Governor tours SUNY Geneseo campus

Eliot Spitzer made the rounds at one of SUNY Geneseo's newer additions: the Integrated Science Center. Spitzer was the first governor since Nelson Rockefeller to visit the SUNY Geneseo campus for a tour. The point of Wednesday's visit was to tout his plan to improve SUNY's status both nationally and internationally.

“If we do not invest in our universities, we will not attract the jobs that we want, we will not have the workforce that we depend upon, we will not have the vitality in our towns that we depend upon,” says Governor Spitzer.  

Part of the plan is a $4-billion dollar endowment to fund SUNY colleges and universities. The endowment would be configured in such a way that money will grow, protected against the ravages of the current economic climate in New York. Spitzer estimates the endowment would generate a $200 million dollar return in one year; in 20 years, the fund could grow to $9 billion dollars. Part of the proposal would include hiring 2000 new faculty and staff, some of which would be “super scholars” intended to lead the colleges and universities in landmark programs and research, thereby placing SUNY schools on the global map.

“And it will provide a new revenue source for hiring these 2000 new faculty at SUNY and CUNY,” says Christopher Dahl, president of SUNY Geneseo, “we need to go from good to great and I'm here to say today, to the Governor, and to everyone that Geneseo is ready to step up to the plate in going from good to great and going to become a flagship university for the State of New York.“

The number of college grads in the U.S. continues to dwindle. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, in 1998, the U.S. ranked number one in 25-30 year olds with a college degree. In 2005, the U.S. dropped to number 5 in the world rankings.

“If the current trend continues, by 2018, we will be 19th in the world, that's a scary thought,” says Spitzer, “if we do not out-compete or out-perform everybody else in the rest of the world, then we will fail.”