New York Laws
Article 8 - State University and State Financial Assistance for Higher Education
351 - State University Mission.

§ 351. State university mission. The mission of the state university
system shall be to provide to the people of New York educational
services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access,
fully representative of all segments of the population in a complete
range of academic, professional and vocational postsecondary programs
including such additional activities in pursuit of these objectives as
are necessary or customary. These services and activities shall be
offered through a geographically distributed comprehensive system of
diverse campuses which shall have differentiated and designated missions
designed to provide a comprehensive program of higher education, to meet
the needs of both traditional and non-traditional students and to
address local, regional and state needs and goals. In fulfilling this
mission, the state university shall exercise care to develop and
maintain a balance of its human and physical resources that:

a. recognizes the fundamental role of its responsibilities in
undergraduate education and provides a full range of graduate and
professional education that reflects the opportunity for individual
choice and the needs of society;

b. establishes tuition which most effectively promotes the
university's access goals;

c. encourages and facilitates basic and applied research for the
purpose of the creation and dissemination of knowledge vital for
continued human, scientific, technological and economic advancement;

d. strengthens its educational and research programs in the health
sciences through the provision of high quality general comprehensive and
specialty health care, broadly accessible at reasonable cost, in its
hospitals, clinics and related programs and through networks and joint
and cooperative relationships with other health care providers and
institutions, including those on a regional basis;

e. shares the expertise of the state university with the business,
agricultural, governmental, labor and nonprofit sectors of the state
through a program of public service for the purpose of enhancing the
well-being of the people of the state of New York and in protecting our
environmental and marine resources;

e-1. encourage, support and participate through facility planning and
projects, personnel policies and programs with local governments, school
districts, businesses and civic sectors of host communities regarding
the health of local economies and quality of life;

f. promotes appropriate program articulation between its
state-operated institutions and its community colleges as well as
encourages regional networks and cooperative relationships with other
educational and cultural institutions for the purpose of better
fulfilling its mission of education, research and service.