The Subject Files contain material related to SUNY organizations, institutions, personnel, and activities, as well as Board activities and responsibilities. The earliest item in the series is from 1969. There is some material regarding a proposed 1976 SUNY/CUNY merger. Files contain reports and correspondence related to this issue and financial concerns for both SUNY and CUNY. However the bulk of materials begin in 1977. The files include correspondence, reports, memorandum, and news clippings. There are a number of files on Chancellor Clifton Wharton Jr., the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), the Independent Commission on the Future of SUNY, and SUNY/CUNY relations.
Clifton Wharton Jr., former president of Michigan State University, became SUNY Chancellor in 1977. Early files include evaluations by Board members, biographical information about Mr. and Mrs. Wharton, and information about Wharton's accomplishments as an educator and administrator. After Wharton became Chancellor the files include correspondence between him and Blinken as well as other members of the Board, reports related to the SUNY system and individual campuses, memorandum, and news clippings related to higher education. Chancellor Wharton resigned in 1987 to become Chair and CEO of TIAA-CREF.
The Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) files include correspondence between Blinken and the commission and reports regarding SUNY financial matters.
The Donald M. Blinken Academic Administration Fellowship was established in 1981. It was first called the Administrative Internship. According to Articulation Among Some Science Based Programs in SUNY Units In Western New York, (Blinken Papers, Series 3, Box 3, Folder 3), the objective of the program was to allow a senior SUNY faculty member to gain experience in administrative matters within the University, to look at some of the problems facing SUNY as a whole rather than only from the perspective of a particular campus, and to gain insight into the operations of SUNY central.[1] Reports were issued annually in the spring. The report's title and author appear in the finding aid.
The Independent Commission on the Future of SUNY was established in 1983. According to the Proposal for an Independent Commission on the Future of the State University of New York (Blinken Papers, Series 3, Box 4, Folder 6) its purpose was to go beyond faculty, staff, and SUNY officials to evaluate SUNY's role and investigate "how its mandate may be discharged more effectively, efficiently, and with greater benefit to citizens and institutions of the state and nation." Their report issued in January of 1985 recommended that SUNY be established as a "public benefits corporation" in order to be extricated from what the commission found to be overregulation from the state government. The recommendation was denied.
In 1976 there was discussion about SUNY merging with the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Files contain reports and correspondence related to this issue and financial concerns for both SUNY and CUNY.