Gerry Miller was president of NCCC from 1989 to 1999. The best way to paint a picture of President Miller is with broad strokes. Up close it is easy to find fault with anyone, after all. But, if you look at anything too closely, it is easy to miss the big picture. And so it is with Gerry Miller.
The state and county were quite generous in funding the college when President Miller took over in 1989. Tech and business were funded at a 20% premium, and the state was also generous with funding corporate training, community ed, learning labs, etc. Shortly after President Miller took office he used 700k in surplus corporate training money to purchase computers for our offices. That would be about 1.8 million today. It is difficult to imagine almost 2 million just laying around in today's tight funding scenario.
George Pataki became governor in 1992, on the heels of a recession and three years into Miller's Presidency. Pataki was not kind to community colleges. He eliminated the 20% premium for tech and business, cut state aid for ancillary programs and slashed state aid for regular instruction. Cuts were so deep that by the late 90's state comptroller H. Carl McCall pleaded with the state to restore CC funding. Well after the '91 recession ended, and prosperity followed, funding remained flat, although public k-12 did very well. Public k-12 had a stronger lobby than us, after all.
Throughout this period President Miller's mantra was that "funding cuts will not touch the classroom." President Miller made good on that promise to the end. Faculty and staff got regular raises and hiring and retention continued, unimpeded. Of course, other budgets suffered, but something had to give.
President Miller was in love with NCCC. He was always involved with students, and had a certain excitement that comes with loving the vibe and being part of the energy that came with a growing college that was full of life.
President Miller loved seeing students socializing in the cafeteria. President Miller loved seeing students engaged in the classroom. President Miller loved walking the hallways, and seeing a living, breathing, thinking organism called a community college. President Miller was on fire with enthusiasm.
President Miller came from theater, and the theater program was exemplary. Everyone I knew from the Sanborn area gave the theater program rave reviews and were uniformly shocked at the quality of each and every play. Yes, shocked is the appropriate word here.
During that era and after, Tech programs across the state shrank, or folded all together. At NCCC we went from a high of 14 full time employees to a present low of 2. In the 90's NCCC had ABET accreditation for numerous programs, both day and night. Many of those programs are gone, and what programs remain are not accredited. The effect was no different at Finger Lakes, Jamestown and others.
The decimation of tech at the CC in New York falls squarely on the shoulders of George Pataki, and also on Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo ran for governor on a platform of being an education governor, and then cut state aid to community colleges by 25% shortly after taking office.
I used to e-mail Governor Cuomo from time to time. I knew that nothing I wrote would be read by the governor. On one such occasion I told the governor that I hoped he would be like his dad, Mario, when he grew up. I guess I was venting. Mario was good to community colleges, of course.
That is how I remember President Miller. His vision of a Niagara County Community College was what I wanted to be a part of.
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