EDITORIAL: Calm discussion needed on Southampton campus' future

It's easy to understand the raw legislative angst over the painful decision to curtail sharply the scope of the Stony Brook Southampton campus. But that doesn't really justify the quirky plan to save it.

Instead, we need a rational discussion of how best to use the campus now and preserve the idea behind it: a center for environmental sustainability. At Stony Brook today, the key players - Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., the new Stony Brook president; Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson); Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor), and others - will talk it over.

To cope with huge budget cuts, Stanley chose to shut down the Southampton dorms. LaValle and Thiele, key supporters in buying the campus from Long Island University, were angry. To fund the campus, they're mistakenly turning to the community preservation fund that the Town of Southampton set up to buy open space. They and the town want to use it to buy development rights to the campus and make it a separate SUNY school.

That idea has too many question marks - plus, it's not really needed. The fine marine science and writing programs will continue at Southampton; Stanley's seeking other uses, such as fine arts, medicine and a conference center, and he's starting a center on sustainability studies at the main campus.

The key is calm planning to use this asset wisely now, then build it back up when times get better. That goal is best served by lowered rhetoric and heightened cooperation. hN