State University of New York

State administration of higher education began in 1784 (Chapter 51) with the creation of the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York to act as the governing body of Columbia College, which had been founded in 1754 as King's College. Three years later the Regents were relieved of direct operating responsibility for Columbia College and were authorized instead to charter and supervise it along with any new colleges and academies.

The growth of New York State's common school system in the early nineteenth century brought about a demand for trained teachers, resulting in the establishment of a normal school in Albany in 1844 (Chapter 311). This was the first State-supported (tuition-free) institution of higher learning in New York State.

Following passage of the Federal Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862, under which each state received a grant of public land to provide an endowment for the establishment of colleges in the fields of agriculture and mechanical arts, the State legislature assigned New York's grant to a private institution called People's College, which had been chartered in 1853. That institution was unable to comply with certain financial requirements, and in 1865 (Chapter 585) the grant was shifted to Cornell University, which was incorporated by that same act. Cornell was required annually to admit and provide instruction free of charge to one student from each assembly district. This was the first instance, other than teacher training, in which the State assumed direct financial responsibility for higher education.

After an 1867 State law that required free common school education, increased demand for teachers resulted in the establishment of additional normal schools for training teachers. These schools were placed under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of public instruction. At the time of the creation of the State Education Department in 1904 (Chapter 40), there were twelve normal schools and seventy-eight private universities, colleges, and professional schools that came under the supervision of the Board of Regents and the new department. During the next forty years, New York developed a State-supervised, decentralized network of private institutions augmented by thirty-two colleges that were largely State-supported. Among these were eleven SUNY colleges devoted to teacher education, the core of current colleges of arts and sciences; five institutes of applied arts and sciences, which later became community colleges; six agricultural and technical institutes (now colleges of agriculture and technology); and five statutory colleges, the administration of which is shared with private institutions.

In the years immediately following World War II, a shortage of facilities to meet the increased demand by returning war veterans for higher education, economic considerations making college education inaccessible to a large segment of the population, and a lack of coordination between the many State-supported schools already operating, led to the establishment of a Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University in 1946 (Chapter 353). It was mandated to study the need for a State university and make appropriate recommendations. Two years later the commission proposed the establishment of a State university with units located throughout the State.

The State University of New York (SUNY) was established as a corporate entity in the State Education Department under the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York in 1948 (Chapters 695 and 698). SUNY is one component of The University of the State of New York. Existing State-supported institutions became part of the State University, which was administered by a fifteen-member board of trustees appointed by the governor. Although certain policy issues such as curriculum, standards of instruction, the establishment of new SUNY entities, and tuition rates had to be submitted to the Board of Regents for approval, the SUNY trustees were given broad authority and responsiblity, including a specific charge to develop a master plan to serve as a long-range planning guide. The master plan, adopted by the trustees in 1950, established the pattern of a centrally managed system of geographically dispersed two-year, four-year, and graduate institutions.

In the 1950s the Upstate and Downstate medical centers (now the Health Science Centers at Syracuse and Brooklyn) were established; the Research Foundation of the State University of New York was chartered by the Board of Regents in 1951 to receive and administer gifts, grants, and contracts for the State University. Legislation in 1953 (Chapter 525) provided for nine-member (later ten-member) local councils to supervise the State-operated colleges, and the Middle States Association accredited the State University as a single institution. During the 1960s the single-purpose teachers colleges were reshaped into strong liberal arts institutes; four major university centers, offering graduate study, were established; an entirely new health sciences center was founded, and a framework for the present thirty locally sponsored community colleges was set into place. The SUNY board of trustees was increased in number to sixteen in 1975 (Chapter 587) with the addition of the president of the State University Student Assembly.

The current State University of New York is a system of sixty-four campuses enrolling more than 378,000 students. The components of the SUNY system, the largest of its kind in the country, are four university centers offering a range of undergraduate and graduate programs; five colleges and centers for the health sciences (two of which are located at university centers); twelve colleges of arts and sciences offering liberal arts and teacher-training programs at the undergraduate and graduate level; six agricultural and technical colleges offering two-year programs; four specialized colleges (College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Maritime College, College of Technology, and Fashion Institute of Technology); five statutory colleges operated as "contract colleges" on the campuses of private universities (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Ceramics, College of Human Ecology, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, College of Veterinary Medicine); and thirty community colleges offering two-year degree programs. In addition, SUNY includes the Empire State College, a nonresidential college of arts and sciences that allows students working at home or on the job to pursue degree programs. SUNY also operates nine educational opportunity centers, which vocational, high-school equivalency, and college-preparatory courses.