Stony Brook says Southampton campus not for sale

Stony Brook University is seeking new educational uses for its Southampton campus as it prepares to close dorms and disband classes there, the university's president said.

Samuel L. Stanley dismissed students' concerns that Stony Brook will sell the 82-acre campus, which has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation.

"We're committed to finding ways that fit with Stony Brook's mission but don't lose money for us," Stanley said in an interview. "I'm not comfortable talking about specifics, but it will be under Stony Brook University and definitely academic."

Stanley said that although shuttering Southampton is "a terrible thing," he had little choice but to shut down most of the money-losing campus to save about $6.7 million a year as the school grapples with a budget crisis.

Because Southampton only serves about 500 students, he said, it is inefficient and costs 2 1/2 times as much per person to run as the main campus.

Stanley noted that previous owner Long Island University, which charged $20,000 in tuition - four times as much as Stony Brook - couldn't find a way to keep the campus afloat before selling it to Stony Brook four years ago.

He said he made the decision after cutting $25 million on the main campus and consulting with top administrators about ways to chop more - another $33 million in the next year - while inconveniencing the smallest possible number of students.

He rejected complaints from many at Southampton who say they should have been alerted to the possible closing to help figure out ways to save money and raise funds. "If there's a possibility that you're going to close it, students don't want to go there, and faculty wouldn't want to stay there and be recruited there," Stanley said.

Union leader Arty Shertzer blasted Stanley for being secretive.

"If he had come to us, the legislators and the community and said, 'I'm faced with closing this campus. What can we do?' that would've been a better message than to come out here saying, 'You're fired,' " said Shertzer, president of United University Professions, which represents about 2,400 faculty and staff members.

A student leader, junior Adam Meier, 20, added, "President Stanley seems to have never entertained the opportunity of finding alternative means of raising the money."

Stanley said the university will continue to use marine biology labs and run a writing program and master of fine arts program at Southampton. "We're still there - that's the message that sometimes seems to be lost."

Residential students who transfer to the main campus will be given priority in a new 600-bed dorm that opens this summer, he said, and the university will cluster Southampton students to preserve the sense of community they built at the 4-year-old campus.

Environmental programs that earned distinction for Southampton will be switched to the main campus rather than abandoned, he said.

Stanley blamed the State Legislature for failing to approve a budget on time and for sidestepping SUNY's request to set tuition on its own. Stony Brook still faces painful cuts, he said, unless an "amazing" change occurs in the state budget.

"I wouldn't say anything is untouchable," he said, "but we're beginning by saying teaching and research are our core mission." He added that he is especially interested in preserving Stony Brook's preeminent academic programs, though he wouldn't specify them.

Even with Southampton's demise, Stanley expects to have to lop another $26 million in expenses. The easy way would be to cut 15 percent from every department, he said, "but that's the pathway to mediocrity."