SUNY Restructure?

[ATL_DANE]

I was reading that UMASS is trying to solidify Amerherst as their flagship campus. This meant down grading Lowell's hockey team so that it doesn't compete for talent against Amherst. UConn seems to be building up Stoors dramatically. SUNY has always been out of step with it's state school peers nationally in terms of athletics but now even the New England schools seem to be moving toward that national model of the 'flagship' and away from our decentralized approach.

 

Has anyone heard or does anyone believe that SUNY would ever want to move that way? Would they consider consolidating schools under a few athletic programs? Say the 4 university centers? Don't get me wrong, keep all the campuses for academics but just lump them under one flag such moving the western NY schools under "Western New York University". Consider this, UConn is the Stoors campus for all intents and purposes. If you attend the Stamford campus, they don't have athletics as far as I know. If you want to go to a game, then get your butt up to Stoors. My friends who attended the Stamford campus seem to accept that idea and cheer for UConn, even if they play in Stoors. Granted, there are exceptions remaining such as CCSU within the UConn example I site but I see a definate trend. Once again, would you ever imagine something like SUNY placing Old Westbury, Stony Brook and any other LI 4 year schools under the umbrella of 'Southern New York University'. It sure would boost that new athletics program, which in the LI example would be based in Stony Brook. That athletic program budget could finally compete against CAL, Michigan, UConn etc. Florida has 50,000 students... hard for us to compete under our current structure.

 

Just a conversation starter. Thoughts?

[Dane96]

Short Answer: NO. Never...no way.

 

And the UMASS system is different. They have been operating dysfunctionally since the time Whitey Bulger's brother took over the system.

 

Secondary public education is pretty undesireable at the satellite UMASS campus', other than UMASS-Boston where my friend was the VP until a new adminstration change. It is a commuter school.

 

 

Additionally, the Conn schools are different...all getting money, but I believe CCSU, SOUTHERN, etc, operate under the Connecticut State U system...while Uconn does not. Similar to Cal State and UCAL's.

[purplenorange]

agreed -- no real chance they'd do this. If they start to suffer with enrollment issues, they may close campuses. But even that doesn't seem likely.

 

On the other hand, you don't need 30,000 - 50,000 students to compete. UA is about 18,000 total now and, I believe, they are targeting an ugrad enrollment of 20,000 or so. This, plus a metro area of about 1M in the capital district, is more than enough to support a top-tier sports program. Syracuse is about the same size as Albany (18k total students), and runs a great sports program. Stony Brook has about 22,000 total students and their sports program...

[ATL_DANE]

agreed -- no real chance they'd do this. If they start to suffer with enrollment issues, they may close campuses. But even that doesn't seem likely.

 

On the other hand, you don't need 30,000 - 50,000 students to compete. UA is about 18,000 total now and, I believe, they are targeting an ugrad enrollment of 20,000 or so. This, plus a metro area of about 1M in the capital district, is more than enough to support a top-tier sports program. Syracuse is about the same size as Albany (18k total students), and runs a great sports program. Stony Brook has about 22,000 total students and their sports program...

 

 

20k undergrad enrollment or 20k total student enrollment target? 20k undergrad would be a sizable jump from the current 12k, is it?

 

I was just thinking aloud when I posted this thread. It's a lot easier to compete when you've got 30-50k of students kicking in their $200 or so athletic fees rather than 10k or 20k of students. The trend seems to be that the BCS football schools are pushing into other sports, like basketball, and driving expenses up.... and driving smaller schools to be less competitive. Thanks for indulging my curiosity on this thread. I knew the answer but I wanted your thoughts.