Attorney in Southampton Case Files Judgment to Seek Reopening of Campus

Following a state judge's ruling that Stony Brook's closure of its Southampton campus was done illegally, an attorney for the plaintiffs in that case on Thursday filed a proposed judgment to seek the reopening of Southampton for the spring 2011 semester.

According to Russell Penzer, of the firm Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella, and Yedid PC, if the court agrees with the proposed judgment and Stony Brook University fails to reopen Southampton, "they will be in contempt of the law," he said.

In a statement issued earlier this week, Stony Brook said it was already in compliance with the court's directive from the ruling, saying that President Samuel L. Stanley had "apprised the Council and members of the public then in attendance, about both the budgetary impact of residential operations at Southampton, and his intention to relocate a number of academic programs from Southampton to the Stony Brook campus."

The University also said it followed the Council's recommendation that a panel be created to determine the future of the Southampton campus.

Much will be left unclear until the court's final decision and until the next meeting of the Stony Brook Council, scheduled for Oct. 4.

"When school started we thought it was over," said sophomore Katie Osiecki, a former Southampton student and one of the plaintiffs in the case. But the judge's ruling and the filing of the proposed judgment has "reunited everyone," she said.

"Hopefully we'll follow through until the end and there will actually be a real change," Osiecki said.

Facing deep cuts to state aid, the university in April elected to close the Southampton campus – in which it had invested around $78 million – saying the move would save around $6.7 million.