Dowling College saves its economic institute

For two weeks it looked as though Dowling College in Oakdale was going to do away with the Long Island Economic and Social Policy Institute and bid farewell to its founder and director, Martin Cantor.

Cantor said that after Memorial Day, college officials told him the institute -- and his job -- would fall victim to budget cuts. Cantor had been hired by former Suffolk County Executive Robert Gaffney, who retired last month after heading the college since October 2006.

The Scoop inquired Wednesday about the decision to close the institute. On Thursday morning the decision had been reversed.

"Coincidental," said Dowling provost Linda Ardito. "It [keeping the institute] was in the works. We found a way to continue to support it."

Cantor will continue in his role at the institute. "We did great stuff," he said. "The mission Bob had given us was to obviously increase the visibility of Dowling while also discussing the important issues to Long Island, which we did."

Cantor said he is proud of the reports the institute has done, including one on open space and another on reducing property taxes.

"After nearly four years, LIESP has become a place where issues were discussed and debated openly and at times heatedly, but always without constraints," Cantor said.

He had been commissioner of economic development under former Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin in the late 1980s and early '90s.