Students and faculty at two North Country colleges are breathing a sigh of relief. SUNY trustees have backed off plans to force SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton to share a president. Our Cara Thomas was on campus as a local lawmaker shared the news.

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ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY, N.Y. -- With finals week at SUNY Canton underway, students have a lot on their mind. But an announcement by Senator Patty Ritchie Tuesday morning gave them one less thing to worry about.

"They were going to discontinue the plan to merge the presidencies between SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam," said State Senator Patty Ritchie.

Last spring, SUNY Central administrators told SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam they would be cutting costs by sharing one president, causing an uproar from students, faculty and local officials. After many shared their anxiety and opposition toward the plan, SUNY trustees changed their mind.

Senator Ritchie received a phone call late last week from SUNY central, giving her the news. Local officials and school administrators say they are relieved, as they feel separate presidents is the best option, specifically for the welfare of the students.

Ritchie said, "This college has thrived under the leadership of the president and we wanted to make sure that continued."

Students made it very apparent they did not want a shared presidency. Over the last few weeks, they protested and went directly to the SUNY trustees in NYC to express their concerns.

"You see from the students that they believed it was important to have somebody to actually lead the institution," said Ritchie.

And SUNY Canton President Joe Kennedy says a shared president would have a hard time doing that.

"I don't' know how one person could provide that kind of intense, concentrated type efforts at two colleges," said Kennedy.

But even though the two schools didn't want to share a president, SUNY Canton says sharing services might not be a bad idea. Kennedy says by sharing campus police forces, libraries and combining academic programs, everybody wins.

Kennedy said, "Those are the things that will improve the quality of what we do and in the long run, I suspect, save some money."

With plans to combine services, Kennedy says separate presidents at both schools will give the institutions the attention they deserve.

SUNY Canton has created a task force made up of students, faculty and community members. Over the next few months, the group will research different ways for Canton and Potsdam to share services.

Kennedy says SUNY Canton has already reached out to SUNY Plattsburgh as well.

The shared services proposal will be submitted to the SUNY trustees in July.