The board of trustees of the State University of New York voted unanimously Friday morning to close the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn as an in-patient facility. The meeting room at a SUNY building in Midtown immediately erupted in shouts of "Shame! Shame!" from supporters, who said the university had not given LICH enough support.

SUNY acquired the financially troubled hospital in Cobble Hill two years ago, hoping it would be a beneficial partner to SUNY’s Downstate teaching hospital in East Flatbush.

But the president of the SUNY Downstate hospital system, Dr. John Williams, said both hospitals have continued to lose money, especially LICH.

"I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been to Albany," he said at a briefing for the SUNY board Thursday. "We’ve talked to the Department of Health, Division of Budget. We've talked to the governor’s office, so we could get some cash, but nothing has worked so far."

The decision now has to go to the state Board of Health for approval.