If the community convinces government officials to allow the Shinnecocks to build a casino, he said, the Nation would foot the bill for the deficit at the college.
"Through Indian gaming, we could have solved the problem," Mr. Gumbs said of the school's $77 million cumulative operating deficit since its 1963 inception. "We could have simply paid the bill. These are the kinds of problems Indian gaming solves all over the country. We would fund this institution. The Shinnecock Nation stands ready. We do have the means to do this."
At the same time, Mr. Gumbs—charging that the 110-acre college campus was stolen from the Shinnecocks in 1859—vowed to try to block any proposed sale of the property by Long Island University, including a sale to another educational institution.
"Let me remind everyone," he said to the approximately 150 college community members who attended Sunday's rally at Avram Theater, "that this college sits on land owned by the Shinnecock Nation. We have been trying in vain to avoid any land claim issue, but we seem to be blocked at every turn. Any sale [by LIU] would result in the biggest land claim in New York State History."
Native tribes in various parts of the United States and Canada have filed land claim cases in federal court, arguing that certain lands were unfairly taken from the tribes by unscrupulous governments generations ago. In some instances, the cases have been used as leverage to obtain settlements involving various issues, including Indian gaming.
Although Mr. Gumbs's comments received thunderous applause from the crowd on Sunday, local officials were less than enthusiastic this week about his comments.
"If I wanted to save the college, which I do, I'm not going to confuse the issue by combining it with something as controversial as the casino," said State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., an opponent of the casino who said he decided not to attend the rally after learning that Mr. Gumbs was a scheduled speaker. "Lance should be ashamed of himself for injecting that into the discussion."
Through a spokesman, U.S. Representative Tim Bishop, who was at Sunday's event but did not respond to Mr. Gumbs's remarks at that time, expressed similar sentiments on Tuesday. "The congressman believes these are two separate issues and should remain so," Mr. Bishop's spokesman, Jon Schneider, said.
LIU officials announced in late June that they would essentially shut down the undergraduate studies program at the college next year and send students and some faculty and staff to the university's C.W. Post campus in Brookville instead. LIU cited the mounting deficit as the main cause for the closure. The college's graduate program, radio station and some other programs will remain at the campus.
Local, county and state officials, as well as Rep. Bishop, have mounted an effort to try and keep the campus operating as an educational institution, an effort that could include bringing in the State University of New York to run the campus as an extension of its Stony Brook campus.
While maintaining that the university would like to see the campus remain a institution of higher learning, LIU officials have also noted that a special committee would explore all options, including selling portions of the 110-acre campus to private developers.
The campus community has joined together as well in support of alternatives to the transfer of undergraduate programs to C.W. Post, forming Save Southampton's College, the organization that hosted Sunday's rally.
Rep. Bishop, a current student, a Southampton College graduate and other officials joined Mr. Gumbs on the seven-person panel onstage at the event. Rep. Bishop, who is the former provost of the college, pledged to do everything in his power to save the school, and said the best opportunity to do that would be in a partnership with SUNY.
"I will use every ounce of power, influence and authority that my office holds to make sure this college remains an educational institution," he said. "I commit to that."
County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk and Deputy Suffolk County Executive Ben Zwirn of East Hampton, also on the panel, committed the county's resources to the fight, noting that the Republican Mr. Schneiderman and Democratic County Executive Steve Levy had joined together in a nonpartisan alliance to help push for a solution.
Following LIU's announcement in June, Mr. Zwirn said, the two worked on a proposal to have the county purchase the campus to house an extension of Suffolk County Community College. But he said it became obvious that it would be more appropriate for the campus to house a four-year institution. He said the county could still be involved in seeing that happen.
"Suffolk Community College could buy the campus and lease it back to Southampton College," he said. "We will stay involved to make sure this doesn't turn into a real estate development overnight. The real estate developers are salivating over what's going to happen here."
During a question-and-comment period following the panel's presentations Sunday, East Hampton resident Bill Chaleff urged the audience to encourage Southampton Town to change the zoning of the campus in Shinnecock Hills from residential to some form of educational zoning so it could not be used as housing sites.
Southampton Town Supervisor Patrick Heaney has said that the college has worked with the town during the past year to create a special zoning district on the campus in order to legalize building and infrastructure improvements. This week, he said he would consider initiating a study of the property, the first step in creating a special zoning district, or planned development district, that might limit its uses in the future.
"I'm not interested in them selling that campus off for development," he said. "But I don't see [a study] as a necessity at this time. If need be, I'd be willing to call for a study to look at the property and see what kind of PDD would be appropriate."
A number of other community members said on Sunday that they were still shocked by the college's imminent closure and criticized LIU for the surprise announcement in June.
"There are lives at stake here," Spanish Professor Helen Mendez said. "There are mortgages at stake here. This was done in a very underhanded way."