Dear Buffalo State Community,
As part of our ongoing Framework for Financial Sustainability work, I am writing to provide an update on recent actions that impact the Burchfield Penney Art Center.
Over the past three years, we have taken a disciplined approach to aligning our operations with enrollment and long-term financial sustainability, and we have made meaningful progress. This has included implementation of important growth strategies balanced with difficult decisions across our campus, including reductions in faculty and staff and the elimination of academic programs that were no longer in demand, as part of our plan to close our structural deficit by 2027–28. These consistent standards of fiscal responsibility are applied consistently across the university.
As that work has progressed, it has required us to review every area where resources are allocated, including arrangements that no longer reflect our current financial reality. One of those arrangements is our agreement with the Burchfield Penney Art Center, which is a private nonprofit located on our campus that is governed by its own board. For nearly 60 years, Buffalo State has covered many expenses for the Burchfield Penney Art Center, including providing free rent and utilities, as well as supporting personnel costs. Over time, this support has grown to nearly $900,000 beyond the free rent. Meanwhile, the center’s assets have grown to more than $19 million on hand today, with the Burchfield Penney Art Center also generating some revenue in any given year by charging Buffalo State fees for use of their space.
Unfortunately, while we deeply value this relationship and want it to continue, many of the subsidies that Buffalo State provides are no longer sustainable under current financial conditions.
On Tuesday, the university took steps to align its support with the terms of the agreement, including reassigning certain positions back to campus operations where they are needed and adjusting salary support to agreed-upon levels. These actions ensure that resources are aligned with our institutional priorities and that all areas contribute to our shared financial sustainability goals. This is a reset to the agreement, not a withdrawal of support.
Buffalo State will continue to provide substantial ongoing support to the Burchfield Penney Art Center, including funding key positions, covering building utilities and providing security services as originally envisioned. This continued support is consistent with our broader commitment to the arts and to the role the Burchfield Penney Art Center plays on our campus and in the Western New York community.
I have always been honest with our campus community that we must focus on a mission of recruitment, persistence, retention and graduation in order to thrive — and the arts have a role to play in that. We have seen promising growth in programs like undergraduate Art Education and Music, areas we will continue to invest in to support student demand.
The goal of these recent actions is simply to ensure our support for the Burchfield Penney Art Center reflects both contractual obligations and current fiscal realities.
I remain confident that through collaborative efforts across campus, we are taking the steps necessary to strengthen Buffalo State’s future for our students, our faculty and staff, and our community.
Sincerely,
Bonita R. Durand, Ph.D.
Interim President
Buffalo State University