It was founded in 1957 as the State University College on Long Island with about 100
students enrolled. The first temporary campus was at the William Robertson Coe Planting Fields estate in Oyster Bay. Originally, SBU was a college for preparing secondary
school teachers in mathematics and the sciences. The present campus (since 1962) is located
on land donated by philanthropist Ward Melville. The original donation
consisted of over 400 acres (1.6 km²), but the campus is now about three times that size.The Stony Brook campus was initially concentrated around what was called G-Quad (now Mendelsohn Quad), and almost all offices
were contained here. Classes took place at the Humanities building, and some classes were still offered at Oyster Bay. However,
the 1960s and 1970s witnessed rapid growth under
President John S. Toll. More buildings went up around campus, and academic
programs and enrollment grew.During the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, Stony Brook was a hotbed for activism -- so much so that it was given
the nickname
Berkeley of
the East. The school is also notable for its numerous conflicts with the government of New York State, often over budgetary considerations. Among the best known revolves around the University Hospital that now dominates the
campus' skyline, and how its construction apparently almost bankrupted the state.In the 1990s the school underwent a project to revitalize the campus. Numerous
buildings were renovated, most importantly the Student Activities Center, as well as each residential quad. More recently, the
school has completed the building of a massive Asian-American Center that was funded largely by a donation from Charles Wang. The university also finished building a stadium, as well as new
apartments for undergraduates. Renovations are now being done to the original Humanities building, and new apartments continue to
be built.