The State University was recently “targeted” by Governor Paterson for a spending reduction because, as he says, and the New York Post reports, “‘savings are an essential part of getting New York’s [disastrous] fiscal house in order.’”

But, of course. I spent twelve years as a SUNY trustee, enumerating ad nauseum ways to achieve significant cost efficiencies without sacrificing academic quality and, indeed, trying to show how certain reforms, adopted alongside the efficiencies, could actually enhance quality.

In the end I concluded that SUNY, and other New York agencies, will not get their fiscal houses in order until their boards are forced to do so — or until completely new and different educational venues are necessary.