In a live Web cast geared toward answering the questions of students from State University of New York campus news publications, State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher discussed impending budget cuts.

The conference, held Thursday at the SUNY Plaza in Albany, began at 4 p.m., and was created to feature an open dialogue between students from SUNY campuses, according to Zimpher.

“This is our way to reach out and serve communication the students deserve,” Zimpher said.

Students from various campus-affliated newspapers e-mailed questions to Zimpher, which were reviewed and selected to be answered during the live Web cast.

The first areas of discussion regarded the current state of the SUNY schools, any plans for the future of the SUNY program, common problems among the SUNY schools and the strategic plan of action for the SUNY system.

According to Zimpher, the SUNY board of trustees is looking to improve the ability for students to make transfers between SUNY schools.

“We are trying to make sure credit transfers can work at all schools,” Zimpher said. “It is very important for the students to have this sort of mobility to ensure the success and ease of the process.”

The questions directed the discussion to the New York state budget deficit and how it will affect SUNY schools.

Zimpher emphasized the idea that SUNY is inherently connected to the revitalization of the New York state economy, and cautioned students that the deficit could continue to get worse.

New York state is currently at a $3 billion deficit, and this could increase to $5 billion by 2010, and $12 billion by 2011.

According to Zimpher, the SUNY Board has created a budget task force, consisting of campus presidents, provosts, business officers and more to battle challenges such as the $90 million mid-year SUNY budget cut and the recent vote to increase tuition by 2 percent.

“Let it be known … when the tuition is increased, those tuition dollars must come back to the campuses to serve the students who paid the tuition,” she said. “I only say that because that has not been the case in the recent past and that’s just absolutely unacceptable.”

Students also questioned Zimpher on whether the budget cuts would impact the quality of SUNY institutions.

“SUNY has a reputation as being a quality institution, all of this is threatened when our system is complicated with these cuts,” Zimpher said. “We‘re pushing the edge of the envelope in terms of our services, our class size and the availability of our faculty.”

According to Zimpher, the budget task force asked presidents to select one of two models for the type of cut they would prefer based on what is best for their institution, but did not address what these models were.

Gail Glover, BU spokeswoman, said Thursday she was unable to confirm which option of cuts Binghamton University chose.

The next few topics discussed by Zimpher regarded the BU men’s basketball team and the future idea of a BU law school.

Zimpher stated that the investigation of the athletic department is still in motion, and will be made public at its end in a final cumulative report.

She also briefly discussed her role in the future endeavor of a law school at BU, which is to ensure that there is demand in the school and community, as well the state.

Zimpher ended the hour-long question-and-answer session with a remark on SUNY marketing in the global perspective, stating that the SUNY brand has become much more globalized in recent years, effectively bringing more international students to their campuses.