New York State

As Stony Brook's men's basketball team gets ready to head to Hartford this weekend for the America East tournament, Binghamton's team will be staying home. While their fans are not happy about this, it is the right decision.

New York is facing great economic hardship. In response, Gov. David Paterson has instituted the Empowerment Act and SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher is working out a new strategic plan for the university system. At Stony Brook the topic was energy and sustainability, but she and President Samuel L. Stanley also weighed in on the governor's new legislation.

The SUNY Research Foundation recently added Stony Brook University President Samuel Stanley to their board of directors according to a press release on Jan. 12. The announcement puts President Stanley in a position that formerly held disputes with his own university’s Research Assistants Union.

A group of students called the “Stony Brook Students for Equality” held a press conference outside Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Monday afternoon and demanded administrators rename the athletic facility. This comes on the heels of Senator Kenneth P. LaValle’s recent vote against the marriage equality act in New York State.

The SUNY Board of Trustees approved a two percent tuition increase as part of the 2010-11 budget request upon the recommendation of Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher yesterday, according to a SUNY press release. If the hike becomes a reality, tuition would surpass $5,000 a year.

This past Friday saw the groundbreaking for Stony Brook University’s new campus recreation center, a project that has been rumored and talked about for more than ten years.

This afternoon Dr. Samuel L. Stanley was officially named the next president of Stony Brook University. The announcement came at a press conference after a unanimous vote by the SUNY Board of Trustees, which took place earlier today.

Nancy Zimpher, the SUNY chancellor-designate, is set to have a compensation package of approximately $545,400 a year, roughly $200,000 more than her predecessor.

Albany Day was cancelled March 3 after a snowstorm dropped more than a foot of snow on some parts of Long Island. Janice Rohlf, head of governmental relations, said the poor weather conditions, which resulted in the cancellation of Monday classes, made it “impossible” to risk the trip.

Effective June 2009, Nancy L. Zimpher will be appointed the 12th Chancellor of SUNY. Zimpher, who is leaving her post as president at the University of Cincinnati, will be the first woman chancellor in the 60 years of SUNY history.
Stony Brook Provost Eric Kaler says her first responsibility will be to deal with the budget cuts SUNY faces.

Students gathered together Wednesday to voice their opposition to a proposed $17 million cut to next year's school budget. Students waved signs calling for no more cuts, and chanted ditties like "We're not an ATM!" throughout the more than an hour-long protest.

Yesterday’s town hall meeting was a wide-ranging discussion about the budget cuts already weathered by the university, future cuts the school is expecting and possible ways students and faculty can advocate to the government to try and reverse future cuts.

Stony Brook is bracing for further seismic cuts that are now brewing at the state level. Earlier this month, President Shirley Strum Kenny called for a hiring freeze for state-funded positions. By state decree, capital projects, like much of the construction and renovation going on around campus, have almost totally halted.

The SUNY senior system administration is working on a deal with the state government that will ensure money generated from special revenue funds – which will be frozen under a recent state-mandated expenditure cap – will not be tapped by the state at the end of 2008-09 fiscal year, a Stony Brook University official said today.

Stony Brook University’s academic programs could face an unprecedented $20 million state budget cut, according to university officials at yesterday’s town hall meeting. The cut would come from both taxes and—for the first time—a state spending cap on special university revenues.