Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny said in a wide-ranging interview yesterday that a reported deal to purchase Touro Law school in Central Islip was dead, which was the first official acknowledgment from the university that negotiations were even taking place. Stony Brook would now have to start a law school from scratch, said Kenny.

Having recently established business and journalism schools, Kenny said that a law school would be the final piece in the puzzle “putting the Stony Brook campus together.”

“The idea is not new, it was looked at in the late '70s and '80s, but there were financial crunches and it didn't happen,” said the president, who hopes to make this happen as a part of her extensive legacy.

It had been reported that Stony Brook was considering buying Touro Law to launch its law school, which Kenny acknowledged in the interview but dismissed as a possibility because Touro has decided not to sell, said Kenny.

While touting the progress she had made as president, the possibility that she might retire is not out of her mind.

“I’m not done yet, but one does think of such things,” said Kenny. “It feels very good and it’s terrific that all this is happening on our 50th anniversary. Since I’ve been president we were admitted to the Association of American Universities in 2001 and no other schools have been added since then.”

As part of her five-year plan, Kenny hopes to bring more “great professors” to Stony Brook. However, she acknowledges this task is difficult due to the high cost of living in the neighborhoods surrounding Stony Brook.

“We need to get people to rent economically to our professors,” said Kenny about new professors. She also spoke about the possibility of constructing faculty housing is among the solutions being considered. “We already work with (Suffolk County Executive) Steve Levy, but housing is still expensive.”

Professors aren’t the only group dealing with rising costs of living; students and their families are grappling with the costs of higher education. A major factor in the cost is tuition, which has been at the center of renewed debates on the best method to fund the SUNY system. Two different tuition plans have been discussed in regards to a potential tuition increase.

One plan calls for automatic regular tuition increases instead of random tuition increases that occur every few years to fill budget gaps. Advocates of the plan, sometimes called indexed tuition, say that the regular increases would be smaller and more predictable than than sudden surges in tuition, such as the 28 percent increase in 2003 after eight years without an increase. Opponents, including the New York Public Interest Group, say that the plan does not guarentee students lower tuition.

“This is the best alternative for students,” said the president in support of indexed tuition. “It lets students know what to expect, with minimal increases.”

Another tuition plan called differential tuition would allow different SUNY schools, such as research universities like Stony Brook, to set different tuition levels relative to their needs. As a result, this would mean students would likely pay more for attending Stony Brook. Differential tuition would “never happen,” said Kenny.

Kenny’s goal this Albany Day is to garner the support needed for Stony Brook to improve the education opportunities it offers. But with all her accomplishments and all her plans, she said it's the students who pull the strings in Albany.

"One of the great things about the trip to Albany is that students come, they're not scripted, they say whatever they want to say, and some of the faculty and administrators may wince a little," said Kenny with a smile. “The most important thing about Stony Brook is that the students get to speak, and they are our best advocates,” she insisted.