Lights will return to Southampton campus

Southampton residents will get their holiday windmill lighting ceremony at Stony Brook University's Shinnecock Hills campus after all.

Southampton Town is stepping in to host the holiday tradition after local politicians this week accused college administrators of being grinches for canceling the annual party.

The show will go on, a week later than its usual date, with festivities starting Friday at 6 p.m., town spokeswoman Jennifer Garvey said Friday. And yes, there'll be refreshments, she said.

For 17 years, the campus - first under Long Island University, then as part of Stony Brook - has hosted a gathering to celebrate the lighting of its landmark windmill.

Attracting between 200 and 300 people, the town-gown event featured cider and hot chocolate, cookies and carols. The university president attended, as did local officials.

But this year, after $59 million in state aid cuts in the past two years and a controversial move to scale back programs at its Southampton campus, the university could no longer afford the holiday party, Stony Brook spokeswoman Lauren Sheprow said.

They planned instead to turn the lights on without fanfare.

That sparked two news releases in protest this week from local politicians - sniping that's capped a year of friction between the university and community leaders, who have fought to reverse the relocation of undergraduate and residential programs from Shinnecock Hills to Stony Brook's main campus.

Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor) and State Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) issued statements labeling the university a "Grinch."

"This is a case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish," said LaValle, the top Republican on the Senate's higher education committee, who argued the windmill lighting generates goodwill for the university among alumni and potential donors.

Thiele, LaValle and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) have offered to co-sponsor the party.

The university did not say how much the event usually costs. LaValle said: "In terms of refreshments, it is nothing elaborate," and the university could have sought donations from the community this year.