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President Dahl Seeks Support of Parents For Pivotal Higher Education Legislation

To SUNY Geneseo Parents:

For many years Geneseo has advocated for more control and greater flexibility in achieving its full potential as a public liberal arts college. I'm pleased to inform you that legislation proposed by the governor in his 2010-11 executive budget offers almost everything we have been requesting. We need your help now in advocating for this legislation, the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act.

This act will help unshackle SUNY from years of overregulation, giving us the flexibility to manage our own operations outside of cumbersome political constraints while maintaining appropriate accountability and state oversight. Among many other benefits, the reforms would provide Geneseo with:

  • Control of how tuition dollars are spent
  • Countless efficiencies through a more flexible procurement system
  • Ability to implement public/private partnerships to benefit Geneseo's students and New York state

These benefits will enable Geneseo to enhance its programs for all students and to achieve more fully our potential to be the premier public liberal arts college in the country. This achievement will benefit the entire state. We need distinguished public undergraduate liberal arts colleges for the kind of educational development and civic engagement required in the 21st century.

Geneseo already has taken frightening budget cuts in the past year, leaving us with a $3.2 million shortfall in our 2010-11 budget. Those numbers bring into sharp focus the kind of flexibility we need to maintain and enhance educational excellence for our students and fulfill our commitment to the citizens of New York. That's why this legislation is pivotal. It represents the seismic change SUNY needs in order to excel.

Please contact your legislators this week and urge them to support the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act. I encourage you to sign up at SUNY Advocates, which provides more information on the legislation and how you can take action. Please consider taking at least one action step today. Your support is vitally important to the future of Geneseo.

Thank you.

Christopher C. Dahl
President