Stony Brook, pols fail at plan for Southhampton campus

Stony Brook University's president and East End politicians met Thursday to seek common ground on plans for the beleaguered Southampton campus, but left in a standoff after 90 minutes.

President Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., facing a cut of millions of dollars from the state, insisted he has no choice but to close most of the small campus.

But state Sen. Kenneth LaValle dismissed the idea of closing dorms and moving environmental programs to the main campus, as proposed by Stony Brook officials.

"The state university made a commitment and that commitment, at the absolute minimum, must be kept to the students who accepted admission into the program at Southampton," LaValle said afterward.

The meeting, on the main Stony Brook campus, came two weeks after LaValle, Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) proposed using Town of Southampton community preservation funds to protect the 82-acre campus from future development, and away from Stony Brook's control.

Stanley praised politicians and students for their impassioned defense of the satellite campus, but said Stony Brook will save $6.7 million by shuttering most of the buildings - a significant part of $34 million he expects to trim this year due to state budget cuts.

"We have to impact the fewest number of students and save significant amounts of money," Stanley said.

During the meeting, participants said, Stanley mentioned that Long Island University was losing $10 million a year on the Southampton campus before selling the land to Stony Brook in 2004. But that figure was disputed by Bob Martin, who was on LIU's board of overseers.

"President Stanley keeps feeding people information that's completely inaccurate," said Martin, who attended the meeting and chairs the Stony Brook Southampton Dean's Council, a volunteer adviser group.

Stanley said the figure came from published reports.

Martin suggested that Stony Brook learn from campuses that have found innovative ways of saving money, such as outsourcing the operations of dormitories or starting money-making graduate programs. "SUNY has to come together with the politicians to agree on a solution," he said. "Right now they're all at each other's throats."