The "Campus Village" legislation, which would have allowed the University to lease land on the Academic Mall to private corporations, was not passed before the end of the Assembly's regular session, for the second year in a row. According to Richard Mann, Vice President for Administration, the Administration is giving up its hope of getting legislative approval for the ground lease, but will still attempt to build the Campus Village through other means.

The Campus Village was intended to be a retail shopping environment, with several small retail stores surrounding a large bookstore in a new building. Since the Administration did not believe it could get funding for a new bookstore building, it proposed to get a private bookstore company to construct the building. In exchange, the company would get a University contract lasting up to 60 years, which would theoretically enable it to earn enough money to pay for the building. At the end of the contract, the building would be turned over to the University.

The State Senate passed the legislation exactly as the Administration proposed it, but the State Assembly added several amendments, due to several concerns, including: use of non-union labor in the construction project, a lack of competitive bidding for the bookstore contract, and a lack of affirmative action requirements in the selection process. The Assembly also shortened the maximum length of the bookstore contract, from 60 to 30 years. Since the Assembly and the Senate would not agree on the same version of the bill, it cannot become law.

According to Assemblyman Steven Englebright (D-Setauket), the Assembly could have passed the University's version of the bill, had the Administration provided some kind of "memorandum of understanding", stating that the University would employ union labor, bid competitively, etc., even if such things weren't written into the legislation. Englebright's office said that President Shirley Strum Kenny would not agree to such a memorandum, since she was afraid of having things in writing which might "come back to haunt her". However, Richard Mann claimed the memorandum was not written because the Administration felt that it would not resolve the issue.

Although President Kenny could not be reached for comment, Richard Mann said the Administration is "very frustrated that the houses weren't able to come together on this." He said the Administration is hoping that the Board of Trustees will get the authority to provide ground leases, rather than the Legislature, because the Board of Trustees would probably be much more willing to grant them.

The Administration will reconvene the Campus Village Advisory Group (the "Village People") in the Fall, seeking membership from student governments as well as the University Senate. The current plan, tentative as yet, is to have new buildings constructed: a new bookstore and a large new food court, both located on the "Academic Mall" (the area between the Administration building, Student Activities Center, and the Melville library). The University would construct these buildings through the State University Construction Fund (the same route by which the Life Sciences Annex and the new stadium are being built), and would try to get funding from whichever food service and bookstore contractors happened to be on campus.

Chartwells, the new food service contractor, has stated that it will consider providing funding for such a new building, but has not made a firm commitment. According to Vice President Mann, Chartwells was provided with a 10-year contract, about twice as long as the usual food service contract, primarily so that it would develop a strong "relationship" with the campus, and therefore be more willing to engage in such projects.

When the bookstore contract goes out to bid next year (it expires in Spring 1999, and the Faculty Student Association must open a new bidding process), the new contract will most likely also stipulate a 10-year term, for the same reason. The Administration will ensure before the contract is awarded that the contractor is open to a proposal for a new building, just as it did before awarding the food service contract to Chartwells.

The Administration says that, contrary to earlier speculation, the Faculty Student Association (FSA) will have a large role in the Campus Village, and in retail operations on campus in general. For example, the FSA will still bid the food service and bookstore contracts, though the Administration will take a larger role in the process than it did before, probably maintaining "veto authority" as it did with the most recent food service contract.

In addition, the FSA will also have more control over retail operations on the campus. When the Student Activities Center was opened, the Administration bid the convenience store out directly, instead of having the Faculty Student Association subcontract it (the usual procedure for retail services). However, New York State ruled that the Administration had awarded the convenience store to Wallace?s illegally, and now the Administration will instead award the convenience store to the FSA. It will likely be a new incarnation of the BASIX store, which is currently in the Student Union and scheduled to close permanently.

The Administration also continues to claim that Barnes & Noble does not have any advantage in the bookstore contracting, even though the CEO of Barnes & Noble, Leonard Riggio, has served as an advisor to President Kenny on the Campus Village for several years. The President and Vice President Mann have maintained that Riggio serves on the Corporate Advisory Board to the President only at the President?s request, and that he is not at all concerned about whether his company gets the bookstore contract. Currently, the most likely candidates to run the bookstore seem to be Wallace?s, who currently has the contract, Barnes & Noble, who had the contract five years ago, and the Faculty Student Association itself, which may choose to run the bookstore independently.

Regardless of how the buildings actually get constructed or who ends up in them, it is clear that President Kenny will continue to pursue the Campus Village idea. The Administration promises that the Campus Village will become less secretive now that the initial plans have collapsed. Its use of the Faculty Student Association, and its reconvening of the "Village People", should open the process to students and faculty who feel that they have been left out of the developments of the past year.