Colleagues,
As many of you know, I have been a vocal opponent of tuition increases since day one. This year, the SUNY Board of Trustees voted (yet again) to raise tuition to the maximum legal limit. I was one of two “no” votes. This is the sixth time in seven years that tuition has been increased at our state-operated campuses, and untold times at our community colleges.
Now is the time to bring our advocacy to the state level. I released a statement yesterday detailing a provision called “Maintenance of Effort,” a commitment from the state to provide critical additional investment to SUNY schools in the future. It passed both the State Assembly and Senate with bi-partisan support. Now it’s up to Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign it. However, there’s a problem…
He’s vetoed this exact provision before.
That’s why we decided to launch a statewide activism initiative starting off with this petition. In it, we call for the Governor to make good on New York’s promise of opportunity and sign this critical bill immediately. Please take 15 seconds to sign on and share.
Your commitment to this effort could be the difference between a decade of tuition hikes and finally securing some of the funding we need to thrive as a system. I’m hoping you can sign on and commit to spreading this throughout your networks. As always, we are incredibly grateful for your support in our mission to make SUNY the best it can be.
Presidents, please share this with your student governments and consider endorsing on behalf of your SGA.
Please reach out with any questions.
Marc
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Marc J. Cohen
President, Student Assembly of the State University of New York
Trustee, State University of New York
Student Assembly of The State University of New York
State University Plaza – Albany, NY 12246
Tel: 518.320.1288 Fax: 518.320.1557 Twitter: @MarcCohenNY