Cuomo's CUNY tactics could kickstart a worthwhile discussion

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is no fool. From the moment he proposed cuts to CUNY in his executive budget, he knew it would be a nonstarter in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, where dozens of members have CUNY campuses in their backyard.

It’s better to view Cuomo’s proposed cuts as a tried and true tactic of budget talks, and one employed by many New York City mayors in the past: propose a cut to a program beloved by members of the City Council, who would then exert a great deal of energy and oxygen decrying the cuts, only to see the program restored during budget negotiations so that legislators can declare a victory. Lather, rinse, repeat. …

In this case, the Assembly, led by Speaker Carl Heastie, can play the white knight role, rising to the city’s defense and declaring a victory lap.

Cuomo acknowledged as much during a NY1 appearance on Thursday afternoon, framing the CUNY (and Medicaid) cuts as the “beginning of the discussion.” And no, the governor likely didn’t backtrack because of de Blasio’s absurd “by any means necessary” threat – a Malcolm X quote suggestive of violence that further proves the mayor’s delusional image of himself as a radical revolutionary.

But I digress.

The CUNY cuts will go nowhere, but that doesn’t mean that the city and state should not rethink the way the university system is funded. The state is the principal funding source for a university system whose student body mostly hails from the five boroughs, and Cuomo is not off base by suggesting that the city take a more active role in governing CUNY.

“There’s an underpinning of a desire on the state executive branch’s part to examine the relationship with CUNY,” said Carol Kellermann, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission. “Maybe they figure out a compromise where the state continues to fund four-year (programs), while city funds two-year. That’s really the right way to do this. Or you could argue (CUNY) is within New York City, it’s an urban university on purpose and almost all the students are from the city and the city funds a lot of programs, maybe they should cover more of it.”

In many ways, the CUNY financing discussion mirrors the prolonged back-and-forth between Cuomo and de Blasio over funding the MTA capital plan – another state-funded system that primarily operates in the city. But a key difference is CUNY’s vitality for low-to-middle income students of color who otherwise would have difficulty affording college tuition.

Both the mayor and the governor should recognize CUNY as an engine for sustaining New York City’s shrinking middle class and retaining local talent that would otherwise flee to more affordable cities or states. If that means maintaining the university system through more equitable funding, it certainly seems like a sacrifice that a progressive mayor should be obliged to make.