MONTICELLO, NY — The Sullivan County Legislature declared May “SUNY Sullivan Month” as the school faces financial challenges and is about to welcome a new president. 

Legislature chair Nadia Rajsz read a proclamation noting that the college has awarded more than 14,000 degrees, many of which were transferred to four-year universities. The proclamation also mentioned that the campus was “abundant with beautiful yellow daffodils and acres of lush green grasses.”

The college “is really a gem in our county,” said Rajsz. She called the recent commencement ceremony a “phenomenal event.”

“I applaud the college for doing all it can to educate our youth,” she said.

The incoming president, Dr. David Potash, joins at a time when the college’s very accreditation in jeopardy. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), which offers accreditation to colleges that meet its standards, sent SUNY Sullivan a notice of noncompliance in November after its representatives visited the Loch Sheldrake campus over two days last August. SUNY Sullivan’s accreditation “may be in jeopardy because of insufficient evidence that the institution is currently in compliance” with MSCHE standards on “educational effectiveness,” systems for evaluating students’ work, and planning and budgeting,

In 2022, a former SUNY Sullivan employee brought to the county legislature a bill from the New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) showing the college had a $6 million backlog in health insurance premiums. Then-president Jay Quaintance said at the time that NYSHIP had raised the cost of its plans about 12 percent a year while the college’s expenses rose, its revenue stayed flat, and its enrollment declined.

However, in December, SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. told the SUNY Board of Trustees that SUNY Sullivan had the biggest year-over-year increase in new-student enrollments among all State University of New York community colleges. King said SUNY Sullivan brought in 20 percent more new students, which he compared to the average 3.9 percent increase in enrollment across the SUNY network.

The county is considering turning SUNY Sullivan’s Lazarus I. Levine Residence Hall (“Laz Hall”) into a shelter for people without housing. The county’s head of Health and Human Services, John Liddle, and a case manager toured Laz Hall with Sean Welsh, SUNY Sullivan’s vice president for administrative services, to explore the possibility, but neither the legislature nor the college’s board of trustees have endorsed the concept.

The dorm has been closing down in stages because of its dilapidated roof. The last students expected to live there are scheduled to move out at the end of the semester. 

Last week, the college deactivated five of its associate's degree programs in media arts and environmental science, among other programs, citing low enrollment in those programs.

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