STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          4874
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                      March 3, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sens. DIAZ, DILAN -- 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 2017".
     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
    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.
                                                                   LBD07187-01-7

        S. 4874                             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. 4874                             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    §  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    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.