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June 08, 2010

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Good for you, Adam. The irresponsible, reckless closure of the campus has been a huge mistake. Hope to taste some of your wine sometime.

As a parent of a student at the college at Southampton, I'd like to thank you for your generous offer.

After the Stony Brook president turned down the town's offer of double the amount of funding he said was needed to keep the college operational, it has become clear that the closing of this college is not about any lack of funds at all. The funds were being handed to the president on a silver platter and would not have been rejected if funding were really the issue. This is all about the 82 acres of valuable Hamptons property that is the campus.

On 3/22/10, the NY Senate passed a Majority Budget Resolution that included provisions for Stony Brook University to "engage in public/private partnerships" and allows SUNY Board of Trustees to "provide the release, transfer, or conveyance of state-owned property" controlled by SUNY.

Two weeks later (4/7/10), Stony Brook's president suddenly announces, out of the blue, that the college at Southampton's campus must be closed and the property cleared out.

It is no coincidence that he immediately decided to close down the college at Southampton as soon as the Senate's resolution, with the provisions mentioned above, gave signals that the university may be able to offer its public properties to the highest-paying private corporate entities and developers, without legislative oversight from Albany.

Putting a potential windfall profit from the sale or lease of this 82-acre, ocean-front campus property above all else, including education, he kicked out the 800 students and robbed them of their specialty college and their campus -- clearing them out to make way for more profitable private enterprise.

The lives and educations of these students have been disrupted - and in many cases devastated - in favor of the private profit the unversity stands to make off the tax-payers' public property under its control.

In addition to the mistreatment and callous disregard for the college, students, and staff, the community should also be very concerned about Stony Brook's intentions for the property. They may have no say in what kind of tenant or developer Stony Brook decides to give them as neighbors on that campus property.

From a parent of two proud Stony Brook Students.. Thank you. Its nice to see kindness like this

Thank you very much for you support for the only 4 year college on the east end of Long Island. Your offer is very generous and much appreciated by me and my daughter, who is a student.

Julie, I couldn't have said it better. The president doesn't have the guts to reveal what's really going on... and now its up to the community to reveal the complete motives and prevent the use of the land for interests that run counter to the locals!

I know that my offer is a small token, but I hope that it brings a little bit of attention to rally behind the students!

I was a student who left Long Island for college only to find myself SURROUNDED by Long Island students. I agree with Julie it isnt a matter of money, other states are making plenty of money off Long Island students, LI HIGHSCHOOLS ARE ONE OF THE MAIN COLLEGE RECRUITING GROUNDs IN THE NATION. With the closing of the Southampton campus we are pushing even more students off Long Island and most likely out of state.
In a time of localism, closing this campus is a huge mistake.

Senator LaValle & Assemblyman Thiele have petitoned the legislature in Albany to include language in the 2010 state budget that would reverse Stony Brook's decision to close the college at the Southampton campus. Anyone interested in doing so may go to NY.gov to contact the Governor, Assemblyman Silver and their local NY state representatives urging them to support this petition & language.

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