Bill Text: NY S00142 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Establishes the office for diversity and educational equity within the state university of New York administration.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-20 - PRINT NUMBER 142A [S00142 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-S00142-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                          142
                              2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                      (PREFILED)
                                    January 7, 2015
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  Sen.  DIAZ  --  read twice and ordered printed, and when
         printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
       AN ACT to amend the education  law,  in  relation  to  establishing  the
         office for diversity and educational equity
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
    2  the "Increasing Diversity in Higher Education Act of 2015".
    3    S  2.  Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that the state
    4  university of New York has not fully met the growing  demand  placed  on
    5  the  university  system  to  train  the next generation workforce of our
    6  state.  Simultaneously,  the  university  system  is   faced   with   an
    7  unprecedented  rate  of minority and low-income student enrollment, high
    8  rates of student dropouts, larger numbers of students completing college
    9  after six years or more, and a situation where only 32 out of 100  white
   10  students and only 11 of every 100 Hispanic and African-American students
   11  are  graduating  from  college. The economic impact on our state and the
   12  nation of these dynamics are  tremendously  negative  and  threaten  the
   13  fabric of our civil society and national security.
   14    Over the past decade, the state university of New York has experienced
   15  a  steady rise in the number of traditionally underrepresented students.
   16  By the year 2015, figures from the United States census and  other  data
   17  indicate  that  the  majority  of New York high school graduates will be
   18  from groups that have been historically underrepresented in  SUNY.  This
   19  demographic  shift  and a need to train a competitive New York workforce
   20  present public higher education policy makers with a  challenge.  It  is
   21  clear that New York must reduce educational inequities faced by minority
   22  and  low-income  students  from  historically  marginalized groups while
   23  simultaneously maintaining the highest of  educational  standards.  This
   24  huge  demographic change must be addressed by policy makers as the state
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD00797-01-5
       S. 142                              2
    1  university of New York is not prepared to increase the academic achieve-
    2  ment and educational attainment of historically marginalized groups.
    3    Data  compiled  on  college  access  and success show that New York is
    4  doing better than most states for those 25 years of age  and  older  but
    5  not  for  younger, low-income and fastest growing populations. According
    6  to 2009 data compiled by the Education Trust, New York's four-year grad-
    7  uation rate for African-Americans is  22  percent  and  17  percent  for
    8  Hispanics.    The  six-year  graduation rate more than doubles, however,
    9  most of these students will have compromised their academic  achievement
   10  and  dramatically  reduced  their opportunities to pursue post-secondary
   11  education based on their low grades.
   12    The percentage  of  individuals  from  traditionally  underrepresented
   13  groups  who are attending SUNY is lower given their numbers in the state
   14  population. Consequently, any initiatives designed to maximize access to
   15  affordable, quality education should make  special  efforts  to  recruit
   16  students  from  these  underserved sectors of the state's population. In
   17  its official publications SUNY recognizes its responsibility to employ a
   18  workforce and educate a student  body  that  is  representative  of  the
   19  state's  population.  However,  SUNY  has  not  been able to recruit and
   20  retain  senior  administrators,  faculty,  graduate  and   undergraduate
   21  students  in  sufficient numbers to overcome the long-standing under-re-
   22  presentation of people of color.
   23    For example, the Hispanic population of New York grew by 33.1  percent
   24  between  1990  and  2000,  and made up 15.1 percent of the state's popu-
   25  lation. By 2006, Hispanics made up 16.1 percent  of  the  state's  popu-
   26  lation.  Yet,  Hispanics  accounted for only five percent of the student
   27  population in the state-operated/funded campuses of SUNY.  African-Amer-
   28  icans are also underrepresented in SUNY, although their percentages  are
   29  better  than  those  for  Hispanics.  In  2006, 14,737 African-Americans
   30  attended SUNY state-operated/funded campuses, and  accounted  for  seven
   31  percent  of  the  student  population.  African-Americans comprised 17.4
   32  percent of the state's population in 2006. As is the case  with  Hispan-
   33  ics, Blacks are also seriously underrepresented in the SUNY campuses.
   34    The  figures  on African-Americans and Hispanic student enrollments in
   35  SUNY  universities  and  colleges  are  consistent  with  the   findings
   36  published  in  an  Education Trust study of public flagship universities
   37  that documents disproportionate under-representation of  low-income  and
   38  minority students. The report observes that flagship public universities
   39  are  failing to make progress "in better serving the vast breadth of our
   40  citizenry." New York state should provide SUNY  with  the  resources  to
   41  implement  effective strategies and best practices, so that it can stand
   42  as an exception to this discouraging national  trend  in  public  higher
   43  education.
   44    The  problem  is  just  as  acute within African-American and Hispanic
   45  representation in the faculty ranks of the state-operated/funded campus-
   46  es which also fail to reflect the composition of the state's population.
   47  In the doctoral institutions the percentages for  full  time  Black  and
   48  Hispanic  employees  are 14.9 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. For
   49  the research university centers the figures are 6.8 percent  African-Am-
   50  erican  and  2.4 percent Latino. An analysis of Hispanic faculty employ-
   51  ment by a member of the New York state assembly recently  revealed  that
   52  SUNY  lags substantially behind the state's private universities and the
   53  city university of New York in the number of Hispanics in its full  time
   54  professional ranks.
   55    It  is  the  finding  of  this legislature that in order for the state
   56  university of New York to address the problems cited above, the  univer-
       S. 142                              3
    1  sity  system must engage in a system-wide effort to increase faculty and
    2  student diversity and improve its student success  rates.  In  order  to
    3  begin such work, SUNY must put in place a vice chancellor for the office
    4  of  diversity  and  educational  equity  who will report directly to the
    5  chancellor. Just as major public and private university  systems  across
    6  the  United  States  have  hired  and provided substantial resources and
    7  authority to a chief diversity officer, SUNY must  follow  the  lead  of
    8  these  successful  university  and  college  programs in order to remain
    9  competitive and fulfill its mission of training New York's future  work-
   10  force, while also improving the economic outlook for all the communities
   11  it is entrusted to serve.
   12    S  3.  The  opening  paragraph  of subdivision 1 of section 352 of the
   13  education law is designated paragraph a and a new paragraph b  is  added
   14  to read as follows:
   15    B.  (1) THERE IS HEREBY ESTABLISHED AN OFFICE FOR DIVERSITY AND EDUCA-
   16  TIONAL EQUITY IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY. SUCH OFFICE
   17  SHALL BE ESTABLISHED BY THE STATE UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES AND  SHALL  ADVISE
   18  THE TRUSTEES AND THE CHANCELLOR ON ISSUES RELATED TO INCREASING FACULTY,
   19  STAFF  AND STUDENT DIVERSITY IN THE STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND ENSURING
   20  EDUCATIONAL EQUITY IN THE STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM.    THE  HEAD  OF  THE
   21  OFFICE  FOR  DIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY SHALL BE A VICE CHANCELLOR
   22  WHO SHALL REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY.
   23  FURTHERMORE, THERE SHALL BE INCLUDED IN THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
   24  BUDGET  PROPOSAL  TO  THE  GOVERNOR AND TO THE DIVISION OF THE BUDGET AN
   25  APPROPRIATION FOR EACH STATE FISCAL YEAR TO FUND AND SUPPORT THE  OPERA-
   26  TION OF THE OFFICE FOR DIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY.
   27    (2)  THE  VICE  CHANCELLOR OF THE OFFICE FOR DIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
   28  EQUITY SHALL ANNUALLY, ON OR BEFORE JANUARY FIRST, SUBMIT  A  REPORT  TO
   29  THE  GOVERNOR  AND  THE  LEGISLATURE  DETAILING  THE  CURRENT EFFORTS TO
   30  INCREASE DIVERSITY AS THEY RELATE TO THE HIRING AND EMPLOYMENT OF FACUL-
   31  TY AND STUDENT ENROLLMENT AT ALL CAMPUSES OF THE COLLEGES AND  UNIVERSI-
   32  TIES OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK. SUCH REPORT SHALL INCLUDE, BUT
   33  NOT BE LIMITED TO:
   34    (I) MINORITY ENROLLMENT AT EACH CAMPUS;
   35    (II) MINORITY WITHDRAWALS AND DISMISSALS AT EACH CAMPUS;
   36    (III) THE SIZE OF THE MINORITY FRESHMAN CLASS AT EACH CAMPUS;
   37    (IV)  THE  NUMBERS  OF  MINORITIES WHO GRADUATE AFTER FOUR YEARS, FIVE
   38  YEARS AND SIX YEARS AT EACH CAMPUS;
   39    (V) THE NUMBER OF FACULTY  POSITIONS  FILLED  BY  MINORITIES  AT  EACH
   40  CAMPUS; AND
   41    (VI)  THE  NUMBER  OF MINORITY FACULTY HIRED BY EACH CAMPUS, AND THEIR
   42  SALARY RATE AND TITLE.
   43    ALL INFORMATION SHALL BE FURTHER BROKEN DOWN  BY  CAMPUS,  GENDER  AND
   44  ETHNICITY.
   45    S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.