Founded in 1957 as The Sucolian, it is the longest-running student publication of the university and a print edition was published every Monday of the academic year until 2021.

The Statesman's office is located on the third floor of the Stony Brook Student Activities Center on the main campus.

[2] The paper currently runs on funding from both advertisements and the Undergraduate Student Government at Stony Brook University.

[3] In 2019, a story published in The Atlantic alleged that Stony Brook University administration members during Samuel L. Stanley's tenure as president had stifled journalists from The Statesman's attempts to report on matters that reflected poorly on the school.

On August 22, 2021, The Statesman announced that it would be ceasing its print edition effective indefinitely due to financial constraints brought upon by the pandemic and the need to adapt to a changing journalism landscape.