Schumer vows: No Kings Point academy cuts

Alumni of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point said they were buoyed by support from Sen. Charles Schumer, who visited the school Monday and promised to fight a proposed budget cut.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) toured the 82-acre campus with academy officials to get an up close look at a deteriorating wooden pier and other facilities. He quizzed a first-year student about his 1940s-era barracks and called for the quick hiring of a new superintendent.

"We cannot let one rough chapter of a storied history define an institution as prestigious as the United States Merchant Marine Academy," Schumer said after the tour.

The academy, founded in 1943, is facing challenges beyond the deteriorating facilities and the loss of three superintendents in as many years. The academy's namesake training ship, the Kings Pointer, was sent to Texas and a continuing education school on campus is to be closed.

Schumer said he spoke Monday morning with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who oversees the academy, about quickly finding a superintendent and bringing in a new training vessel. Schumer called for including alumni, faculty and students to participate in the selection process for a new leader.

He also asked that the Senate's Appropriations Committee maintain an $85 million budget for 2013. The proposed budget would reduce appropriations by nearly 10 percent to $77 million.

Capt. Jim Tobin, 56, a 1977 academy graduate and president of the USMMA Alumni Association & Foundation, said he was encouraged that Schumer took the time to visit. "It's just a positive thing that he was here to show his support for the school," Tobin said.

Meghan A. Keck, deputy director of public affairs for the Department of Transportation, said LaHood "reiterated his commitment to finding a new superintendent by summer" when he spoke with Schumer. "We appreciate Senator Schumer's interest in the academy and look forward to his help in ensuring it continues to attract and train students well into the future," she said.

Newsday reported last month that a 2010 federal report concluded academy facilities require about $300 million in repairs. In January, there was a carbon monoxide leak in one of the barracks.

Federal transportation officials said a major engineering study on the electrical grid and power supply is scheduled to begin this spring. This summer, renovations are to begin on the dock area and piers and the Rogers Hall barracks.