 East Eightieth Street
New York, New York 10021
4 September 1998
To: Board of Trustees
College Presidents
From: Interim Chancellor Christoph M. Kimmich
Re: CUNY 1999-2000 Operating Budget Request
Last fall, the Board of Trustees signaled its strong interest in playing a greater role in the preparation of the University's annual budget request. More especially, the Trustees stressed the importance of involving the Committee on Academic Policy, Program, and Research (CAPPR) so as to ensure that the Board's academic priorities were duly reflected in the operating budget. And all of us want to ensure that the college presidents and their campuses have ample opportunity to participate in shaping the budget request.
We began to discuss the FY2000 budget with the college presidents late in the spring. Since then, I have heard from several of them about deliberations on campus and ideas put forward by faculty and students. IL have also had occasion to explore budgetary topics and themes with members of the Board.
Emerging from these various contacts was a clear sense that the University had to use the budget process not only to communicate our urgent needs but also, and more importantly, to do so in a framework that underscored a broader purpose. What is our vision for The City University for the next century? How will we respond to questions regarding performance and accountability? How can we strengthen academic programs while promoting new initiatives such as distance education? In sum, what does the budget request say about our goals for the University in the coming years.
The attached draft of suggested themes, compiled from my discussions throughout the university community, seeks to define some of these issues and offers ideas on how to address them. It is not a "shadow" budget request or even a set of priorities but an attempt to stimulate our thinking and encourage discussion on the campuses. The aim is to arrive at a document that sets forth the University's academic goals and guides the budget office in preparing our budget request for 1999-2000.
If you have any comments on the attached or have specific budget request(s) would you please send them to me in writing (with copies to Vice Chancellors Mirrer and Rothbard) by Monday, 14 September. The matter will be on the agenda of the Council of Presidents and the Board's Fiscal Affairs Committee, both scheduled to meet on 9 September.
This should give us sufficient information to begin fashioning a preliminary draft version of the budget request, which would be circulated university-wide by the week of 21 September. The draft will be discussed at a joint meeting of CAPPR and the Fiscal Affairs Committee on 24 September. Revisions can be made before the budget request comes to a vote in the Fiscal Affairs Committee on 7 October. The budget request will then be referred to the full Board for final action when it meets on 26 October.
This process will allow for a broad discussion of the University's budget priorities while still meeting the deadline for submission to the State. I look forward to hearing from you. If you have questions, please call.
Many thanks.
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FY 2000 Budget Request: Possible Themes The Future of The City University of New York.
Funding for the study of university mission and structure in the 21st Century. Building on ideas set forth by the university community, government leaders, business leaders, and various constituencies.
Planning and Performance.
1. Economic Development. An integration of the University's intellectual and physical resources supporting regional advancement in science, research, technology, business, and the professions.
2. Raising the Bar. Colleges introducing increasingly selective admission standards are likely to experience short-term enrollment declines. These institutions require revenue relief so as to a) enhance academic quality and performance b) maintain the conditions necessary to attract and retain an outstanding faculty and student body.
3. Surpassing the Grade. Outside of individual college base budgets, the University seeks additional funds to stimulate performance and, based on established indicators, acknowledge demonstrated institutional success.
4. University Priorities. CUNY is the third largest university in the country and the largest urban university. The Chancellor seeks funds outside of college base budgets for Board approved initiatives; contractual and regulatory mandates; structural budgetary shortfalls; and for special needs at constituent colleges.
5. Maximizing Resources. Identification of funds to be re-deployed for immersion, remediation and other programmatic initiatives.
Preserving the Academic Core. Enhancing the Professions.
1. Enrich and expand programs evidencing demand on the part of students and prospective employers. These areas include Engineering, Computer Science, Hospitality Services, Technology, and Health Care.
2. Doctoral program (OTPS) support for the participating campuses and the Graduate School and University Center.
3. Study Abroad. Tuition waivers and incentives for students seeking approved study abroad opportunities.
4. Sponsored Research. Expand sponsored research activity in select academic areas.
The State of Education.
1. Teacher Education. Investment in strategies to improve performance outcomes on the teacher certification exams.
2. Continuing Education for Teachers. Fundamental underpinnings of scientific and technological advancements to be illustrated (via classroom or Web-based instruction). As new Board of Regents requirements take hold, teachers may benefit from specific discipline based courses designed for this purpose. Particularly in math and science.
3. Top of the Class. Attracting the best and the brightest into the field of teaching. Provide tuition remission, stipends, loan forgiveness, and other incentives to superior students committed to pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree and teach in the State of New York.
4. Collaborative Programs with the New York City Board of Education. Partnering with the Board of Education toward maximizing student preparation in order to succeed in college. These partnerships include ongoing successful initiatives such as College Now.
5. Talent Search. Identification of K- 12 students demonstrating specific talents and abilities. Provide University access and support to students and their teachers. Establish a campus elementary school for the talented and gifted.
Student at the Center.
1. Tuition Stabilization. Hold the line on tuition. Increased support for the Tuition Assistance Program.
2. Child care. Expand capacity where possible at CUNY campuses.
3. Health Care. Through appropriate partnerships and the purchasing power of our student body, seek opportunities for affordable basic health insurance for full-time students.
4. English Language Institutes (ELI). Expand immersion opportunities to activities year-round with flexible scheduling. Promote on-line interactive program.
5. Graduate student support. Tuition remission, housing, teaching opportunities, stipends.
Solutions in Technology.
1. Distance Education. Expand existing experimental efforts. Explore potential partnerships and new markets for the delivery of degree and non-degree programming. Exploit recent network enhancements providing full motion video and multimedia transmission among the campuses.
2. Digital Library. Convert the existing University-wide integrated library system (CUNYPlus) to a client-server platform as the foundation for a comprehensive digital library initiative.
3. Legacy Administrative System Upgrades. Conversion, enhancements, and the creation of Internet based front end interfaces. Focus on university accounting and human resources information systems.
4. 24 Hour Computer Access. Goal to provide student access to the internet, World Wide Web, as well as word processing and spreadsheet tools around the clock.