Finally, a proposal that would end up putting more money in SUNY’s pocket? Yes, please.

After years of budget cuts and tuition increases, Gov. David Paterson’s proposed Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act sounds like a breath of fresh air. If passed, the act would give campuses more leeway in terms of setting tuition, give individual schools more autonomy on how they can use their assets and speed up the contract approval process, among other things (see Page 4).

Best of all, the money from student tuition would go back to the respective schools, not the coffers of the state.

As good as it sounds, the proposal isn’t without its weaknesses. Allowing a group of SUNY administrators to determine our tuition increases is definitely preferable to leaving it in the hands of New York state officials who don’t know what we need, but there still needs to be a system of accountability in place. Part of that means ensuring that students have their say — we’re the ones who will shell out the cash and theoretically benefit from it, so our voices should be heard.

But this doesn’t mean allowing one or two obligatory SA members to sit in on occasional board meetings. We’re talking about a real voice, one that ensures our interests will be represented. Surveying a chunk of a few hundred students would give the board an idea of how to make the most of this potential power and, as rare as it sounds, a precedent of actually favoring the students could be set. We can count on one hand the number of times the administrators have sought student input over the last two years, so perhaps the higher-ups can set a better example.

Who knows: Maybe if we’re made partially responsible for how much money we pay each semester, students would put in the effort to care about other things, too.

One of the groups on this campus that prides itself on caring about higher education protested the proposal in Albany last week, and we can’t figure out why. This legislation is exactly what students and administrators have been hoping for for months — an exemption from more cuts. NYPIRG, do you have a better idea? If not, do us a favor and think long and hard about what you’re actually protesting when “Lobby Day” comes around next year.