| Issue #30, October 20, 2006 |
So It Begins
Stony Brook Southampton a Whirlwind of Activity and Plans
By Alan-Michael Braveman
Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny promised us a party, a “blast,” and what a grand affair it was. Dr. Kenny also promised that things would be different as soon as Stony Brook took over the campus. Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny does not prevaricate and she does not flinch from the hard tasks. Things are indeed already different.
Stony Brook had the audacity to WASH the windows in Chancellors Hall as well as provide real canvas goodie bags imprinted with the new name of the campus in the new colors for the campus. Stony Brook also turned out its smart, freshly pressed, uniformed but low-keyed, intelligent security force with Smokey Bear hats and friendly faces.
From that first blush you knew it was going to be a terrific day. The tuneful and joyous Dixieland band greeted us in the parking lot, alongside the prancing Stony Brook Mascot, Wolfie, and a shiny white bus with a title neatly printed title on the side that read Stony Brook Southampton. This was all in the shadow of giant billowing columns of blue and green balloons that dotted the campus and shimmered in the sunlight of a wonderful, clear, crisp fall day. Dr. Kenny seems to be able to order up great weather whenever she needs it.
As advertised, the fresh-faced Stony Brook University marching band stirred the souls and warmed the hearts of all of us there, and the cheerleaders’ precision-tumbling on the lawn behind Chancellors Hall was an obvious sign of more changes to come. It was, to some of us, a reminder of things that could have been but never were. It was then and there that we finally realized what it meant to really be part of a great University and not an afterthought or an unwanted appendage. It was indeed a day long in coming but nevertheless more then welcome.
The blue tables with white umbrellas spotted around the lawn emphasized the new blue and white color scheme for the Southampton campus along with the giant sign that hung from the back of Chancellor’s Hall proclaiming “Stony Brook Southampton.”
The speeches from State Senator LaValle, Southampton town supervisor Skip Heaney and New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. were all short by election year standards but heartfelt and on-point. Congressman Bishop’s wife, Cathy, a Southampton college alum, along with Skip Heaney and Fred Thiele, spoke for her absent husband. Everyone echoed the theme of looking forward to new beginnings and substantive changes on the campus and the benefits to the community that the newly re-invented campus will bring.
There were other signs of change in the air and a refreshing sensitivity to the community needs. There was a simple, questionnaire that asked people in the community questions about their desires and interests in campus activities, and a flyer announcing the “The Inaugural East End Public Lecture Series” to be held under the auspices of the Stony Brook Southampton Marine Sciences Research Center, concerning issues that are affecting the waterways of our area.
Stony Brook’s approach to the community is vastly different from anything tried previously. Everyone from Stony Brook seems to have the same motto: we can do this, we are here to stay and what can we do to make this better for you.
It is a startling change, this “can do” attitude. For many of us, the level of trust in “University” proclamations has been so badly beaten up by the years of double speak and empty promises that we are not used to dealing with people who tell the truth and do what they say they will do. It is an amazing difference and one that some of us will have to take a little time to get used to. It is, however, a wonderful problem to face.
It was a terrific party with great tasting food that was handsomely presented by the red-jacketed staff from Stony Brook Catering, delicious local wine and beer, good jazz and wonderful dancing. There was a sense of conviviality and approachability in the air that was never before experienced by those of us who have toiled at Southampton over these past years. The fact that no one was unapproachable, not the president of the University, Dr. Kenny, who gallantly spoke with all comers as she futilely tried to have some lunch, or the politicians who did not run away after the speeches and cake as they usually do. They all stayed and talked with anyone and everyone one who approached. A rare sight. Perhaps this air of “can do” as well as speaking the truth will catch on and it will be part of the new legacy that Stony Brook Southampton is going to instill in all its students. What a joyful thought. We have come to realize that Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny is a practitioner of what she preaches, and woe unto you who do not follow her lead for you will get swamped in her wake.
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