The Huffington Post had a guest blogger on Thursday, and Stony Brook students who visit the site daily (like we do) may have been shocked at who it was.
University President Shirley Strum Kenny penned an 1100 word blog criticizing not just Gov. Paterson, but any governor who is seeking to cut funding to public higher education. Turns out, SUNY isn’t the only state university system that is facing huge budget reductions: 13% in Washington State, $81 million in Kansas, and a whopping 36% in Nevada, according to Kenny’s letter.
Here’s a quick sample:
With such utter disregard for higher education, America is losing ground on a number of fronts critical to our future prosperity and progress. Once the U.S. led the world in the percentage of its population with higher education degrees. Now, among individuals ages 25 to 34, we have fallen to 11th, behind such countries as Russia, South Korea, and Japan. For the first time, the cohort of Americans of that age group is less educated than the cohorts that preceded it. Playing catch up will not be easy; a recent report shows that to keep up with international competitors, the U.S. will have to educate an additional 15 million-plus with either associate’s or bachelor’s degrees by the year 2025. That’s a whopping 37% increase over current production.
Read the full post here.
