In 2004, Long Island University announced all of their students at Southampton College would be relocating to C.W. Post in Brookville. Five years later Stony Brook University announced their students would be relocating too. The reason: budget cuts.
According to Dan Melucci, associate vice president for strategy, planning and analysis, tuition, the tuition for LIU was $21,000, there were 983 undergraduates at that time and at the end of the fiscal year of 2004-2005, they projected a loss of $11 million.
According to the Facts in Brief on LIU’s website, fiscal year 2004-2005 did have 983 undergraduates, but also had 218 graduates and 500 students for non-credit, totaling 1,701 students for enrollment. The next year, after the university had announced its relocation to the main campus, there were 125 graduate students. By the fiscal year of 2006-2007, Southampton was no longer a part of the budget for LIU.
Southampton College, which was acquired by the university in 1963, was home to writing and fine arts programs, the Friends World Program of global education for social change, which started in 1991, the SEAmester program, which was an educational program on ships, and of course, marine and environmental sciences. The 2004 Boilerplate, provided by LIU, showed that the campus had a strategic plan that included $100 million in capital improvements, a newly designed core curriculum and a large investment in scholarships. It was also home to WLIU-FM, Long Island University’s Public Radio Network.
The next year’s boilerplate showed that the university’s undergraduate programs at Southampton College were being relocated to C.W. Post but that the radio station and few programs not related to marine science would remain on site.
When asked what had happened between the two years for such a drastic change in tone and the students relocation, LIU did not respond.
In September 2005, the SUNY Board of Trustees approved the resolution to purchase the property for $35 million, which included the purchase of 42 buildings, and facilities including art studio buildings, residence halls, classroom and library buildings. The marine science undergraduate program at Southampton was moved to Stony Brook’s Marine Sciences Research Center. The lease of the marine science facilities were subsumed into the purchase when Stony Brook acquired the campus, according to a press release on LIU’s website from March 2006.
According to Jason Rodriguez, a LIU Southampton-turned-C.W. Post student, “the transition wasn’t hard but I really wish it didn’t happen,” he said. “I didn’t want to be at C.W. Post. I wanted to be at Southampton.”
“The transition was as smooth as it could possibly be,” he added.
Assemblyman Fred Thiele, Jr. disagrees, however. He was there when LIU decided to sell the campus. At first, the university was going to sell it to a private sector, but legislators Thiele, Congressman Tim Bishop and Senator Kenneth P. LaValle were able to reach a consensus with LIU to sell it to someone that would be able to keep its educational programs running.
Of course rallies and protests occurred before the smooth transition Rodriguez mentioned. What happened from students at Stony Brook for months, also happened with students from LIU.
“I chose Southampton for a reason and I’m not going to settle for Post,” said Haley Menard, a sophomore majoring in Environmental Chemistry at Southampton, in a C.W. Post Pioneer article entitled “Southampton Students and Faculty Rally Against Administration.” “I’m happy with my school and I don’t think it’s right they can send me a letter telling me they’re closing [without a chance to challenge the decision].”
They, too, had a rally at their main campus against the relocation from Southampton to C.W. Post.
“We want the administration to understand that the Southampton campus is important to the East End,” said Scott Carlin, a protester and fulltime Environmental Studies professor at Southampton. “The responsible thing for LIU to do is keep it open as a four year school until a new institution can take over the college.”
Enter Stony Brook University.