Stadium

[Dane96]

Exactly. The way I see it, Phase I will have its limitatations and will have a good amount of mixed funding. Phase II and Phase III will require some money hopefully from the State...and those Phases are what will make our Stadium shine (landscaping, walkways, upgraded video boards...and of course expansion".

 

Fight the battle then!

[uofalbany]

If it is guaranteed that funding for phase I is definitely secured,

and will be undoubtedly applied for said project, then business as usual.

And as 96 says, fight the battle beginning the next phase if needed. As clack says, have a professional, educated response for any and all questions or attacks, if a response is necessary.

 

And it appears that shovels won't hit the dirt until the summer of 2012?

Darn, this SUNY process SUCKS! NYS government at it's best.

[dslyank]

D96 Of course the Hitler comment was an exaggeration (I did not mean to offend you or anyone). My point being to acknowledge the importance of "the humanities" in education; and with Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat", foreign langauges maybe more important than ever. But to let these people hammer athletics as not important, simply shows them as hypocrites. For them to deny that a well run athletic department can bring prestige to the University and yes to themselves is ignorance. Humanities and Lanaguages are NOT being elliminated as many in those departments are trying to mislead. I am not trying to offend anyone and I am certainly not anywhere near the best spokesperson for the cause of getting a stadium; but somone needs to start. 2012 is too far off. The stadium is years--decades past due. The naysayers will always be there, they are not going away.

[Dane96]

As good as Friedman's book is (and it is), he misses a huge point; most deals are now done in English...even pushing aside "French", a language that is an official UN language. My company is European...and we do deals all over the world...and English is always used whether we are in China, Slovakia, Australia, the US, etc.

 

Point is, the humanities as they once were are important to a limited few; those wishing to teach or study the classics, which I think is fine. However, you can get that at one of the 40+ other SUNY's. The school isn't dumping the ability to learn a language, it is dumping esoterical and theoretical musings of languages that are not widely used these days.

 

Back to your original point, as much as you are frustrated...I am guessing you never worked in politics or government; not a slight...but you need to know when to fight the battles.

[olddog71]

Humanities education and stadium funding are two separate issues. Both of these issues affect me, and I strongly support both programs. My core education was in foreign language acquisition, and I strongly value my foreign language experience at UA. It was my bread and butter for many, many years. Learning a foreign language isn't just a cute little pastime; it enables communication and understanding between cultures. It's an increasingly important skill. Likewise, I also place a premium on the experiences I've had as a fan of UA athletics. I've supported teams for over 40 years.

 

Bob Ford became a football coach at UA shortly after I began my studies at the school, and it's about time he was rewarded for all he's accomplished for the school. The best way to show appreciation to him for all his efforts is to give him facilities that match his achievements. I strongly support a new stadium.

 

Linking stadium and humanities issues is a game I don't want to play. I think it's somewhat childish and unethical to point to someone else's success in receiving funding, as the humanities are doing now. I'm really sorry that evidently some departments will be disappearing, but attacking someone else is the wrong path to choose. The President of the university made the decisions; he's the one to target.

 

Incidentally, I saw this weekend that our SUNY brother Binghamton is not axing any departments. Perhaps UA's administrators should follow that path so that no department is the sole victim of budget cuts. UA is a university. Both academics and athletics should be able to coexist and thrive.

[Dane96]

True, but Bing is the liberal arts school that has no football.

 

That said, the key here is that students are not losing the ability to learn a language as those classes will remain. Heck, even coursework in theory seemingly will remain. It is just that there will no longer be a "French" major.

 

Big difference.

[olddog71]

True, but Bing is the liberal arts school that has no football.

 

That said, the key here is that students are not losing the ability to learn a language as those classes will remain. Heck, even coursework in theory seemingly will remain. It is just that there will no longer be a "French" major.

 

Big difference.

 

Almost all SUNY schools are losing something, including those who don't offer football. The article I read, cited, for example, academically strong Geneseo as losing academic departments. How was Binghamton able to maintain all departments? I'm very curious. Presumably, they're also suffering budget cuts, just as all their SUNY brethren.

 

I disagree with your take on the impact of the loss of the foreign language majors. Once the majors are lost, they're gone. Very seldom to majors become reestablished. If you can't major, for example, in French and you're gifted in it, then those students have a much less likelihood of coming to UA. In my estimation, that will be a loss. In not too distant years, some of the departments cited for major elimination had very good reputations. Russian, to name one language, was considered one of the best departments in the entire nation. I'm very sorry to see that no one will be able to graduate with a degree in it in the future.

 

Again, to me the linking of the two issues is irrelevant. One side (academics) in the argument is not losing its existence because the other is getting funded. One side (athletics) is not getting more funding because the other is losing money. I'm sorry to see my colleagues in the foreign language department use athletics to further their own cause.

 

Once again, UA is a university, and there should be a way for most aspects of both academics and athletics to survive. It shouldn't be an "either . . . or" proposition. I'd be just as upset if I were to hear that some sports would be axed to give more money to academics. I don't think I made my case effectively in the post above; hopefully, I've clarifed my thoughts better.

[UAalum72]

Majors on block at SUNY Geneseo - D-III athletics, but still cutting computer science, studio art majors, and communicative disorders and sciences

[danefan]

If you ask me these cuts are a "correction" to the bloated SUNY system. NY does not need 35 public colleges offering the same major.

 

Spreading professors and resources over multiple locations is a waste IMO. The language majors are an easy example because its what's right in our face. You can still go to a SUNY school and get a French degree. Why does UA have to be that school? Its a major research university, not a liberal arts school.

 

Don't get me wrong. There is a need in the SUNY for the humanities. It just doesn't need to be in every school.

[Clickclack]

If you ask me these cuts are a "correction" to the bloated SUNY system. NY does not need 35 public colleges offering the same major.

 

Spreading professors and resources over multiple locations is a waste IMO. The language majors are an easy example because its what's right in our face. You can still go to a SUNY school and get a French degree. Why does UA have to be that school? Its a major research university, not a liberal arts school.

 

Don't get me wrong. There is a need in the SUNY for the humanities. It just doesn't need to be in every school.

 

I would agree with this, why does there need to be so much duplication in the system?

[uofalbany]

If you ask me these cuts are a "correction" to the bloated SUNY system. NY does not need 35 public colleges offering the same major.

 

Spreading professors and resources over multiple locations is a waste IMO. The language majors are an easy example because its what's right in our face. You can still go to a SUNY school and get a French degree. Why does UA have to be that school? Its a major research university, not a liberal arts school.

 

Don't get me wrong. There is a need in the SUNY for the humanities. It just doesn't need to be in every school.

 

 

Very well put. A much needed and necessary correction. SUNY is lightyears beyond 'bloated' in my opinion. SUNY is the perfect representative microcosm of the larger NYS government as a whole.

 

As to why there is so much duplication... it's typical of a certain mindset, enough is never enough.

[dslyank]

I agree there is room for humanities, languages and athletics; and not every SUNY needs to have every program to the same degree. My beef is with the Svares' of this world who blame athletics for their misfortunes. Thank you to those of you who helped clarify my position. My other point being that college athletics has always been a step child at SUNY and UA, and it would be an understatement to say New York State missed the boat years ago where DI athletics is concerned. Anyhow, Ford is due, our athletes past and present are due, the stadium is long over due. IT IS THEIR TURN. The athletic department has always been an asset to the University and the athletes (with very very few exceptions) have always been a credit to UA and the Capitol district.

 

I say this with two degrees from UA, my wife also has two (one in Russian haha), my middle son has a degree in Honors English from UA. and my oldest son has a degree from Geneseo and a PHD from Suny Upstate Medical Center. None of us are athletes, only fans.

[Michigan_Dane]

If you ask me these cuts are a "correction" to the bloated SUNY system. NY does not need 35 public colleges offering the same major.

 

Spreading professors and resources over multiple locations is a waste IMO. The language majors are an easy example because its what's right in our face. You can still go to a SUNY school and get a French degree. Why does UA have to be that school? Its a major research university, not a liberal arts school.

 

Don't get me wrong. There is a need in the SUNY for the humanities. It just doesn't need to be in every school.

 

 

I agree 100%. Way too many SUNY campuses, stretched way too thin. We need fewer but larger campuses. The four SUNY Centers should be 30,000 students and a few of the smaller lesser ranked SUNYs should be eliminated. We need some pragmatism. We need some common sense. We don't need a SUNY campus every 10 miles, which is what it feels like we have.

[olddog71]

Be careful of what you wish for. Yes, maybe the SUNY system is bloated, and maybe there's duplication, but when you start talking about eliminating campuses then you have to play God with whole communities. With the upstate NY economy long in a tailspin, emptying out a campus would bring devastation to the community.

 

Regarding the Russian program, I'm very sorry to see UA eliminate the degree program. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was regarded as the best in the SUNY system and one of the better programs in the whole country. If you can't get a Russian degree at the best SUNY campus, from which SUNY school can you then graduate with a Russian degree? I haven't done any research on the state of Russian programs at other SUNY campuses, but it probably doesn't look good for that language anywhere in the system, and this state has one of the highest concentrations of Russian-speaking and Russian ethnic backgrounds in the country.

 

It's easy to talk about eliminating programs and whole schools, until you start talking about the victims. To me, this whole scenario is ridiculous. I believe the SUNY system is taking disproportionate cuts in the budget crisis. How do I know? Because the system has been taking hits from the state long before we got into this crisis.

[olddog71]

One more point regarding the elimination of campuses in the SUNY system. (Sorry my old fingers were working better than my brain. That's scary.)

 

If SUNY decides to close schools, they may decide to do so in a proportional manner. We'll eliminate such-and-such number of regular two-year and four-year schools. What't to prevent the trustees from deciding to cut a similar percentage of "flagship" schools. With the recent discussion of who really constitutes flagship, Binghamton and Albany would be the losers. Does anyone really want to see that happen?