Stony Brook Southampton students met their goal of raising $10,000 by the end of the day on Friday, April 16, thus ensuring that an anonymous donor would match that amount, according to students.
Students have been raising money to fund a lawsuit against Stony Brook University, which announced on April 7 that it would be closing most of the programs at the small satellite campus at the end of the summer due to drastic cuts in state funding.
Intensive fund-raising began on Thursday, April 15, according to student leader John Botos. Students were told that if they raised $10,000 by the end of the day on Friday, an anonymous donor would contribute an additional $10,000.
Students largely worked from home, making calls, sending out e-mails and contacting people using a Facebook page started last week to advocate for saving the campus. They reached the halfway point—$5,000—at about 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
Shortly after 9 p.m., they reached the $10,000 mark, according to Mr. Botos. “We blew it away, thank God,” he said.
Mr. Botos could not say for sure on Saturday afternoon if the anonymous donor contributed the additional $10,000, but he did say that students called the donor late last Friday night to announce that they met the goal.
Students have declined to disclose the name of the law firm they are seeking to hire, or the nature of the possible lawsuit.
Mr. Botos said that students will continue raising funds, with the goal of garnering a total of $50,000 by early May, in order to pay for legal fees and to continue to raise awareness about the cuts to the campus and to education across the state.
“We’re not trying to do this just to make a verbal statement, but more so we want to show through the grassroots movement that Stony Brook Southampton is a viable business plan,” he said.
Will James on Apr 21, 2010