Binghamton University’s administration held a town hall forum to address students’ concerns on issues including tuition increases, the fate of the Food Court in the New University Union, the state of Spring Fling, the plans for a BU law school, growing enrollment and recent faculty hires.
University President Harvey Stenger; Brian Rose, vice president for student affairs; Jean-Pierre Mileur, provost and vice president for academic affairs; Marcia Craner, vice president for external affairs; James Van Voorst, vice president for administration; and athletic director Patrick Elliott sat on the panel.
Student Association President Katie Howard moderated the open forum, held Thursday evening in Lecture Hall 2. About 20 students attended.
TUITION HIKES
Stenger addressed the tuition hikes as part of NYSUNY 2020’s “rational tuition policy,” which will raise tuition $300 per year for in-state students through the 2015-16 academic year. He said that while he supports the tuition increases for those who can afford it, his biggest concern is making sure that students do not have to pay more than they are able to.
Stenger said $700,000 is currently set aside for need-based scholarships, and he plans to contact alumni for help increasing this pool.
“It will be one of the most important responsibilities I have as president, to raise funds for scholarships,” Stenger said. “It will take several years, but the $700,000 to students who will not be able to pay that tuition increase next year is a good start.”
Students in attendance raised concerns that the NYSUNY 2020 bill encourages the privatization of SUNY by decreasing state funds to the universities.
Stenger said he is not in favor of privatizing the University.
“We can’t afford it, and we shouldn’t do it,” Stenger said. “I want us to maintain a public university, an obligation to the public that will allow students to move into public service.”
Van Voorst said NYSUNY 2020 stabilizes state tuition increases for the next five years by setting a maximum increase of 6 percent per year.
“I celebrated it,” Van Voorst said of the legislation. “Parents and students themselves can work it out for the next five years and say ‘tuition may increase, but it’s going to be no more than 6 percent.’ They can plan on it. We now have a cap, if you will.”
FOOD COURT CLOSURE
Van Voorst said the University has been working with Sodexo to accommodate the needs of students and faculty after the Food Court and Susquehanna Room close next year for renovations. No plans are set in stone, but he said the Chenango Room and Einstein’s Bros. will be made more accessible.
“The Chenango Room will have a different menu, and Einstein’s will be come and go, very high traffic,” he said. “Because the space of the Food Court is going to be down, John Arthur’s Café is going to be operated on an extended-hour basis by Sodexo to provide a place for people to go.”
Van Voorst said that if these accommodations, along with the residential dining halls, are not enough to satisfy students’ dining needs, food trucks and kiosks will be placed around campus.
“Sodexo isn’t new to this game,” he added. “There will be other places for students, faculty and staff to get their meals.”
SPRING FLING CONCERT FEE
Stenger addressed concerns that the Spring Fling concert on May 5 will require a ticket for entrance to the Events Center.
He said the University is not charging at the concert to make a profit from the use of the Events Center, but the Student Association needs to cover the cost of utilities, including lights, air conditioning and security.
“It is a one-year problem because of the construction,” Stenger said. “We are looking forward to having it back outside in the future, and the location could be back where it was, or maybe we can find a new outdoor location.”
LAW SCHOOL PLANS
Stenger said it is too early to decide the fate of the proposal for a law school at Binghamton University.
He explained that in 2007, then-Gov. Elliot Spitzer met with former University President Lois DeFleur and encouraged BU to start a law school.
“As the story goes, Gov. Spitzer looked at DeFleur and said, ‘you’re going to have your law school’, and immediately President DeFleur started working on a proposal,” Stenger said. “So they got it ready, and made an announcement, and then Gov. Spitzer resigned. There was no building, and about the same time, the market fell and demand for law school dropped, and the market for lawyers dropped as well.”
Stenger said the Harpur College Law Council, a group of lawyers who are all graduates of BU’s Harpur College, recommended that the University not create a law school. He said they didn’t want Binghamton to have “a second-rate law school.”
“And I sort of agree that at this time if we start a law school, we probably could not start a great law school,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s not an option, but I can say that the business plan of it would probably require a long period of time to study and a better financial situation.”
ENROLLMENT INCREASES
Stenger said the University will increase enrollment by 500 in the upcoming academic year by bringing in more freshman, transfers and graduate students.
He is not necessarily in favor of large enrollment increases moving forward, however, because he feels the University is at a good size now.
“It shouldn’t get much bigger,” he said of the undergraduate population. “I just like where we are right now. It feels comfortable to me.”
Stenger said that instead of increasing enrollment, he hopes to increase the graduate programs offered at the University for students in liberal arts and social sciences.
“There are a lot of programs that we don’t have that I think would benefit our students,” Stenger said.
FOUNDATION’S FRACKING LEASE
Students asked Marcia Craner about land the University Foundation leased to Chesapeake Appalachia for hydrofracking in 2008 to raise $1.4 million for the University.
Craner, who is the executive director of the BU Foundation, maintained that the BU Foundation is independent from the University, but noted that the lease was a divisive decision.
“I can’t emphasize enough that when we signed that lease, hydrofracking was nowhere near as controversial as it is today,” Craner said.
The land lease expires in 2013.
FACULTY HIRES
Mileur told students that 58 faculty members have been hired for next year, with 36 hires taking new positions. He said these hires represented a diverse picture.
“We have hired pretty much across the curriculum,” Mileur said. “We are meeting needs across campus.”
He said that there has been significant hiring in the engineering, business and English departments.