Dioxin Dorms Blog :: SUNY New Paltz

Through the spring and summer, student groups have met with community leaders, the SUNY administration and various health officials to decide what should be done about the New Paltz dorms. It was exciting to know that at least after this long, the issue is being discussed again. In truth, student leaders have NEVER discussed this meaningfully with health officials or the administration.

I was not at those meetings, but I’m privy to what was discussed. The game of pass the buck was played so beautifully by state officials that they should be invited to the 2008 Olympics.

Of course, when you have five state agencies and a contractor or two involved, nothing is anybody’s fault. And SUNY acts like it’s “not part of the state,” which is laughable — it’s like Dick Cheney claiming not to be part of the Executive Branch (which he claimed recently).

To sum up, SUNY (meaning the New Paltz administration, directed by college president Steve Poskanzer) says that it does not want any more testing than has already happened; no tests of vents, no tests of heat, no tests of the places they are going to find actual sources of toxins. The state health department agrees with the no new testing concept, but also says that it needs SUNY’s permission to order additional testing, which is not true, but let’s let that ride. The Ulster County Health Department, under the leadership of Dean Palen, seems open to testing, but again, Poskanzer’s resistance to testing is an issue.

In short, it all comes back to Poskanzer. As a SUNY campus president, he is the “benevolent monarch” of the campus. He surely has the power to close a building, if he feels there is a health or safety threat.

Will his bosses in Albany be pissed off? Sure they will. But that does not change the basic fact: he is the president; he can order testing; he can close a building; and therefore, as the person with actual power, he has the ability to solve this probem.

Campus autonomy on this level is a very old tradition at SUNY, dating well before the 1960s. I graduated SUNY in 1986, after editing a student magazine for three years; then covered SUNY Central for two more years. The Central administration grants enormous latitude for individual campus presidents to run their own show — particularly in an emergency like this.

I would propose, then, that all activism be directed at Poskanzer. One would logically direct activism at the person with the most direct ability to solve a problem. He is easy to find, we know where he works, parents can demand to speak to him, students can demand to meet with him. And no matter what he may claim to the contrary, he IS the boss of SUNY New Paltz, and he CAN close the contaminated dorms.

Note, he’s not going to close the dorms becaue he cares so much; he is going to close them under public pressure. In this world, power only understands power. Asking him politely is not going to work, becuase in fact, he can be sued personally for what happens on the campus — and as a lawyer, he knows this all too well.

He needs to be held accountable for what happens on his campus, and only students and parents can do that.

As a long-time student activist and advocate, it irks me to have to include the word “parents” — but that is the truth of the matter at New Paltz. We need the support and input of families, but most of all, we need students to take up their mantle of power and get hold of their health destiny. It is students who are most profoundly impacted, and who need to take care of themselves.

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