Please send this e-letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul urging her to support an $10 million increase to SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, which is needed to financially stabilize this vital public institution.

This fiscal crisis is not due to college mismanagement, mission drift or enrollment declines. It’s a direct result of SUNY's 2012 decision to reduce annual state operating aid to the college. That reduction, followed by a decade of flat funding, equates to annual cuts to ESF's budget. While the college has received $6 million in additional state funding since 2023, this incremental increase doesn’t replace the cumulative loss of state funding over the past decade.  

The SUNY Chancellor and Board of Trustees are making the college’s difficult financial situation worse by placing it into SUNY’s one-size-fits-all “stability planning” process. This austerity program has gutted programs and staff at other SUNY campuses such as Buffalo State, Fredonia and Potsdam.

ESF has already consolidated administrative units with other SUNY campuses and has announced a voluntary employee separation program. The college has also been told to terminate its graduate program as it currently exists. The Stability Plan also calls for significant cuts to the Forest Properties budget, the very labs and land that our institution’s reputation is built on.

If instituted, the plan will diminish ESF's ability to retain students through unspecified cuts to our athletics programs and steep cuts to faculty and staff positions—while simultaneously calling for increased enrollment and retention.

The letter points out that at a time when the federal government is attacking science, cutting and freezing federal research funding, ending longstanding environmental protections and literally extorting colleges and universities, it is inconceivable that SUNY would choose this moment to further undermine one of the country’s most prestigious environmental schools.

Thank you for sending this letter!