Students sue over Stony Brook Southampton closure

The latest challenge to Stony Brook University's plan to close most of its Southampton campus comes from a lawsuit filed this week by six students, and backed by State Assemb. Fred Thiele, Jr. (I-Sag Harbor).

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court, says the university broke state law by failing to hold a public hearing before announcing plans to shutter the dorms and most other buildings on campus.

Stony Brook bought the campus from Long Island University in 2006, with plans to have an innovative environmental program. Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., Stony Brook's president, announced the decision to close the university on April 7.

"They didn't even give us an opportunity to apply elsewhere because they told us the school was closing after transfer applications were due," said plaintiff Katherine Osiecki, 18, who grew up in Sag Harbor and just finished her first year at the Southampton campus. She said she turned down "generous" financial aid offers from Hofstra University, Syracuse University and other colleges in order to attend Stony Brook's small environmental campus.

She added she was so committed to the school she used tuition money her parents had set aside as a down payment on a house next to campus.

Stony Brook spokeswoman Lauren Sheprow said the lawsuit "will be responded to appropriately in court." A SUNY spokesman in Albany did not return calls for comment.

Stanley has maintained that the university, which expects tens of millions of dollars in state budget cuts, would save $6.7 million a year by moving classes to the main campus.

But the lawsuit says Stony Brook misled students by promising them a small "green" campus, then telling them they can switch to the large main campus. The suit compared that to "forcing a person who has chosen to work in a small rural town in the Midwest to relocate her office to a skyscraper in Manhattan, while promising that her job experience will not change."

With Stony Brook officials refusing to consider proposals to find alternate funding, Thiele said, "The students were not really left with any other options."

Thiele acknowledged campuses and agencies statewide are considering drastic measures as they face budget cuts. "This particular cut is disproportionate to what other colleges have to bear, and it's really a breach of faith with what Stony Brook promised the East End," he said.