UConn professors back DeStefano in governor's race

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UConn professors back DeStefano in governor's race

Greg Hladky, New Haven Register October 24, 2006

-HARTFORD - The state has invested more than $2 billion in the University of Connecticut in the past decade, but a union representing UConn professors isn't giving Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell any of the credit.

The UConn branch of the American Association of University Professors endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano Jr. Monday, praising his "vision, his commitment to education."

Union President Larry Renfro acknowledged that UConn "is climbing, it's growing, it's vibrant" as a result of the major state investments made in the university's infrastructure since 1995.

But Renfro said the university has been "in constant battle" in the last few years to obtain the state funding necessary to provide the faculty needed to meet the demands of a growing student body. He said the state, which provided 50 percent of UConn's operating budget a decade ago, now funds just 30 percent of the university's budget.

"We probably would not be well served by a continuation of what we've seen in the last few years in the governor's office," Renfro said.

A spokesman for Rell flatly rejected the union's portrayal of the incumbent's support for higher education. "Governor Rell has demonstrated her commitment not only to UConn, but to all of Connecticut's state universities and colleges," said Rell campaign spokesman Rich Harris.

"UConn is now the number one destination public university in New England because of the strong (state) support ... and that includes Governor Rell's strong support during the past two-and-a-half years," said Harris.

Harris said Rell is "on record as a steadfast supporter of UConn ... of its operating and capital budgets."

Rell was lieutenant governor in the administration of then-Gov. John G. Rowland in 1995 when the state approved an initial $1 billion commitment to rebuild UConn over 10 years. A few years later, with the Rowland administration's support, the legislature approved another $1.3 billion in funding for UConn.

Rell took over as governor in July 2004 when Rowland resigned to avoid impeachment as a result of a corruption scandal.

In a statement accompanying the endorsement of DeStefano, union officials said, "It is one of the seismic accidents of Connecticut history that M. Jodi Rell is governor."

"We're thoroughly disappointed in that entire record," professor Edward Marth, an AAUP official, said of the Rowland and Rell administrations. He said UConn needs to hire an additional 175 faculty members to cope with the increased workloads of greater student enrollment and to upgrade the university's course offerings.

DeStefano said he would support the union's call for additional state funding to increase the faculty and to put more money into UConn's operating budget.

"I think it absolutely makes sense to fully fund the University of Connecticut, our state university system and our community college system," DeStefano said.

DeStefano said he's seen in his 12 years as mayor of New Haven "how the economy of south central Connecticut has been built around the medical school of Yale University" in terms of jobs and higher income.

However, DeStefano said he doesn't yet know how much money the state would need to spend to achieve the goal of having the "finest public university system in the nation."

"It's going to cost a significant commitment of tens of millions of dollars to accomplish that, and the fact is we probably aren't going to be able to do it in one or two years," DeStefano said.