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Judge rules that cuts to Stony Brook Southampton violate state law; Stony Brook says it's in compliance
Sep 1, 10 11:08 AM
Judge rules that cuts to Stony Brook Southampton violate state law
Aug 31, 10 6:01 PM
moreForum Topic
What would you like to see happen with the Stony Brook Southampton campus?
Stony Brook Southampton students greeted university administrators with tearful questions and silent protests on Wednesday afternoon, following news reports Tuesday evening that Stony Brook University would be effectively shutting down the fledgling satellite campus at the end of the summer.
That afternoon, Stony Brook University President Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. and other top administrators arrived at the Shinnecock Hills campus to meet with faculty, staff and students and explain their unexpected decision to eliminate student housing and pull the plug on most of the programs there, in response to mounting cuts in state funding.
Students said they had heard news reports Tuesday that the campus was shutting down and gathered in the university’s main quad after dark to mull over the news and mount a response. Some of them said they had only heard by word of mouth Wednesday morning.
Scores of students gathered outside Chancellor’s Hall at about 12:30 p.m. and awaited Dr. Stanley’s arrival, holding signs with slogans like “S.O.S., Sustain Our School,” and “How Can We Save You If You Can’t Save Us?”
The students stood in concerted silence as Dr. Stanley walked from the parking lot to the building entrance minutes later.
As a closed meeting among administrators, faculty and staff commenced inside the building, students outside expressed their lingering shock. Just one day earlier, they were part of a rapidly-growing nearly 500-student campus that was geared toward environmental studies, marine sciences and sustainability. But on Wednesday morning, they were hitched to a sinking ship and pondering their futures. Many students waxed sentimental about the tight-knit atmosphere and world-saving ideals that attracted them to the campus.
“It had a nice small program in a nice intimate setting,” said Frank Mindlin, 19, a sophomore marine sciences and environmental studies student from Smithtown, who works as a resident assistant in the campus dorms. He said he’s not yet sure whether he will opt to switch to Stony Brook’s much-larger west campus or transfer to another school.
“It’s a little bit of betrayal,” he said of the cuts to the campus.
As she stood holding a sign outside Chancellor’s Hall on Wednesday afternoon, Heidi Mittelsdorf, 26, an environmental studies major from Westhampton, said switching to the west campus was not an option for her.
“I just wasted three years of my life,” she said. “I’m not going to graduate.”
As it stands, Stony Brook Southampton will continue to operate as a quasi-autonomous campus until August 31. At that point, the students will either be absorbed into the west campus or transfer to another college, according to university officials.
Faculty and staff began to trickle out of Chancellor’s Hall at about 2 p.m. and made their way through a corridor of student protestors who lined the path to Avram Theater, where Dr. Stanley was set to address the student body.
Dr. Mary Pearl, the dean and administrative vice president of Stony Brook Southampton, was one of the first to exit the building and see the students lined up for hundreds of feet in front of her.
“This is great,” she said, and burst into tears. The students cheered and applauded as she walked across the campus between them.
Dr. Stanley and a group of other university administrators left Chancellor’s Hall about 15 minutes later. The students again stood silent as the officials passed between them.
For the next hour, Dr. Stanley explained his decision to students in the packed auditorium. He began by apologizing that the campus had learned about the decision through news reports, and said the university had planned to make the announcement on Thursday but was pre-empted by the media.
Dr. Stanley reiterated what the university had said in a press release that morning—that the university was closing Stony Brook Southampton as a cost-saving measure, in the wake of $55 million in state funding cuts handed down from Albany over the last two years.
In recent days, he said, it became clear that the 2010-11 state budget, which is still tied up in both houses of the State Legislature, would not restore funding to the State University of New York system, and that it would not contain the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA), which would allow individual SUNY campuses some freedom to set their own tuition rates.
Before Dr. Stanley addressed the crowd, Dr. Pearl spoke briefly, ensuring students that staff and faculty would remain dedicated to the students to the end.
“This has been a shining moment for sustainability, and other schools will be looking at us as a model of what can happen on a very special small campus,” she said. “I’m truly sorry it can’t be this one.”
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Readers, please see all comments at previous articles.
This is an incredibly short-sighted move IMO, and the basic problem was probably spawned in Albany at the door of Mr. Silver, Speaker of the Assembly.
Justice Shall Prevail.
Sustainability programs shall be restored at Peconic University, Peconic Bay Rural Transportation Authority, and Peconic County.
Mark my word.
Total comments by PBR: 526
Total comments by Scratch: 24
Total comments by Lester Ware: 5
What is to happen to the campus? Highest and best use would be to provide affordable housing for the area's workforce which is in dire need of places to rent year round that don't cost an arm and a leg. Perhaps that could be accomplished by converting the dorm buildings into apartments. Creating some single ... more family homesites might also be workable. I'd hate to see the propery be sold to developers for more high end housing.
Total comments by goldenrod: 127
Total comments by shannon87: 1
Total comments by Padre's 70s kid : 3
Total comments by Cdwyer213: 35
Take the reins Anna!
Total comments by PBR: 526
Total comments by Nature: 278
Sustainability will pay for itself over time, It is just a matter of financing.
Think The Big Picture.
If NYS does not see this, then we need to take the action to the local level.
If nothing else, the $30-80 million investment is a good investment, for what, 80 plus acres? (don't have the statistics here right now.)
Just a question of financing and vision IMO.
Take the reins ... more Anna, Fred and Tim!
Total comments by PBR: 526
Total comments by PBR: 526
I understand your point, but it's fiscally impossible and there's a reason this college is closing for the 2nd time in 5 years. Southampton Town is not better qualified to run this university. A private entity couldn't, and the state can't. Furthermore, I'm not an expert on eminent ... more domain, but I'm not sure the Town could "take" it from the State. I believe it's only legal when a government takes it from a non-government entity for the benefit of the public. Passing public money around doesn't benefit anyone.
Total comments by Nature: 278
$80 million (top end estimate?) is a bargain IMO.
Plus how many TRILLIONS will the Earth save for a viable Sustainability Vision, perhaps championed by the new generation being trained at Shinnecock College?
Immeasurable IMO, and well worth the investment.
Total comments by PBR: 526
Total comments by BIGjimbo12: 66
We have a brand new LEED Certified-Silver Library with a geothermal heating and cooling system- the first LEED building on any SUNY campus. Our Library holds the Pollack-Krasner archives collection. ... more We have a wind generator that powers the Student Center. We have one the East End's historic landmarks- the Windmill, that was just recently renovated might I add. We hold Meditation in the Windmill twice a week and have 'Tea with the Dean' nights. All of our buildings are wireless and have the most advanced education technologies. A brand new baseball field was just installed.
Some of our clubs include Scuba, Colleges against Cancer, Sailing, Marine Biology, Organic Garden and Greenhouse... We have a 90ft X 40ft organic garden where we grow vegetables for our cafe. We planted a fruit tree orchard last spring. We buy our coffee from the Shinnecock Nation. We get our apples from the Milk Pail.
Our Fine Arts building houses the largest Shakespearean Theatre on the East End: Avram Theatre, as well as Avram Gallery which highlights local artists. We hold lectures, movie nights and events that are open to the community.
We have classes that study the Sustainability of the Pine Barrens, Red & Brown Tides and Algae, Long Island Marine Habitats, Whales off Montauk, Green Business, Environmentally Friendly Architecture and more. Students do research on our marine, environmental and economic situations on Long Island. Our students do internships for Quogue Wildlife Refuge, Southampton Town, The Riverhead Foundation, Atlantis Marine World, Piping Plover recoveries, Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons and the Peconic Land Trust.
We organize beach cleanups. We work at your bakeries, hardware stores and coffee shops. We go to your gyms, bars, and movie theaters. We rent your houses that stay empty all winter.
Is all of this going to waste?
Do you not need us?
Is this worth saving?
SOS Save SBS
Total comments by JuliaMargaret: 5
Total comments by Padre's 70s kid : 3
Total comments by Nature: 278
Total comments by Bel: 52
Total comments by Cdwyer213: 35
Total comments by PBR: 526
Total comments by zaz: 70
Total comments by Padre's 70s kid : 3
Total comments by Mr. Z: 636
Total comments by nellie: 321
Total comments by frank84: 5
Total comments by not a fan: 2
Total comments by LovedHerTown: 46
Total comments by itsamazing: 28
Total comments by SESMOMOF2: 21
Total comments by bailey: 16
Total comments by community: 4
Total comments by Baloo: 5
Total comments by not a fan: 2
They should start a affordable evening school for the local community,
art classes, languages, yoga, interior designing, indesign, photography etc etc
is time to build a bridge with the community
Total comments by Bel: 52
Total comments by community: 4
Total comments by DrEngine: 10
Total comments by Zeus: 1
Total comments by Cdwyer213: 35
Total comments by bailey: 16
Total comments by community: 4
Total comments by BIGjimbo12: 66
Total comments by Cdwyer213: 35
Total comments by BIGjimbo12: 66
Total comments by nellie: 321
Total comments by WHBinManhattan: 21
Total comments by splashdown: 17
Total comments by BruceB: 66
Total comments by Bel: 52
We have one in Riverhead...SCCC...that whole campus for a culinary school ...isn't too much??
Is there enough student to have 2 culinary schools?
Total comments by Bel: 52
Total comments by Mrs.Sea: 53
Total comments by goldenrod: 127
Its my understanding nursing schools and programs are in decline around the country, yet at the very same time there is a shortage of nurses and related medical technicians. With proximity to Southampton Hospital and also Peconic in Riverhead it seems like an idea worth investigating. New York City is not far away, a real market for medical occupations after graduation.
Total comments by diogenes: 57
Total comments by community: 4
Total comments by david h: 23
Total comments by bughouse@optonline.net: 3
Total comments by Doug: 9
Total comments by ArtSmart: 1
Total comments by Cdwyer213: 35
Total comments by nellie: 321
Total comments by macattack59: 3
Barbara
Total comments by Pianofest: 1
Total comments by Sad Student: 3
I agree that this is pathetic--the nonsense new lighthouse built by the coast guard station in hampton bays cost $15 million and is for maybe 2 boats/year in distress. The new curriculum at Southampton was cutting edge and right on point for the 21st Century. The "Stimulus Package" that we all are paying for had over $35 billion in education credits, why can't the New York Congressional ... more reps get some of that money? The Department of Agriculture is spending $20 billion putting broadband internet in rural areas, let's get that money as well. Lazy Congressman and Senators from New York always looking for the national story instead of serving their constituents.
Total comments by davidf: 105
Total comments by nellie: 321
Total comments by Dr. Java 1982: 1
Total comments by Tree Man: 12
Total comments by nellie: 321
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