A press conference has been scheduled for next Thursday, August 5, at which officials from both universities and a bevy of local, state, county and federal officials are expected to announce the deal. It has been in the works since LIU officials announced last month that Southampton College's undergraduate program would be moved to the university's C.W. Post campus in Brookville in September 2005.
Among those attending the press conference will be State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, who has helped to broker the deal, and the college's former provost, U.S. Representative Tim Bishop. Although Mr. LaValle, chair of the Senate's committee on higher education, would not offer details of next week's announcement, he did suggest that the deal was imminent.
The officials in a series of meetings over the past month have discussed several options to help sustain the school, including combining Stony Brook's graduate program in marine science with Southampton's highly acclaimed undergraduate program in the same discipline. Some officials have pushed for a more comprehensive deal, including the state purchasing the campus outright.
Mr. LaValle also said this week that it was likely that a deal forged last year between the college and the Parrish Art Museum to dedicate nearly 10 acres of the campus for the construction of a new museum building would move forward.
"They'll probably cut those nine or 10 acres out for the Parrish," he said. "That'll be a separate deal."
Museum officials declined to comment on the statement, instead providing the same written statement they released several weeks ago stating that officials continued to explore all options.
He also said there were a few minor hitches to work out in the deal, including the status of the soon-to-be vacant dormitories on the Shinnecock Hills campus.
"Both the Ross School and the Hampton Day School made some inquiries about the dorms," the senator said, referring to the East Hampton educational facility and the school operated by the Morriss Center in Bridgehampton. "But I told them that if Stony Brook comes in, they're going to need the dorms."
University officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment this week, but in a statement released to the press late last week announcing the first meeting of a special committee charged with exploring alternatives for the campus, LIU Chairman Roger Tilles said the university would like to maintain an educational use at the campus.
"The committee stated its clear preference to preserve the 110-acre site, if at all possible, for educational, cultural and not-for-profit services," Mr. Tilles said in the statement. "These would include the Parrish Art Museum, the State University of New York, and any other educational or cultural institutions that have already expressed, or may express in the future, an interest in the Southampton property."
The statement also added, however, that it was "incumbent on the board to explore all options."
At the same time this week, the Shinnecock Indian Nation registered its position on the matter this week, chastising officials for not including them in talks designed to save the college and vowing to fight LIU if the institution in the end decided to sell off the campus, which borders the tribe's reservation land.
"As a neighbor Nation," a letter several officials from the Shinnecock's Tribal Trustees reads, "and since the college is situated within the ancestral territory of the Shinnecock, the Shinnecock Indian Nation can be expected to oppose any potential real estate deal that might lead to residential, commercial or other development on the land now occupied by this institution of higher education."
Also this week, efforts by students, faculty and alumni of the college who have mounted an effort to keep the university from pulling the undergraduate program continued, with the scheduling of a rally this Sunday at the Avram Theater at the college from 1 to 5 p.m.
Several officials are expected to speak at the rally, including Rep. Bishop, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, and historians Elizabeth Haile and John Strong.
"As stakeholders we need to have our ideas and concerns heard," said environmental studies Professor Scott Carlin, a member of the group Save Southampton's College. "We are at serious risk of losing Southampton
College to major developers. As a community we are joining together to prevent what would be a tremendous loss for the East End should our undergraduate program be moved to Nassau County and our campus sold off to the highest bidder."