Pols: Stony Brook U plans to close much of Southampton campus

Stony Brook University plans to close part of its Southampton campus this summer because of a budget crisis, according to two local politicians who said they were told of the plan during a meeting Tuesday with university president Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr.

The campus, which has 525 students and planned to boost enrollment to 700 in the fall, will abandon the dormitory and other buildings, leaving open only a marine science program and a writing program, said Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor). The two programs enroll about 360 students, a university official said. The university has 13,904 undergraduates on its main campus.

"This is absurd," Thiele said after a 90-minute meeting with Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) and state Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) in Stanley's office. "We're definitely going to fight it," Thiele said.

"It's like losing a member of my family," said LaValle, the former Senate Education Committee chairman who has been a champion of the campus since its inception. "We're not going to stand idly by."

The campus, which Stony Brook bought from Long Island University in 2006, was touted as a school of the future, focusing on environmental sustainability. Stony Brook administrators said then they expected to get federal grants and be in the forefront of the "green" movement, and that would lead to plentiful job offers for students.

Mary Pearl, dean of the Southampton campus, said in an e-mail message Tuesday night, "I have been asked to refer questions to Sam Stanley."

John C. Cochrane, a member of a university advisory group, the Stony Brook Council, said he was surprised at the news. "I'm disappointed to hear this - we just spent a considerable amount of money upgrading the facilities."

Other Stony Brook spokespeople and officials did not return calls Tuesday night.

Thiele noted the announcement came at an odd time - applications to the Southampton campus surged 54 percent this year, he said, citing facts he said were supplied by university officials. And architects are scheduled to go to the campus Wednesday to propose new buildings as part of a planned expansion, a university official said.

Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed cutting $157 million from the 64-campus SUNY system in 2010-11, but the budget still must be negotiated by the legislature. Stanley has estimated a loss to the university of $55 million over 21/2 years.

LaValle said he wondered whether SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is having campuses talk about drastic cuts to pressure the State Legislature to provide more funding.

Zimpher's office did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Thiele said Stony Brook made the decision to close the Southampton campus and began informing people now because officials feared hundreds of students would accept offers of admission, only to learn in a few months the campus lacked money to operate.

In four years, Stony Brook has invested $78 million in acquiring the campus, completing a library and refurbishing dorms, Thiele said. "This is your classic abandonment of a long-term plan to resolve a short-term budget gap," he said.

Stony Brook has aggressively recruited students for the campus, touting its location in the Hamptons and its innovative curriculum. As of Tuesday night, the school's Web site made no mention of any problems. In fact, a welcome from Stanley to prospective students promised academic adventures and lifelong friendships. "Your classes will be intimate, whether they take place in a traditional classroom, in the waterways surrounding the campus or in a rain forest halfway around the world," the message said.