Stony Brook prez apologizes to students

Stony Brook University's president told a handful of students in a special, closed-door meeting Monday that he was sorry for uprooting them from their Southampton campus last year to save money.

Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. made the statement as part of a settlement agreement of a lawsuit brought by some of the affected students in May 2010.

But the students at the meeting weren't satisfied; only eight showed up to hear him, and those who did said the apology came too late.

Gabrielle Andersen, 21, an environmental design, policy and planning major, called the relocation traumatic. The lack of stability was unnerving, she said, and she wondered about the long-term future of her program.

"I'd been there two years," she said. "I created a family there."

Dana Cutolo, 20, an environmental studies major from Brooklyn, said the Southampton campus was perfectly suited to her research, as she did some of her studies in Peconic Bay.

"It was extremely hands-on," she said. "When you learned something, you went right to the water or right to the forest."

Stanley, after the meeting, said he was happy with the discussion. He said he fulfilled his legal obligation, and forged a new understanding with students.

"I was pleased with what happened today," he said. "I think we had a frank exchange."

Six students were plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court, alleging that Stony Brook violated state law by not holding public hearings before deciding last year to close much of the Southampton campus.

The case was settled in August. In addition to the apology, the university must maintain its sustainability program -- which focuses on environmental protection -- through the spring of 2014, allowing students to graduate with their degree. The university also has agreed to pay $30,000 toward the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and set aside up to $5,000 for a sustainability conference at the Southampton campus.

James Zarvos, 21, of Bellmore, said Monday that he had been eager to switch from Nassau Community College to the smaller Southampton campus. But he never had a chance; his environmental program was moved before he could start.

The main Stony Brook campus, with its 25,000 students, is far from the intimate atmosphere he sought.

"It's not horrible, but it's not what I originally wanted to do," he said.

University officials said 307 undergraduates who were enrolled at the Southampton campus relocated to the main campus in the fall of 2010, the last year for which data is available.

Officials said 143 students -- both graduate and undergraduate -- were taking classes at Southampton in the fall of 2010, though they did not live on campus.

Undergraduate dorms that opened in 2007 have since been closed and are used only used by graduate students in the summer.

Stony Brook expects the relocation to save $6.7 million annually after 2014. A spokeswoman said the university already has saved millions of dollars, though she did not have an exact figure.

Officials said education costs run about $30,000 per student at the Southampton campus, compared with $12,000 at the main campus.

Assemb. Fred Thiele (I-Center Moriches) and Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), who had planned to attend Monday's meeting, stayed away in protest. They said the talk, which came right after a Sept. 11th memorial on campus, should have been rescheduled and made open to the public. The media was barred.

Stanley said he was disappointed that the lawmakers were not at the meeting.