STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         142--A
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 7, 2015
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sens.  DIAZ,  DILAN,  PERKINS  -- read twice and ordered
          printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Higher
          Education  --  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on Higher Education in
          accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --  committee  discharged,  bill
          amended,  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
          tee
        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 2016".
     3    §  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 2016, 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
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00797-02-6